Thai basil chicken is one of my favorite easy dinner recipes. This Thai basil chicken noodle bowl is a great homage to the classic Thai dish.
Pad krapow is stir-fried holy basil in Thai and it is one of the most popular Thai dishes. Pad krapow is prepared with a fragrant, spicy sauce and lots of Thai basil, it’s an easy dish that you definitely want to get into your rotation.
The protein (or lack of) is really up to your choice. I’ve made it with squid and I’ve made a vegetarian pad krapow. While pad krapow is typically served with rice, this version is turned into an easy chicken noodle bowl recipe that you can make any night of the week.
How to make this Thai basil chicken recipe:
You only need a few basic ingredients for this dish which makes it a perfect easy dinner recipe.
- Ground or thinly sliced chicken
- Aromatics, including shallot, garlic, and minced Thai chili peppers
- Fish sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil, and brown sugar
- Thai basil
Need to make substitutions? While this recipe may not have a ton of ingredients, they are still very amenable to substitutions!
In this recipe, use really any protein, like chicken, pork, shrimp, or beef. I use chicken tenders that I sent through a food processor to roughly chop it. That said, try it with finely diced chicken breasts, thighs, or ground chicken or turkey from the store!
In place of shallot, use a roughly chopped onion. No Thai chili peppers? Use your favorite hot pepper or use crushed red pepper.
Thai basil tastes like a cross between Italian basil and mint with undertones of anise or licorice. But, if you can’t find Thai basil, you can use Italian or sweet basil. Of course, you could omit the Thai basil if you’re really in a pinch!
Now that you’ve gathered the ingredients, are you ready to cook this Thai basil chicken noodle bowl?
- Start with a very hot wok and very hot oil. Next, add the chicken and cook briefly, until it’s almost cooked through.
- Add the aromatics and cook for 1 minute.
- Add the sauce ingredients and let it boil briefly.
- Finish the dish with the Thai basil leave. Once the leaves are wilted, toss with cooked rice noodles. Alternatively, serve with cooked white rice.
That’s it! The resulting dish is a delicious, easy, and ultra-comforting bowl of noodles that you will absolutely love.
Thai Basil Chicken Noodle Bowl
Equipment
- Wok or skillet
- Large pot
- Sieve or colander
Ingredients
- 8 ounces rice noodles
- 1 tablespoon neutral oil
- 1 pound ground or thinly sliced chicken
- 2 shallots peeled and diced
- 6 cloves garlic peeled and minced
- 1–4 Thai chili peppers minced, more or fewer depending on heat tolerance or use crushed red pepper
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- ¼ cup water plus more if needed
- .2 ounces Thai basil leaves stem discarded
- A few additional Thai basil leaves optional, for serving
- Lime wedges for serving
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Prepare the rice noodles:
- Prepare the rice noodles according to package instructions. Drain, rinse and set aside.
Cook the chicken:
- Heat the oil in a wok or large skillet over high heat. Once hot, add the chicken and cook, stirring regularly, for 7–8 minutes until mostly cooked through—season with salt and pepper.
Cook the aromatics:
- Add the shallots, garlic, and minced chili peppers to the wok and cook for 2–3 minutes.
Prepare the sauce:
- Whisk together the soy sauce, fish sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, and water in a bowl. Set aside.
Finish the Thai basil chicken:
- Pour the sauce into the wok and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Tear the Thai basil leaves in half. Add them to the wok and cook an additional 1–3 minutes until wilted.
Sauce the noodles:
- Turn the heat on the wok to low. Add the cooked rice noodles and toss to coat in the sauce for 1–2 minutes. Once the noodles are warmed through, remove the wok from the heat.
To serve:
- Divide the noodles between bowls. Garnish with more Thai basil leaves and lime wedges. Enjoy!
This is a new family favorite! Made it for the first time last week and, while it was good, we felt it could have been better. Made it again last night and added a little peanut butter to the sauce and served with chopped cilantro, crushed peanuts, and fresh bean sprouts. Delicious!!
Thank you for the feedback! I’m hapy you enjoyed it with those modifications 🙂
This is not a thai recipe. There is no sesam oil or lime in Pad kra pao, no sugar traditionaly and the basil will be added at the same time as the wok is taken of the heat, so it keeps its flavor. And, when stir frying, it should be fast on high heat, all the time you used must have made it boiled instead of stir fried. And where is the oyster sauce? Not a true recipe!
Hi – thank you for feedback. I do want to make it clear that this recipe did not purport to be a traditional recipe for pad krapow but is an adaptation of my favorite parts of its flavor profile to be served over noodles. The name references the ingredient “Thai Basil” and isn’t attempting to call this a “Thai noodle bowl”.
If you read the introduction and saw references to “pad krapow,” that is intentional to provide my source material but not to act as a claim of authenticity. When I develop recipe adaptations that reference flavor profiles from other dishes–particularly a dish as beloved as pad krapow–I make sure readers understand my point of reference so they can seek out more traditional recipe for the dish if they like.