Pad Kra Pao Thai Stir Fry (Easy!)

Recipe: Pad Kra Pao Thai Stir Fry Recipe »

This Pad Kra Pao recipe is such a delicious, easy and affordable Thai dinner. Ground meat or mince is stir fried with garlic, chillies and Thai basil to create a delicious, fragrant and moreish dish - once you try it, you'll be hooked! Learn how to make Pad Kra Pao in less than 20 minutes.

Phat kaphrao is also called pad kaprow, pad kaprao, or pad gaprao. It is named after the highly fragrant Thai or holy basil because that is the dish's main flavour. It is inexpensive to make and uses simple ingredients that you probably already have (the Thai basil is probably the only thing you may have to buy and the mince). I was reminded how much I love this when I saw an interview with the season 3 cast of The White Lotus and this was all of their favourite Thai dish when they were shooting in Thailand.

What is the meaning of pad kra pao? It literally means "basil stir fry". Thai holy basil is a key ingredient. Regular Italian basil won't work for this recipe. Thai basil looks slightly different from Italian basil and sometimes has purple stems (not always though, as you can see this had green stems).

What is pad kra pao made of? This is seriously one of the simplest Thai dishes you can make at home. The sauce is made with pantry staples like soy sauce, fish sauce and oyster sauce. It also contains golden shallots, garlic and chilli and is finished with Thai basil.

What does Pad Krapow taste like?

Like a lot of Thai food it hits a few different flavours like salty, sweet and spicy. It isn't very sour though. The aroma of holy basil is incredible and it is the strongest flavour (this is for you Thai basil fans!). It has an aniseed and spice aroma to it. I'm not even a huge licorice or anise fan but I love holy basil.

What to eat with Pad Krao Pao? It is always served with rice and sometimes a fried egg on top. Sometimes I add the green beans to the stir fry, sometimes I leave it out.

Tips For Making Pad Kra Pao:

1 - Start the rice before you cook the main dish as the rice takes longer to cook than the Pad Kra Pao!

2 - You can adjust the chilli level to what you like. If you don't want it spicy then reduce or omit the small chillies.

3 - Dark soy sauce is an ingredient used to darken and to add colour to sauces. I always avoid using too much dark soy sauce as too much can really affects the flavour of dishes. You can omit it all together, it's really just there to make the mince look a bit darker.

4 - Pork is commonly used for Pad Krao Pao but beef and chicken mince work well too.

5 - Golden eschallots can be substituted with the same weight of red onions.

6 - The only non negotiable is the Thai basil. There's nothing like it - sweet Italian basil has an entirely different taste to Thai basil. You can buy it at Asian or Thai greengrocers or supermarkets (although the supermarket quantity sold is very small so not great v. To get 25g/0.9oz of just the leaves, you need around 1.5 bunches.

Pad Kra Pao Thai Stir Fry

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes

• 120g/4ozs (around 3) golden shallots, finely diced (you can also use red onion)-
• 5 cloves garlic, finely diced
• 2 small red chillies, finely diced
• 2 large red chillies, finely diced
• 300g/10.6ozs pork, beef or chicken mince
• 75g/2.6ozs green beans, chopped into small pieces (optional)
• 25g/0.9ozs Thai or holy basil, leaves only
• Steamed rice to serve

For Sauce

• 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/4 cup-1/2 cup chicken broth
• 2 teaspoons dark soy sauce (optional, to make it darker)

Step 1 - Mix all of the sauce ingredients together in a bowl (start with 1/4 cup of broth). Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large wok or frying pan on medium high heat. Fry the egg first and set aside.

Step 2 - Add the shallots and fry until soft and fragrant (around 3-4 minutes) adding more oil if needed. Add the garlic and sliced chilies to the pan and saute for 1 minute. Then add the mince and break it up in the pan. Add the sauce mixture and then the green beans and then saute for 5-6 minutes on high heat with the lid on stirring occasionally. Then add the Thai basil leaves and stir to wilt them. At this stage, if you like a bit more sauce you can add the extra 1/4 cup of stock. Serve with steamed rice and a fried egg.

This is quite quick to make but I sort of lost track of time when I made it. It was Sunday morning and I noticed that some of the Thai basil was starting to wilt so I figured I had a bit of time to make this before we had to leave. We were going out to Karaoke with the Elliotts for my birthday and we told them that the booking was at 1pm on the dot. The Elliotts are not really on time sort of people so you do have to specify times. It's not so much an issue with picnics as people usually wander in an hour or so late but as we had booked a room we wanted to be on time.

Most of the time making this is in the mise en place because the cooking is fairly quick. But then I glanced at the clock and realised that I was running late. And that's after giving everyone strict instructions to not be late!

I made this, shot pictures and then ran upstairs to get changed while Mr NQN put the food away. I got ready in record time, when I looked carefully in the car mirror my eyebrow pencil was crooked and my powder wasn't fully brushed off but well, sacrifices were made.

And then when I rushed in, 4 minutes late the only person that was on time was Manu, Mr NQN's brother! Everyone wandered in 20 minutes later! I should have stayed and fixed my makeup properly.

So tell me Dear Reader, are you always good at arriving on time? Have you ever tried Pad Kra Pao?