Paleo Whole30 Thai Basil Chicken Recipe with ground chicken and sweet/savory Thai basil chicken stir-fry sauce. The ultimate easy comfort food ready in a hurry!
2tbspapple juiceWhole30 or ½ tsp Monk fruit brown sugar (Keto)
Instructions
Prep: Finely mince garlic. Remove the chili pepper seeds and finely diced. Set aside 1.5 cups Thai basil leaves. Combine the Thai basil chicken sauce in a bowl. Set it aside ready to use.
Thai-Style Sunny Side Fried Egg: Preheat a wok over medium-high heat until it’s too hot to place your palm near the surface, about 2-3 inches away. Add 3 tbsp oil. Swirl it around to distribute it evenly. The egg should bubble violently the moment it hits the hot pan. Be careful the splatter. Carefully spoon the oil over the egg to make a sunny side fried egg that’s golden crispy at the bottom yet the yolk is still runny. Repeat the process. Add more oil if needed and set them aside.
Basil Chicken: While the wok is still hot, add 2-3 tbsp oil. Fry garlic and chili with 2 pinches of salt over medium-high heat until fragrant, about 8-10 seconds.
Add ground chicken. Turn the heat high. Try to break the meat apart and spread it out evenly. Cook uncovered until the bottom gets slightly browned then cook the flip side. The total cooking time will be about 5-7 minutes. Break the meat further to finer pieces as you cook.
Your skillet should have some moisture coming from the protein but not over watery at this point. If it has a lot of liquid, continue cooking to reduce the liquid quantity.
Add Thai basil chicken sauce 2 tbsp a time to the wok until you finish the entire sauce. Keep stir-frying and scoping to mix the sauce and the meat.
Off heat. Stir-in the basil. Use residual heat to wilt the basil leaves a bit. Serve hot or at room temperature with cauliflower rice or steamed rice. And don’t forget to top with a fried egg!
Video
Notes
If you can’t find Thai holy basil or Thai basil, use Italian sweet basil. It’s much minder and less spicy/pungent than Thai basil so increase the quantity. The basil is the star of this dish so don’t be shy away from using it!
If you are making this dish in a hurry without my homemade vegetarian oyster sauce, use 3 tbsp coconut aminos + 2 tsp fish sauce. Taste and adjust the flavor. It should be salty and a little sweet and with a hint of spicy flavor.
In Thailand, most of the time people mince the chicken from scratch so it’s a coarse ground chicken thigh. The hand minced version has better texture than machine ground but it takes time and effort. I use ground meat in this recipe to keep it simple and quick. Watch the video to see I demonstrate two different types of ground chicken.
The nutritional label is calculated with 1 fried egg per serving.