This recipe is adapted from a very old cookbook (remember those?!) that I’ve continued to make over the years because it is flavorful and easy, I almost always have all ingredients on hand, and it goes great with rice or Asian noodles.
Ingredients include fish sauce, soy sauce, sugar, crushed red pepper, onions & garlic, oil and basil leaves.
You can usually find fish sauce in the international aisle of your local grocery store. I buy mine from my local Asian market (Lotte).
And while fresh basil is preferred, I don’t always have it on hand, so I’ve used dried basil in a pinch and it’s a great substitute.
The sauce is water, fish sauce, soy sauce, sugar and red pepper.
Stir frying the onions in the oil and garlic is when things start smelling real good.
I like using boneless, skinless chicken thighs that I cut into smaller pieces, but I have also used boneless, skinless chicken breast.
Here I wanted more basil than the fresh basil I had on hand, so I sprinkled in some dried basil as well.
This chicken goes great with Asian noodles or jasmine rice (see how to cook the perfect jasmine rice). I like these noodles I get from Costco:
It’s such an easy recipe and everyone in my family likes it. I hope you enjoy it too!
Stay Healthy!
Thai Basil Chicken
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 Tbs fish sauce
- 2 Tbs soy sauce
- 4 tsp sugar
- 2 tsp crushed red pepper
- 3 Tbs vegetable oil
- 1/2 onion thinly sliced
- 1/2 onion diced
- 8 cloves garlic minced
- 1 pkg chicken thighs boneless, skinless
- 1 cup basil leaves torn
Instructions
- In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine water, fish sauce, soy sauce, sugar and red pepper. Stir until sugar is dissolved and set aside.
- Heat 2 Tbs of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
- Add onions and garlic and stir fry for about 2 minutes until fragrant. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
- Add remaining oil and heat for about a minute.
- Add chicken and cook for about 5 minutes until browned.
- Lower to medium heat. Add the reserved sauce and onions to chicken and cook, tossing occasionally, until chicken is cooked through.
- Remove from heat and stir in torn basil leaves.
- Serve chicken over rice or Asian noodles.
