Thai Basil Spicy Fried Rice. This is the best Thai chicken fried rice as it’s packed with a spicy savoury umami flavour that totally hits the spot. Ready in 30 minutes!
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What is Thai Spicy Basil Fried Rice?
Thai Spicy Basil Fried Rice features fried rice, tender chicken, Thai basil leaves, red chili, garlic stir fried with a savory, umami tasting sauce. You'll often find Thai Basil Fried Rice served at your favorite Thai restaurant or for Thai takeout served as a main dish for dinner or lunch. The fresh Thai Basil leaves give this fried rice dish that aromatic flavor. This is a personal favorite of mine in Thai cuisine because it satisfies all my taste buds thanks to the umami flavour of the fish sauce and oyster sauce, to the spiciness of the chilies.
My spicy Thai basil fried rice recipe is similar to Pad Kra Pao, but the rice and the chicken topping is all mixed in. This Thai spicy basil fried rice recipe is easy to make and only calls for 30 minutes of your time if you have day-old rice. A great busy weeknight meal when you're craving Thai food, but you don't want to make a trip to the restaurant to get some. You may think this Thai recipe is complicated due to its complex, delicious flavours but it’s really not.
Ingredients
For this spicy Thai basil chicken fried rice, you’ll need the following ingredients. Please scroll down to below recipe card for exact measurements.
- Cooked jasmine rice: Make sure it's day old leftover rice. You can also substitute with brown rice. But avoid using basmati rice, or short grain rice.
- Skinless Boneless Chicken breast: or replace with skinless boneless chicken thighs, beef, pork, shrimp or extra-firm tofu.
- Thai basil leaves: or substitute with holy basil or Italian basil (regular basil)
- Red chili: or substitute with Thai chilis to take the spice level to the max! But please note that Thai chili peppers are extremely spicy and are not for the faint of heart. For a more mild version, substitute with red bell pepper
- Garlic Cloves
- Neutral oil: any flavorless oil like avocado oil, peanut oil, grapeseed oil, vegetable oil or canola oil with a high smoke point. I would avoid using olive oil or coconut oil due to its heavier scent.
Sauce
- Oyster sauce: or replace with vegetarian oyster sauce
- Fish sauce
- Regular soy sauce: or substitute with low sodium soy sauce or light soy sauce. If you’re gluten-free, substitute with tamari sauce, coconut aminos or a gluten-free soy sauce of your choice.
- White Granulated Sugar
Chicken marinade
- Fish sauce
- Regular soy sauce
Optional
- Fresh lime
- Fried egg(s)
Note: Most Asian grocery stores will carry most of the Asian specific ingredients.
How to make Thai Spicy Basil Fried Rice
Marinate Chicken
Marinate chicken with marinade ingredients as listed. Set aside as you prepare other ingredients.
Make Chili Garlic Paste
Meanwhile, in a mortar and pestle (or food processor), pound (or pulse) red chili, and garlic until oils and juices release.
Create Sauce
In a separate bowl, combine sauce ingredients. Set aside.
Fry Chicken
In a hot wok set over medium high heat, add oil. Fry chicken until 75% cooked.
Fry Chili Garlic Paste
Add chili garlic paste and mix with chicken.
Toss in Rice
Push everything to the side. Add more oil if needed into empty space. Throw in rice. Toss to mix.
Toss in Sauce
Pour in sauce and toss again until granules are coated in sauce. Note: it is fine if your rice is a bit moist as this fried rice is more on the saucier side than dry.
Mix in Basil
Throw in fresh basil and mix again. Remove off heat and enjoy optionally with a fried egg and lime juice.
Storage & Reheating
This dish will last up to 4 days stored in an airtight container in the fridge. To reheat, microwave for 2-3 minutes or reheat on the stovetop in a pan on medium heat until hot.
Expert Tips
Below are tips on making Thai basil chicken fried rice:
- Use day old leftover rice. Using day old leftover rice prevents your rice become sticky and clumpy if you were to use fresh warm rice. Because this rice is saucier than most fried rice recipes, you’ll definitely want to use day old.
- Separate cooked rice with hands. To ensure your rice doesn’t stick together, separate the granules with your hands prior to cooking.
- Pound the chili and garlic. Using a mortar and pestle will help the juices and oils release from the chili and garlic if you pound it. You may also use a food processor but less oils will release due to the processing motion.
- Prepare ingredients in advance. This step is crucial as the cooking process only takes about 5 minutes in a ripping hot wok and the last thing you want to be doing is fumbling around your kitchen looking for the next ingredient to toss into the pan.
- Slice chicken thinly but not overly thinly. Because we are cooking this in a hot wok, the high heat will cook the chicken fast, so you want the chicken sliced thinly but not too thin! About 0.75 cm per slice.
- Pre-mix the sauce. Since the cooking process is about 5 minutes and the heat is blazing hot, we want to combine our sauce ahead of time so we can easily pour it over the rice to fry.
FAQ
Below are frequently asked questions about this Thai spicy basil chicken fried rice recipe:
Is Thai fried rice different than Chinese fried rice?
Yes, Thai fried rice usually uses fish sauce for seasoning with oyster sauce, unlike Chinese fried rice. Thai fried rice also doesn’t usually contain soy sauce, however for the purposes of taste, I like to add a tiny bit to mine.
Can I substitute the fish sauce?
Fish sauce is essential to Thai cooking especially in this fried rice dish, so it’s highly recommended for that umami taste. However, if you don’t have this ingredient or do not want to add this ingredient to your pantry, then you may omit. Just add more oyster sauce as needed. If you’re vegan, vegan fish sauce is available for purchase at some grocers or online.
Other recipes you may like!
If you enjoyed this Thai spicy basil fried rice, you may enjoy these other fried rice recipes:
- Thai Railway Fried Rice
- Shrimp Fried Rice
- Kimchi Sausage Fried Rice
- Spam Fried Rice
- Tomato Egg Fried Rice
- Chicken Pineapple Fried Rice
📖 Recipe
Quick & Easy Thai Basil Spicy Fried Rice
Ingredients
- 3 cups cooked jasmine rice day old leftover rice (see Note 1 for quantity of uncooked rice)
- 250 grams chicken breast skinless boneless, thinly sliced at 0.75 cm thick
- 1 cup Thai basil loose cup not packed (or sub with holy or Italian basil)
- 1 red chili pepper finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil or as needed for frying
Sauce:
- 1.5 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- ½ tablespoon regular soy sauce
- ½ teaspoon white granulated sugar
Chicken marinade:
- ½ teaspoon fish sauce
- ½ teaspoon regular soy sauce
Optional:
- 1 lime for serving
- 1 egg fried
Instructions
- Slice chicken thinly, about 0.75 cm thick.
- Marinate sliced chicken with marinade ingredients as listed. Set aside.
- Meanwhile, in a mortar and pestle (or food processor), pound (or pulse) red chili, and garlic until oils and juices release.
- In a separate bowl, combine sauce ingredients.
- In a hot wok set over medium high heat, add oil. Fry chicken until 75% cooked.
- Add chili garlic paste and mix with chicken. Push everything to the side. Add more oil if needed into empty space.
- Throw in rice and toss to mix.
- Pour in sauce and toss again until granules are coated in sauce. Note: it is fine if your rice is a bit moist as this fried rice is more on the saucier side than dry.
- Mix in fresh basil. Remove off heat and enjoy optionally with a fried egg and lime juice.
Notes
- Remove chicken and sub with tofu
- Sub the oyster sauce with vegetarian stir fry sauce by Lee Kum Kee
- Sub the fish sauce with vegan fish or omit completely and add double the quantity of regular soy sauce
Casey
I have made this dish multiple times and absolutely love it. I like to throw in some veggies just to make it a complete meal, but either way it is delicious!
Christie Lai
Thanks so much for making my recipe and so happy to hear that you found it delicious, Casey!
Brittany
Made this tonight! It was so good! I didn’t have fish sauce so had to use more soy sauce. Im going to the store to buy fish sauce and make it again! We did it with shrimp
Christie Lai
Thank you so much for making my recipe and leaving such a positive review, Brittany! Glad it worked out with soy sauce as a sub and I hope you enjoy it with fish sauce too 🙂 Have a wonderful day!
Emily
This was excellent! The kids ate it and the adults went back for seconds. I didn't plan ahead and had to use fresh rice, but will do so next time. Also had to sub Sriracha for the chili because their wasn't one to be had anywhere near me. Thanks for the recipe. Will be making again.
christieathome
Thanks so much for making my recipe, Emily! I'm so glad your family enjoyed it and the sriracha is a great idea for a sub!
Sai
Okay this recipe is a 10 out of 10! It was really good. I was hesitant at first when I measured out the sauce, I was thinking I might have to double it but I’m so happy I didn’t. It had the perfect amount of flavor and spice.
I did tweak it a little here and there. Like I added 4 1/2 garlic cloves, I love garlic, and two Thai chili peppers. I also did 1 teaspoon of the sauces for the chicken marinade instead of 1/2 teaspoon. Also I put the garlic and chilis in a plastic bag and smashed it with a bread roller, it worked like a charm.
I topped it off with some bean sprouts and it was amazing!
This is my new favorite go to fried rice recipe. I will be making it again!
christieathome
Thanks so much for making and leaving this very kind review, Sai! I'm so glad you enjoyed it with the tweaks 🙂 Smart idea in placing the garlic and chilis in a bag to grind them. Appreciate you sharing this tip for those without a mortar and pestle! Have a great day - Christie
Stacey Benjamin
I can’t find Thai basil or red chilies in my area. Is there something that I can use to substitute these two ingredients?
christieathome
Hi Stacey, feel free to sub with normal or Italian basil. As for the chilis, if you can find dried whole red chilies and rehydrate them before pounding in the mortar and pestle. The chili is essential to this dish. You could use red chili pepper flakes as a very last resort but only enough to taste.
Tasia ~ two sugar bugs
This is one of my husband and my favorite Thai dishes!! We usually use ground pork, but I cannot wait to try your version. We'll make ours nice and spicy and definitely with a fried egg!
Lauren - BasicGinger.com
I am such a sucker for anything with Thai basil, I cannot wait to make this! Beautifully done! Thanks for sharing!
christieathome
Thanks so much! I hope you enjoy it!
Susan Galbraith
Thai Basil Chicken Fried Rice tasted just like my favorite Thai restaurant. I modified the recipe a little adding red bell pepper and onion as well as omitting sugar but added some Sweet Chili Sauce. I only had 1/2 cup basil so shredded a few Kaffir line leaves and mixed in with basil leaves to add at the end.
christieathome
Fantastic! Very happy to read this kind review! Glad the modifications also worked out as well. Thanks for making my recipe, Susan!
Katherine | Love In My Oven
I've been growing Thai basil and only using it for Thai basil chicken, so now I have another use for it 🙂 Looks so delicious - Etienne and I love all things spicy! And Thai!
Alex
We love Thai Basil so much in our household, so this fried rice is definitely a favourite - gorgeous flavours!
Josiah - DIY Thrill
This fried rice looks really tasty!
Heidi | The Frugal Girls
Your amazing rice dish looks so so tempting!! Making your fried rice with avocado oil is so smart, and I love the basil and chillies you added!
Never Ending Journeys
This fried rice bowl looks so flavorful! I absolutely love how this dish is Thai, too - one of the best cuisines!
Katerina | Once a Foodie
Ohhh yum! This looks amazing, Christie. I might turn the heat down for the kids, by omitting the chillies, but otherwise this is definitely going to become a family favourite around here - we love fried rice and this looks just marvellous.
Michelle | Sift & Simmer
Love all the flavours (and chillies) happening in this Thai spicy basil fried rice! I could use a bowl right now! YUM!