Thai-Style Chicken With Basil (Cook's Illustrated)

photo by Sandi From CA

- Ready In:
- 40mins
- Ingredients:
- 11
- Serves:
-
4
ingredients
- 2 cups fresh basil leaves (hot basil or Thai holy basil if you can find it)
- 3 medium garlic cloves, peeled
- 6 Thai green chili or 6 red Thai red chili peppers, stemmed
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce, plus extra for serving
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 teaspoon white vinegar, plus extra for serving
- 1 tablespoon sugar, plus extra for serving
- 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 2-inch pieces
- 3 medium shallots, peeled and thinly sliced (about 3/4 cup)
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- red pepper flakes, for serving
directions
- Process 1 cup basil leaves, garlic and chiles in food processor until finely chopped, 6 to 10 1-second pulses, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed (turn off processor first!).
- Transfer 1 tablespoon basil mixture to small bowl and stir in 1 tablespoon fish sauce, oyster sauce, vinegar and sugar; set aside. Transfer remaining basil mixture to 12-inch heavy-bottomed nonstick skillet. Do not wash food processor bowl.
- Pulse chicken and 1 tablespoon fish sauce in food processor until meat is chopped into approximate 1/4-inch pieces, six to eight 1-second pulses. [ NOTE: I used a blender and it started to make the chicken mushy, which was *not* what you want here. I stopped immediately and ended up hacking away at the remains with a cleaver. :o) ] Transfer to medium bowl and refrigerate 15 minutes.
- Stir shallots and oil into basil mixture in skillet. Heat over medium-low heat (mixture should start to sizzle after about 1 1/2 minutes; if it doesn't, adjust heat accordingly), stirring constantly, until garlic and shallots are golden brown, 5-8 minutes.
- Add chicken, increase heat to medium, and cook, stirring and breaking up chicken with potato masher or rubber spatula, until only traces of pink remain, 2 to 4 minutes. Add reserved basil-fish sauce mixture and continue to cook, stirring constantly until chicken is no longer pink, about 1 minute.
- Stir in remaining cup basil leaves and cook, stirring constantly, until basil is wilted, 30 to 60 seconds. Serve immediately, passing extra fish sauce, sugar, red pepper flakes and vinegar separately.
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Reviews
-
This was incredibly delicious and easy. I used Italian basil (which the recipe is actually written for), substituted apple cider vinegar for the white, and used two serranos (deseeded and tasted them for heat) instead of the thai chilis. If I can find a cheap source of basil, this will become a staple.<br/><br/>I served it with some plain salted brown rice.
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I've made this recipe from Cooks Illustrated many times and it is WONDERFUL!! My husband asks for it repeatedly and my picky 2 1/2 year old even enjoys it. We like that you can spice it up more or less to your own taste. The only change that we make is that I can't find Thai Chiles so we use a Serrano chili instead.
Tweaks
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This was incredibly delicious and easy. I used Italian basil (which the recipe is actually written for), substituted apple cider vinegar for the white, and used two serranos (deseeded and tasted them for heat) instead of the thai chilis. If I can find a cheap source of basil, this will become a staple.<br/><br/>I served it with some plain salted brown rice.
-
I've made this recipe from Cooks Illustrated many times and it is WONDERFUL!! My husband asks for it repeatedly and my picky 2 1/2 year old even enjoys it. We like that you can spice it up more or less to your own taste. The only change that we make is that I can't find Thai Chiles so we use a Serrano chili instead.
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
Sandi From CA
Arcadia, California