This Thai Basil Chicken Stir Fry is an easy midweek meal with just 10 minutes of prep and 10 minutes of cooking. With juicy chicken and thick sticky sauce, this is just like take out, but with a healthy twist. This dish has big, bold flavours reminiscent of Thai street food and once you start cooking, it will be on the table quickly.
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Why This Recipe Works
- Its just 10 minutes of prep, and its under 500 calories
- Its a healthy take on Thai Basil Chicken and great for low calorie meal prep
- Its a one pot meal - everything cooks in the wok
- The chicken is coated in rich and sticky aromatic sauce
- Its a great low carb option if you're eating clean, like these Air Fryer Turkey Meatballs
- It works with whatever veges you have on hand
- Its made with tender, juicy skinless chicken thigh, although you could also make it with prawns/shrimp, chicken breast, or ground chicken/chicken mince
- Makes great leftovers for lunch like this healthy sweet and sour chicken
- Its easy to make more or less spicy depending on your preferences
Ingredients
You can buy everything you need at the supermarket, no special trips to the Asian store needed.
Ingredient Notes
- Chicken: chicken thigh is best with this recipe as it has more flavour, however if you're opposed to using thigh, chicken breast would work.
- Thai Basil: Thai basil is usually available in the fresh food section of most big supermarkets. Thai basil is stronger than regular basil and has a slightly aniseed flavour which makes it perfect for Asian dishes.
- Chilli: remove seeds from chillies for a mild flavoured dish. For more heat, leave some (probably not all!) of the seeds in. It may seem like a lot of chilli, but it works.
- Capsicum: I used half red and half green capsicum, but use whatever colours you can get your hands on.
- Kecap Manis: this is a sweet soy sauce, available in the Asian food aisle of supermarkets. If you can't find it, regular soy can be used with the addition of an extra teaspoon of natural sweetener.
- Granulated sweetener: I used monkfruit sweetener which measures like sugar. Alternatively you can use another natural sweetener that measures like sugar such as stevia.
Steps To Make This Recipe
- Add all the sauce ingredients into a jug, whisk together and set aside.
- Heat a non stick wok on high heat, add oil and chicken, stir fry chicken until cooked through, (a few minutes).
- Add red and green capsicum and snow peas. Stir fry for 1- 2 minutes.
- Add diced chillies and stir through.
- Pour over sauce and stir though for 1- 2 minutes. Sauce will begin to thicken.
- Remove from heat, and add spring onions/shallots and stir through. Add thai basil and stir through.
Making dinners under 500 calories is my specialty, with many of my most popular being low calorie chicken recipes, low calorie meal prepping recipes and low calorie slow cooker recipes.
How To Serve
Regular Option: Steamed jasmine rice, brown rice, or your favourite noodles.
Low Carb Option: cauliflower rice, zucchini noodles, or low carb noodles.
(Note: A few extra thai basil leaves sprinkled on top adds a nice freshness as well)
Thai Basil vs Regular Basil
Thai basil has smaller leaves, a green-purple stem and is much stronger and spicier than regular basil. Thai basil also has an aniseed fragrance and taste. Because it's stronger in taste and flavour than regular Italian basil, less is required to make a delicious and punchy Asian stirfry.
Italian basil on the other hand has more delicate leaves, green stems and a sweet and slightly peppery taste.
Expert Tips To Make This Dish
- Best substitute for Thai Basil: Use regular basil if you can't find thai basil. However you'll need to use twice as much of it as its not as strong.
- Sweetener: Use a granulated sweetener in this recipe to keep it low carb, or alternatively you could use a teaspoon of raw honey.
- Vegetable substitutions: instead of capsicums, use chopped zucchini. Instead of sugar snap peas, use snow peas. Asian vegetables like boy choy, pack choy and choy sum roughly chopped into pieces would also work.
- Serving Size: this recipe makes 4 generous servings when served with rice or noodles.
- Storing: store leftovers in an air tight container in the fridge. Reheat and eat within 2 days.
- Freezing: Freeze without rice in serving sized containers, or as a complete meal with noodles. (Freezing with the rice soaks up too much of the sauce)
This is such a quick and easy dish to make that I have it on rotation and make it at least once every 7 days. I love it because its a low calorie chicken recipe so packed with flavour, I can make it low carb with cauliflower rice and it reheats well from lunch the next day! My Healthy General Tso Chicken is also another low calorie favorite perfect for busy weeknights.
More Quick Asian Dishes:
- Healthy Gochujang Chicken Bites
- Honey Chilli Chicken with Cashews
- Cashew Nut Chicken
- Slightly Spicy Salmon Stir fry
- 15 minute Sweet and Sour Fish
Thai Basil Chicken Stirfry
Ingredients
Chicken
- 500 grams Skinless Chicken Thigh - chopped into 2cm chunks
- 1 tablespoon peanut oil
Sauce
- 4 tablespoons Oyster Sauce
- 2 tablespoons Fish Sauce
- 2 tablespoons Kecap Manis
- 2 tablespoons Crushed garlic
- 1 teaspoon Granulated sweetener that measures like sweetener
- 2 tablespoons tap water
- 1 tablespoon Cornflour/cornstarch
Vegetables
- 2 Long red chilli - diced
- 1 Long green chilli - diced
- 1 cup Green Spring onions/shallots - chopped
- ½ cup thai basil leaves
- ½ cup Red Capsicum - chopped into 2cm pieces
- ½ cup Green Capsicum - chopped into 2cm pieces
- ½ cup Sugar snap peas - chopped
Instructions
- Add all the sauce ingredients into a jug, whisk together and set aside.
- Heat a non stick wok on high heat, add oil and chicken, stir fry chicken until cooked through, (a few minutes).
- Add red and green capsicum and snow peas. Stir fry for 1- 2 minutes.
- Add diced chillies and stir through.
- Pour over sauce and stir though for 1- 2 minutes. Sauce will begin to thicken.
- Remove from heat, and add spring onions/shallots and stir through. Add thai basil and stir through.
- Serve immediately with your favourite rice or noodles. (A few extra thai basil leave sprinkled on top adds a nice freshness as well)
Notes
- Chicken: chicken thigh is best with this recipe as it has more flavour, however if you're opposed to using thigh, chicken breast would work.
- Thai Basil: Thai basil is usually available in the fresh food section of most big supermarkets. Thai basil is stronger than regular basil and has a slightly aniseed flavour which makes it perfect for Asian dishes.
- Chilli: remove seeds from chillies for a mild flavoured dish. For more heat, leave some (probably not all!) of the seeds in. It may seem like a lot of chilli, but it works.
- Capsicum: I used half red and half green capsicum, but use whatever colours you can get your hands on.
- Granulated sweetener: I used monkfruit sweetener which measures like sugar. Alternatively you can use another natural sweetener that measures like sugar such as stevia.
- Kecap Manis: this is a sweet soy sauce, available in the Asian food aisle of supermarkets. If you can't find it, regular soy can be used with the addition of an extra teaspoon of sweetener.
- Vegetable substitutions: instead of capsicums, use chopped zucchini. Instead of sugar snap peas, use snow peas. Asian vegetables like boy choy, pack choy and choy sum roughly chopped into pieces would also work.
- Storing: store leftovers in an air tight container in the fridge. Reheat and eat within 2 days.
- Freezing: Freeze without rice in serving sized containers, or as a complete meal with noodles. (Freezing with the rice soaks up too much of the sauce)
Nutrition
Note: Sugars contained in this recipe are from naturally occurring sugars in fruits, vegetables or other natural sweeteners. Calories have been calculated for your convenience using My Fitness Pal and are based on the ingredients listed in the recipe card.
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