Thai Basil Chicken Bowls
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A 30-minute meal with less than 400 calories per serving? YES AND YES!!! It’s so quick to whip up, budget-friendly, and SO GOOD!
Guys, I get to share yet another cookbook recipe today!
Now this is just 1 of 115 recipes included in my meal prep cookbook, available February 5th! And yes, nutritional information is available for all 115 recipes!
But more importantly, this is hands-down my absolute favorite recipe in the entire book.
I’m not really sure why. I love all the recipes in the book – I do – but I make this at least once a week!
It doesn’t require too many ingredients and I can whip this up as quickly as 10 minutes on some nights. I cheat and use the Trader Joe’s 3-minute microwave jasmine rice on those days – but hey, we all got those shortcuts in the freezer, right?
Oh and guys, here’s the kicker. It’s meal-prep friendly and it’s less than 400 calories a serving. Boom.
Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iTunes / Indiebound
Thai Basil Chicken Bowls
Ingredients
- 1 cup jasmine rice
- ½ cup chicken stock
- 3 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 ½ tablespoons light brown sugar
- 1 ½ tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 shallots, thinly sliced
- 1 red Thai chili pepper, thinly sliced
- 1 ¼ pounds ground chicken breast
- 1 ½ cups packed fresh basil leaves
Instructions
- Cook rice according to package instructions; set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together chicken stock, soy sauce, fish sauce, brown sugar and vinegar; set aside.
- Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic, shallots and chili pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes.
- Add ground chicken and cook until browned, about 3-5 minutes, making sure to crumble the chicken as it cooks; drain excess fat.
- Stir in stock mixture and cook, stirring constantly, until the sauce has thickened, about 2-3 minutes. Stir in basil until just wilted, about 30 seconds.
- Divide rice into bowls. Top with chicken mixture.*
- Serve immediately.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious!
I also wasn’t sure how this would turn out, but it was so good!! And easy!! And it gets a thumbs up from my kids too! Thank you for helping us cook simply and eat healthier!
You are so welcome, Teresa! We are happy you found us! 🙂
This was SO GOOD! I reduced the basil a bit. Oh, and I used sliced boneless, skinless chicken breasts instead of ground chicken. Had to cook a little longer, but no draining fat! I used a red Thai chili pepper which was very small and packed plenty of heat. Delicious!
Those are great modifications. Thanks for sharing, Kate!
Love this recipe, it’s great for meal prep. The flavors in your sauces are always so delicious that making substitutions here & there or adding veggies is STILL always yummy!! Can’t wait to eat this for lunch tomorrow!!
Awesome!
So delicious! Mariano’s was out of red chili pepper so I just used red chili pepper seasoning, also used sweet onion and Dorot frozen basil since that’s what I had at home. I live in Wicker Park next to my favorite restaurant in Chicago- Silli Kori. We used to order from there multiple times a week, but now after finding your site we’re down to once a month! Would love if you posted a pad Thai recipe!
Great recipe! So easy and tastes like my favorite dish at my favorite Thai restaurant.
Thanks for sharing.
We loved this meal, but heating the chilis totally smoked us out of the kitchen! We were both coughing and wheezing and it was a whole event (kind of funny, then really frustrating, and then funny again). Do you have any suggestions on how to avoid this? We’d love to make this again!
Oh no! I’m so sorry to hear that! Have you tried cooking the peppers on a lower heat?
As I was making this, I was like, yeah this might not be so good. But then I tasted it, and YES! It really is delicious! I added some mushrooms and broccoli around the end of the chicken browning, since I wanted some more veg in there. I also added a tsp of cornstarch in the sauce but not sure it made too much difference. My husband and I ate this all up! Delish!!
We are so happy you liked it! Great additions with the extra veggies! 🙂
This is the best chicken basil recipe out there and simple too – with easy to find ingredients. I made this last night and it’s definitely going into our easy weeknight rotation. The pepper adds just the right amount of heat, not too much, just a little zing and lovely thai flavor. I would have liked the sauce to be just a tad thicker. This one did not thicken. Next time I’ll add a touch of cornstarch to the sauce to get it a bit thicker.
Thanks so much for your feedback, Amy!
I can’t find Thai chili peppers – is there a substitute
for this?
You can substitute cayenne peppers, which is at least half the heat of a Thai pepper. Hope that helps, Monika!
Thank you for your help, Chungah!
Amazing! I love making this for a quick dinner!
Great!
Hi Chungah,
I made this before your new cookbook was released. It really was damn delicious. The only thing we changed was adding shredded chicken as we had that on hand. My five year old daughter adored it as well! I own both of your cookbooks now. I think I went through the meal prep book Feb 6th nearly cover to cover! The day after it was released!
Keep up the great work!!!
From you biggest fan,
Laura
Thank you so much, Laura!
We made this Saturday night, and it was delicious!! I used cayenne instead of the Thai pepper, mainly because that was what I had. I think next time I’ll use chili garlic paste and omit the garlic, and maybe brown the chicken with the chili paste.
Great idea!
This looks delicious but I am allergic to seafood and can’t use fish sauce. Do you have a good substitute?
Here are some possible substitutes: https://food52.com/blog/22057-how-to-substitute-for-fish-sauce-in-a-pinch.
How spicy are thai chili peppers? Looks delicious, can’t wait to try it!
Thai chili peppers are spicy, but you can always omit from the dish to suit your spice tolerance levels.
This was fantastic! My picky husband and 6 year old son both ate it all! My son loved it! I only had chicken thighs so I just diced them and cooked it the same way. I used a banana pepper since I couldn’t find the thai chili and it was great. This will be added to my rotation!
Great!
OMG it was delicious! I didn’t have shallots so substituted a yellow onion. Added a bit more garlic and used diced chicken breast instead of ground. Served over brown rice. This will become a regular dinner. Loved It!
Great way to improvise!
Thai Basil Chicken is one of my all time favorite things to order when eating out! Can’t wait to try this! I use your recipes on a regular basis and have loved everything! Question- I only have apple cider vinegar on hand. Is that an okay substitute for the rice vinegar for this dish?
Yes! I find that the best substitute for rice vinegar is apple cider vinegar, but as always, please use your best judgment when making substitutions and modifications.
This looks delicious! Do you recommend Thai basil or will regular basil do?
Thai basil is truly best in this dish. 🙂
I lived in Thailand for a year and this was hands down my FAVORITE comfort food while I was there. This was my first attempt at making it on my own and it was fantastic. Couldn’t find Thai chili or holy basil at any of our local stores so opted for regular and added in a bit of Thai chili paste and it still turned out perfect. In northeast Thailand they always served with a fried egg on top which I added and HIGHLY recommend! Even my picky boyfriend loved this dish. So easy and inexpensive and I definitely see this becoming a regular dinner in our home. Thank you so much for this!
Thank you so much for your feedback, Lucy! We’re so glad this was a winner for you!
I LOVE that you now have nutritional information including calories per serving. Thank you Chunga!