3-Chili Thai Basil Fried Rice Recipe (2024)

I wanted a fried rice recipe that really celebrates the flavours of chilies - not just their heat. This fried rice features not one, not two, but three different types of chilies, combined with the fragrance of Thai basil to tie it all together! And no, it doesn't make this dish overwhelmingly spicy, and you can indeed customize the heat level while still preserving all the delicious chili flavour. It's not something I created out of thin air, but a traditional Thai dish (with a couple of tweaks from me)!

Chili #1 - Thai Chili Paste (nam prik pao)

In Thai, this dish is called kao pad nam prik pao, translated simply as Thai chili paste fried rice. So our chili #1 is Thai chili paste or nam prik pao, also known as chili jam. It's the sweet and savoury umami-loaded ingredient that is used in many Thai dishes including the world famous tom yum goong. Though this is an ingredient most people buy, you can make your own homemade chili paste relatively easily.

Chili #2 - Roasted Chili Flakes (prik pon)

While Thai chili paste is delicious, it's very mild, so most of the heat in this dish is going to come from our second chili: roasted chili flakes. This is where you get to customize the heat level so add as much or as little as you like.

You can buy red pepper flakes, and then toast them in a dry pan over low heat, stirring constantly, until the get a little smokey. Or do it the Thai way by starting with whole dried spicy chilies, such as chile de arbol, and toasting them until charred spots form on the surface before grinding them into flakes. Check out this short Instagram video of me making this. It's a staple condiment in any Thai home, and is what we use as an all-purpose heat booster for any dish.

Chili #3 - Fresh Chilies (prik sod)

Both chilies 1 and 2 are dried, so a little freshness is needed. The third chili is any kind of fresh chilies you like, and you can go a little milder here given that the heat is already coming from chili #2 (or go hot if you like the burn!). These will serve as refreshing pops of fruitiness (if using red chilies) or grassiness (if using green) that I think is important here.

Jalapenos, fresnos, serranos are great spicy options, and the seeds and pith can be removed for less heat. If you don't want any more heat, anaheim or bell pepper will work beautifully. In Thailand we often use the mild spur chilies or prik chee fa for this purpose.

Ingredients You'll Need

Here are all the ingredients you'll need. The chicken can be substituted with any other protein you like. Tofu works beautifully in this recipe.

• Chicken, or another protein
• Thai basil
• Roasted chili flakes
• Diced onion
• Eggs
• Fish sauce
• Thai chili paste
• Fresh chilies
• Garlic
• Cooked jasmine rice

Step-By-Step:

Here's a bird's eye view of the process, but be sure to check out thefull video tutorialin the recipe card below to ensure success!

1. Marinate the chicken with soy sauce, sugar and water.
2. If the rice is hot, spread it out so that it can dry out a bit and it will separate more easily in the wok.
3. Sear the chicken until browned, then cook it through, and remove from the wok.
4. Scramble the eggs, and remove from the wok.

5. Saute garlic and roasted chili flakes in oil until the chili flakes smell a bit smokey.
6. Add the rice and toss briefly.
7. Add the chili paste and fish sauce and toss briefly.
8. Add onions and then toss until there are no more rice clumps.

9. Add chicken and eggs back in and toss.
10. Add fresh chilies.
11. Add Thai basil and toss just until wilted.
12. Serve with cucumber slices and add a squeeze of lime before eating!

3 Pro Tips for the Perfect Fried Rice with No Clumps!

Making fried rice is easy in theory, but many people run into issues of mushy rice, clumpy rice, or rice that tastes like "mixed rice" rather than fried rice with that nice toasted flavour. As a chef who has worked in restaurants that churn out fried rice, here are some tips to help you with these issues.

Your rice needs to start out DRY...but you don't need day-old rice.

We're adding wet things, i.e. the sauce, meat, veggies, so if the rice starts out already too moist, you risk clumpy or mushy rice. This is not a problem with commercial stoves with very high heat that dry out the sauce quickly. But at home we generally have weaker stoves, and we tend to crowd the pan cuz we're feeding a family of 4. So what to do?

If you have cold, old rice in the fridge, great. That will help because the rice dries and loses stickiness when chilled, so they separate better in the pan. But if you don't have leftover rice, it is NOT a problem at all. Here are somethings you can do.

• If you're making fresh rice, add a little less water. For jasmine rice, use a 1 to 1 ratio of rice to water, instead of the usual 1 to 1.25.
• If you already have hot rice made, spread the rice out onto a plate while you prep so that more steam can escape and it can cool and dry. If you have extra time once it's cooled to room temp, you can stick it in the fridge to cool it further.

Allow your rice to "sit and sear"

After the rice has mixed thoroughly with the sauce, don't rush it. Let it sit and sear for 10-15 seconds at a time, depending on the heat of your stove, so that the rice can toast and brown. This is where the flavour develops. Remember this is fried rice, not "mixed rice". See how I do this in the video at minute 06:45.

Always use marinated protein

You've got delicious fried rice, but it's being interrupted by pieces of bland, dry boneless skinless chicken breast...a common a way to spoil an otherwise perfect dish! So if using chicken, pork, beef, or even tofu, always marinate to give them flavour so they don't take away from the rice.

Shrimp isn't usually an issue though because they are more flavourful to start, so you don't need to marinade them.

A simple soy sauce or fish sauce marinade is fine, but I like to add a little sugar to help with browning (and flavour) and a little bit of water which will get absorbed into the meat like a brine and make it extra juicy. The water also gives us a bigger buffer in case we accidentally overcook the meat, which is easy to do!

Frequently Asked Questions

Before you start, be sure to watch the video tutorial to ensure success!I always include little tips and tricks not mentioned in the blog post. The video is in the recipe card below, but you can alsowatch it on YouTube!

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