Comments on: The "Original" Thai Holy Basil Stir Fry with Beef (Pad Kra Pao)

By: Jade

Jade — Mon, 02 Jun 2025 19:24:01 +0000

Made this tonight and it was…DELICIOUS! Thank you Pailin, your recipes are wonderful and take me back to a beach in Thailand on holiday!

By: Ken

Ken — Mon, 06 Jan 2025 20:11:27 +0000

How do you recommend storing a big batch of chilly garlic paste for the week? I usually make a hefty portion in the food processor but the aroma is usually gone by the 3rd day or so.

By: Reed

Reed — Sun, 24 Nov 2024 07:52:07 +0000

Love this recipe. Wish I could find Holy basil, but it must be considered invasive or something. In whole, Thai ingredients are fairly rare in Calgary.

Thanks Pailin!

By: Pailin Chongchitnant

Pailin Chongchitnant — Sat, 03 Aug 2024 20:19:56 +0000

In reply to Yvonne. Just leave it out entirely for her and it'll still be tasty! You can do that with any recipes on my site to modify it for kids!

By: Yvonne

Yvonne — Sat, 20 Jul 2024 06:03:09 +0000

Have made a few of your recipes and this is next on my list! Preparing to take my 10yo to Thailand later this year - she has been a picky eater, but she is branching out and enjoying new things, with a focus on Thai due to our upcoming travels. Wondering what you would suggest with regards to chilis here? She will not like anything hot (a tiny bit of heat in anything can send her to not eat it). Would she still find it tasty if I leave out the chilis for her portion and add them in after I remove hers?

By: Kevin

Kevin — Wed, 03 Jul 2024 19:59:35 +0000

So good!!! I taught English in Chiang Mai for a few years and pad kra pao was my lunchtime dish along with a rotation of others, but something about pad kra pao and the fried egg, with the spice, the prik nam pla and a splash of vinegar, it was my every other day meal. Coming back home to America, unfortunately this absolute treasure of a dish is often left off of Thai menus. I was so happy to try this recipe and found the absolute magic of this dish is the fish sauce and extra spiciness. It is the best, I love to add in some grilled onions and some kind of green bean or broccoli with it. Still wondering why I never took a cooking class while I was there!! First on my list if I can visit again. Thank you!!

By: Arun Navaneethan

Arun Navaneethan — Tue, 07 May 2024 12:32:06 +0000

Incredibly yum.

By: Anna

Anna — Fri, 05 Apr 2024 01:01:56 +0000

This recipe is absolutely incredible, I felt love in every bite. Perfect blend of salty, spicy, and herbaceous with plenty of umami. I had garlic chives that needed to be used up, so I added a good half cup or so of those and some sliced carrots for extra veggies. I had Thai basil to use on hand and mini bell peppers instead of mild Chile, but I did add the Thai hot chilies. The flavor was stunning. Thank you for sharing, I love all of your recipes so much!

By: Veronika Santamaria

Veronika Santamaria — Tue, 14 Nov 2023 04:06:18 +0000

Amazing, just like Thailand. My husband loved it.

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 20 Sep 2023 00:58:13 +0000

Pai! This was seriously delicious in every way possible. It embodies what I love about Thai food, the utter balance of flavors. This left me wishing I had a bigger stomach so I could eat more. So easy and so incredibly good. I used fresh, Italian basil from my garden and it was perfect. Can't wait for the day I actually see Holy Basil in the store and can make this again using it.

By: Sandy

Sandy — Mon, 18 Sep 2023 16:05:00 +0000

This was so easy and super yummy! So much so, I made it two days in a row. On the second day I did add veggies: carrots and asparagus.
This is the third recipe of Pai's that I have made and all are stellar 🙂

By: Brian

Brian — Sun, 10 Sep 2023 13:21:38 +0000

It is a regular, to the point I do not look at the recipe anymore. The only change I make is to use thinly sliced flank steak. We just prefer the texture. It is also a bit easier to eat with chop sticks.

By: Hendrik

Hendrik — Sat, 19 Aug 2023 09:40:17 +0000

A note on metric measurements: For you to use a metric measurements is very welcome, for these two "translate" at the push of a button very comfortable. But! The metric ingredients for one dish of this recipe include a staggering "340 g ground beef, regular or lean". Really? And while I'm aware that the recipe uses what seems like quite a lot of herb, 30 g still seem way overdone. Also the metric world does not measure granulated sugar, let alone chopped up chilies as volume. It has invented scales for this purpose. Why would I want to transfer chili bits to a measuring cup, then try frantically to discern the level they reach, knowing fully well that if I give the measuring cup a little shake the level will be different. What I'm trying to say is to have an underlying algorithm that simply employs equivalents between milliliters and cups doesn't work. I'm afraid you would actually have to take both measurements while preparing the dish and thus prepare an underlying table of figures for the button push mechanism.

By: Hendrik

Hendrik — Wed, 16 Aug 2023 11:35:07 +0000

Here in Germany I have never come across holy basil aka Tulsi - neither as a harvested herb nor as a plant. What I did come across though a few years ago is what is sold here as African Bush Basil. Wikipedia has it down as African blue basil, see here
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_blue_basil

Like holy basil it seems to have a lot of camphor. It tastes a little bitter, a little peppery and I've used it as a substitute in pad gaprao several times. While I have no comparison with the original ingredient it tastes perfectly fine to me and PG has become one of my favorite dishes.

To boot African Blue Back grows exceedingly well on my balcony in our temperate climate - lots of leaves to harvest. I would say I could dish out four servings of PG every week with lots of basil in it easily. If you cut it back in the late autumn and take the pot inside where it's not too warm you can use it for two or three years in a row.

By: Pailin Chongchitnant

Pailin Chongchitnant — Thu, 10 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

In reply to Nolly. Hi! So the leaves shouldn't be hard.. so probably not the same thing. Tulsi is theoretically supposed to be the same but it doesn't sound like that's the right one. If you want to send a photo of the leaves to the email under "contact" we can try to investigate further!

By: Nolly

Nolly — Tue, 08 Aug 2023 05:39:58 +0000

Thank you for always showing nice recipes! I have a question about "Holy Basil". I've been struggling to find the correct "Holy Basil" in Japan. I'm a cooking researcher who's never visited Thailand! I wish I could ask you directly. Anyway, my client asked me to use real fresh holy basil to making Gapao, but it is impossible to get fresh holy basil in a shop here so I bought seeds and planted them. I've gotten some leaves recently, however, I think this is not the same one that you showed on the video. I think mine is "tulsi". The leaves are hard like plastic! Do you think it will work as well for these your holy basil recipes?

By: Katy

Katy — Sat, 17 Jun 2023 10:59:16 +0000

Genius, why have I never thought to separate the eggs to get a crispy white and runny yolk before?!! Thank you!

By: Charles Pascual

Charles Pascual — Thu, 08 Jun 2023 02:05:32 +0000

Very nice recipe - straight-forward and easy to follow. The video is especially helpful. I looked it up because I had Thai basil I needed to use. I had no Fresno chiles, so I used Jalapeños - otherwise, I followed your recipe as written. Mine was a bit spicier than the dish according to the recipe but it was fine - even my wife who doesn't like food as spicy as I do, said it was good. Thank you for the fried egg tip.