Inspired by the flavours of Pad Kra Pao, this Thai Basil Butter Fried Rice is my little reimagining of the dish, taking that fragrant combination of chilli, garlic, savoury beef and basil and turning it into one ridiculously delicious fried rice.
The twist is butter, which gives everything an extra richness before the rice gets tossed through all that spicy, salty, slightly sweet goodness. My parents absolutely love this one, and considering my dad isn’t even much of a spicy eater, I feel like that says a lot.
Top it with a crispy sunny side up egg and honestly, it might just make you forget every other fried rice you’ve ever had.
Serves: 3 generous portions or 4 smaller portions
INGREDIENTS
To roughly blend:
- 3 shallots
- 6–7 cloves garlic
- 6–7 bird’s eye chillies, adjusted according to your preferred spice level
Other ingredients:
- 3 cups cooked day-old jasmine rice
- 2–3 tbsp butter
- 300g minced beef
- 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- 4–5 tbsp fish sauce, to taste
- 2 generous handfuls fresh Thai basil leaves
- Salt (if needed) & lots of sugar, to taste
- Sunny side up eggs, to serve (optional)
HOW TO MAKE IT
- Add the shallots, garlic and bird’s eye chillies into a food processor and roughly blend. You don’t want to turn them into a smooth paste – leave a little texture.
- Melt the butter in a large wok over medium-high heat.
- Add the blended shallot, garlic and chilli mixture and sauté until softened and beautifully fragrant.
- Add the minced beef and cook, breaking it apart as you go, until browned and the beef fat has started to render.
- Add the fish sauce, oyster sauce and dark soy sauce. Mix everything well so the beef is evenly coated.
- Taste and add sugar to balance the saltiness of the sauces. You want enough to round everything out without making the fried rice noticeably sweet. Add salt only if needed.
- Add the day-old jasmine rice and toss everything together over medium-high heat until every grain is well coated and the rice is piping hot.
- Add the fresh Thai basil right at the end and toss briefly until just wilted and fragrant. Avoid cooking it for too long so you don’t lose its distinctive flavour.
- Serve immediately, topped with a crispy sunny side up egg if you like.
Watch the video HERE.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
1. Why should I use day-old rice?
Day-old rice has less moisture, which helps the grains stay separate when fried instead of becoming soft or mushy. If you only have freshly cooked rice, allow it to cool completely. Refrigerating it for a few hours before frying will help even more.
2. What type of rice works best?
I highly recommend fragrant jasmine rice for this recipe. Its aroma works beautifully with the chilli, garlic, fish sauce and fresh Thai basil.
3. Can I substitute the minced beef?
Yes. Minced chicken works really well too! Even other proteins like seafood.
4. How spicy is this fried rice?
Six to seven bird’s eye chillies will give you a proper spicy kick, but you can easily adjust this. For something milder, start with 2–3 chillies. For medium heat, use around 4–5.
5. Can I substitute the Thai basil?
I really wouldn’t recommend replacing Thai basil with regular basil for this recipe because the flavour is completely different.
6. Why use butter instead of oil?
Butter is what makes my version a little different. It gives the shallots, garlic and chilli a deeper richness, and once it combines with the rendered beef fat, fish sauce and basil, you get an incredibly flavourful base for the rice.
7. Why does the recipe need sugar?
There’s quite a lot of savouriness coming from the fish sauce, oyster sauce and dark soy sauce, so the sugar helps balance everything. The fried rice shouldn’t taste sweet. Add just enough sugar to soften the saltiness and bring all the flavours together.
8. Is the fried egg necessary?
No, but I highly recommend it. A crispy-edged sunny side up egg with a runny yolk works ridiculously well with the spicy, buttery fried rice!
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