This is a ground chicken stir-fry built around garlic, red chilli, fish sauce, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and fresh basil, finished with broccoli and snow peas. It genuinely comes together in 20 minutes — not as a marketing claim, but because ground chicken cooks through in under five minutes and the sauce goes in all at once. If you need dinner on the table before anyone starts complaining, this is the recipe.
The technique that matters
High heat is the whole game here. The pan needs to be properly hot before the garlic and chilli go in — not warm, not medium, genuinely hot. That first sizzle is what builds the flavour base the rest of the dish depends on. The second thing worth knowing: don’t stir the ground chicken constantly once it hits the pan. Let it sit for 30–45 seconds at a time so it browns rather than steams. Ground poultry releases moisture quickly, and if you keep moving it, you end up with grey, stewed meat instead of something with a bit of colour and texture. Cook it to an internal temperature of 165°F (74°C) — no pink, no exceptions.
Ingredient notes
- Fish sauce: Smells aggressive straight from the bottle. That’s normal. It mellows completely when it hits a hot pan and blends with the other sauces — don’t skip it or the dish tastes flat.
- Sweet basil vs. Thai holy basil: This recipe uses sweet basil, which is easy to find at any supermarket. Holy basil has a slightly more peppery, clove-like edge, but sweet basil works well and won’t leave you hunting specialty stores on a weeknight.
- Oyster sauce: Thick and sweet-savoury. If you’re out, hoisin sauce is a workable substitute in the same quantity, though the flavour shifts slightly sweeter.
- Red chilli: Heat level varies a lot between individual chillis. Taste yours before slicing — if it’s very hot, use less than the recipe calls for and adjust at the end.
What can go wrong
- Watery pan, no browning: Caused by overcrowding or too-low heat. Use a large wok or skillet and resist adding extra vegetables until the chicken is cooked through and any liquid has evaporated.
- Sauce burns before the chicken is done: The sauces go in after the chicken is cooked, not before. Adding them too early over high heat scorches the sugars in the oyster sauce and turns bitter.
- Broccoli still raw in the middle: Broccoli needs a head start. Add it to the pan before the snow peas and give it 2–3 minutes. Snow peas only need about 60 seconds or they go limp.
- Dish tastes one-dimensional: Usually means the garlic and chilli didn’t get enough time in the hot oil at the start. That 30-second fry before the chicken goes in isn’t optional — it’s where the base flavour comes from.
- Basil turns black and slimy: Basil goes in off the heat or right at the very end. Prolonged high heat destroys it. Stir it through, then plate immediately.
Make-ahead notes
The sauce — fish sauce, soy sauce, and oyster sauce — can be mixed and stored in a small jar in the fridge for up to a week, which cuts your active cook time down to almost nothing on the night. Cooked leftovers keep well in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Reheat in a hot skillet for 2–3 minutes rather than the microwave; it brings back some of the texture and prevents the chicken from going rubbery. Skip the basil when reheating — add a few fresh leaves on top after. This dish doesn’t freeze well; the broccoli and snow peas turn waterlogged on thawing.
20-Minute Thai Chilli Basil Chicken Stir Fry
Ingredients
1 large chicken breast - ground
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon olive oil
½ medium onion - diced
1 clove garlic - crushed- 2 medium red chilies - thinly sliced
½ cup basil - chopped
2 cups broccoli
1 cup snow peas
1 ½ teaspoon soy sauce - low-sodium
1 ½ teaspoon fish sauce
1 ½ tablespoon oyster sauce
Instructions
- Heat a frypan to medium heat.
- Cut the snow peas in half, and add the snow peas and broccoli to the pan. Cook the veggies for a couple of minutes until softened but still crunchy. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Add the olive oil, garlic and chicken to the pan, season with black pepper and cook for a few minutes until cooked through.
- Add the snow peas, broccoli, onion, chilli and basil to the pan, then add the soy sauce, fish sauce and oyster sauce. Let the stir fry simmer for a few minutes until the sauce is well combined and the onion is soft.
- Remove the stir fry from heat and serve over rice or noodles.
Nutrition
Common questions
Can I use ground turkey instead of ground chicken?
Yes, ground turkey works as a straight swap in the same quantity. Like ground chicken, it needs to reach 165°F (74°C) internally and should not be served pink — the same high-heat, don’t-over-stir approach applies.
I don’t have a wok. Can I use a regular frying pan?
A large, heavy skillet works fine — cast iron or stainless steel are better choices than non-stick here because they handle the high heat without issue. The main thing is surface area: use the biggest pan you have so the chicken spreads out and browns instead of steaming.
How do I tone down the heat without losing flavour?
Remove the seeds and white membrane from the chilli before slicing — most of the heat lives there. You can also reduce the number of chillis by half and the dish still has plenty of flavour from the garlic and sauces.
More mince recipes to try
- Savory Pork Noodle Stir-Fry
- Authentic Szechuan Dan Dan
- Japanese Pork Lettuce Cups
- Quick Lamb Coconut Rendang
