Traditional Pad Kra Pao Moo Recipe (Thai Holy Basil Pork)

What makes this the original version?

Pad kra pao—also written pad krapow or pad gaprao—is named for holy basil. The defining combination is meat, a garlic-and-chilli paste, and plenty of holy basil. Soy, oyster sauce, fish sauce and a little sugar are useful seasonings, but they should support the savoury flavour rather than turn it sweet. That is consistent with the Thai government’s description of the dish’s core ingredients and balance.

This card preserves the original family quantities from our source recipe: 300 g ground pork, five to ten bird’s-eye chillies, five to six garlic cloves, holy basil and the listed sauce. Daniel liked it particularly hot and used twelve chillies; that is a personal preference, not the required amount.

Get everything ready before turning on the heat. Once the garlic and chilli hit the pan, the cooking moves quickly. For general Thai pantry help, see our Thai ingredients guide.

Our milder family variation: fewer chillies and optional beans

This is a practical home adaptation, not a claim that there is one standard “family” version of pad kra pao. It keeps the same savoury pork-and-basil direction but lowers the starting heat and adds green beans for another texture. The Thai baseline and the variation are clearly separated so you can choose the plate you want.

Ingredients for 2 servings

• 300 g ground pork
• 1 large handful holy basil leaves, picked
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1–2 bird’s-eye chillies, to start; add more only if wanted
• 100 g green beans or yardlong beans, sliced into short pieces
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon dark soy sauce
• 1/2–1 teaspoon sugar, to taste
• A small dash of fish sauce, to taste
• 1 tablespoon neutral vegetable oil, plus extra for frying eggs
• 2 eggs and cooked jasmine rice, to serve (optional as preferred)

How to make the variation

1. Pound the garlic and one or two chillies into a rough paste. Mix the oyster sauce, light soy, dark soy, fish sauce and sugar in a small bowl.
2. Heat the oil in a wok or large skillet. Fry the paste briefly until fragrant, then add the pork. Let it brown a little before breaking it up.
3. Add the sliced beans and stir-fry until tender-crisp. Continue cooking the pork until it reaches 160°F (71°C) internally.
4. Add the sauce and toss to coat. Taste and adjust the saltiness and sweetness rather than adding extra sugar automatically.
5. Turn off the heat, fold in holy basil until wilted, and serve over jasmine rice. Add a separately fried egg if you like.

Choosing between the two: use the original card when you want Daniel’s hotter, simpler version; use this adaptation when you want lower starting heat or beans in the stir-fry. Green beans are a published home-cooking variation, although cooks differ on whether they belong in the most minimal version. For example, Pepper.ph’s Pad Kra Pao recipe includes green beans; they are optional here, not part of our baseline family recipe.

Holy basil vs Thai sweet basil: what changes?

Holy basil (kaphrao or kra pao) is the herb associated with the name of this dish. It has a peppery, clove-like aroma. Thai sweet basil is sweeter and more anise-like, so it changes the flavour. If holy basil is unavailable, Thai sweet basil—or another practical basil substitute—can still make a good stir-fry; simply describe it honestly as an adaptation.

For context, compare the Hot Thai Kitchen pad kra pao guide and The Woks of Life pork and holy basil method. Both discuss holy basil as the defining herb while acknowledging practical ingredient substitutions.

Why pound the garlic and chillies?

A coarse paste helps the aromatics distribute through the pork and release their aroma quickly. It is a useful technique, not a magic chemical shortcut: you do not need to claim that pounding automatically releases a measured amount of allicin or capsaicin to explain the difference.

Why this recipe belongs to Daniel

For me, the sound of garlic and chillies hitting a hot wok brings my brother Daniel straight back. When we lived in Bangkok from 2016 to 2018, late-night street-food runs were part of our routine. Daniel loved the heat and the straightforward comfort of a good plate of pad kra pao.

Every year on 30 July, Daniel’s birthday, we cook this dish late at night. It recalls the meals we used to eat after a long shift or a night out in Bangkok. This is our family version, shaped by those memories and the ingredients listed above—not a claim that every Thai cook makes the dish exactly the same way.

Long before Bangkok’s night markets, our adventures began in the garden in Cheltenham. Daniel was about eight and I was about six in this photograph, both of us covered in mud and looking towards the camera.

Another photograph shows Daniel with local children near our family home in Thailand in 2017. For us, these memories belong beside the recipe—but they come after the practical cooking details, so readers can get straight to the food first.

Another photograph shows Daniel with his nephew Victor when Victor was very young. We keep these pictures with the recipe because this meal is part of how we remember Daniel, not simply a dish to cook.

To the muddy adventures in Cheltenham, the late nights in Bangkok, and the laughter that still echoes in our kitchen. We miss you every day, brother. This plate is for you.

— Oliver, Natalia and Victor

Serving Pad Kra Pao

Serve the stir-fried pork immediately over hot jasmine rice and put the fried egg on top. If you enjoy the salty, spicy condiment prik nam pla, serve it separately so each person can adjust their own plate. Keep the baseline sauce savoury; the sugar should balance its saltiness rather than make the pork sweet.

Cooking and storing leftovers safely

Ground pork

Use a food thermometer to check that ground pork reaches 160°F (71°C). Colour alone is not a reliable temperature check. See the official U.S. government safe-temperature chart.

Cooked jasmine rice

Cooked rice needs particular care. Cool leftovers as quickly as possible—ideally within one hour—then refrigerate promptly, use within 24 hours, and reheat only once until steaming hot throughout. These are the UK Food Standards Agency’s rice-specific recommendations; see its rice safety guidance.