Thai food is a balancing act — hot, sour, salty, and sweet in every bite — and it’s one of the easiest cuisines to keep healthy without losing flavor. Our Thai recipes lean on fresh herbs (Thai basil especially), chiles, lime, and fish sauce instead of heavy sauces. Expect quick curries, 15-minute stir-fries, crunchy salads, and noodle dishes that come together on a weeknight. If you grow Thai basil or chiles in your garden, this is where the harvest goes.
This is the plant-based answer to Thai basil chicken: extra-firm tofu, pressed and crumbled to resemble ground meat, stir-fried until golden, then tossed with green beans, garlic, chiles, and a savory soy-and-mushroom sauce. The Thai basil goes in off the heat, just like the original. Ingredients Serves 4. 1 block (14 oz / 400 g) … Read more
Thai basil chicken is the weeknight stir-fry: garlic and chiles pounded to a paste, ground chicken cooked hot and fast, a savory-sweet sauce of fish sauce, oyster sauce, and soy, and a full cup of Thai basil tossed through at the very end so it wilts in the residual heat. It goes over jasmine rice, … Read more
Prik nam pla is the Thai table condiment: fish sauce sharpened with lime juice, studded with sliced bird’s eye chiles and garlic coins, rested until everything infuses. It sits on the table in a small dish with a spoon, and diners add it to their own plates a spoonful at a time. It is not … Read more
Tom kha gai is the creamy Thai coconut soup: galangal, lemongrass, and kaffir lime leaves infused gently into coconut milk, with chicken and mushrooms, seasoned with fish sauce and a little sugar, and finished with lime juice off the heat. It is rich but not heavy, sour but not sharp. Ingredients Serves 4. 2 cans … Read more
Tom yum is the clear, hot-sour Thai soup: a broth infused with lemongrass, galangal, and kaffir lime leaves, tinted brick-red with roasted chili paste, sharpened with lime juice off the heat, and finished with shrimp added at the very end so they stay tender. It reads sour first, then salty, then hot. This is the … Read more
Larb is the bright, herby minced-meat salad of Thailand and Laos: ground chicken cooked through, then seasoned off the heat with fish sauce, lime juice, and chili flakes, tossed with toasted rice powder for a nutty crunch, and finished with mint, cilantro, and green onions. It is salty, sour, and spicy — in that order … Read more
Ajat is the cool, sweet-sour relish served alongside satay and other rich grilled foods in Thailand: crisp cucumber, thin shallots, and red chile in a clear vinegar syrup. It is a relish, not a tossed salad — the vegetables sit briefly in syrup and stay crisp, and they are mixed with the syrup only just … Read more
Thai basil fried rice turns yesterday’s rice into tonight’s dinner: cold, day-old jasmine rice fried hot and fast with a garlic-chile paste, egg, and a savory sauce of oyster sauce, fish sauce, and soy — finished with a big handful of Thai basil that wilts into every grain. Because this recipe starts from leftover rice, … Read more