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Cooking adventures in a small, closet sized, kitchen. - I came to realize that my meals were boring and that I had been eating the same few dishes over and over again for years. It was time for a change! I now spend my free time searching for, creating and trying tasty new recipes in my closet sized kitchen.

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20 Minute Thai Basil Beef

[heart_this] · Sep 21, 2016 · 25 Comments

Thai Basil Beef

A quick, easy and tasty Thai style beef with plenty of fresh basil!

Basil is one of my favourite herbs and it’s always nice to be able to enjoy a lot of it in a recipe like this super tasty, quick and easy 20 minute Thai basil beef! This recipe it super simple! You pretty much just cook the beef, shallots, garlic and peppers before seasoning with the perfect balance of salty fish sauce, sweet palm sugar, spicy chilies and sour limes before adding all of that fresh basil! All said and done this recipe takes less time to make than it takes to cook the rice so you have a complete meal in 20 minutes! I generally make this with just the bell peppers as the veggies but I sometimes add things like broccoli, peas, etc for even more goodness! Serve this on coconut lemongrass jasmine rice to complete the flavour extravaganza of this 20 minute Thai basil beef!

Thai Basil Beef
Thai Basil Beef
Top with crispy fried shallots and roasted peanuts for even more flavour and more depths of texture!

Thai Basil Beef
Thai Basil Beef

Thai Basil Beef
Thai Basil Beef

Thai Basil Beef

Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 20 minutes Servings: 4

A quick, easy and tasty Thai style beef with plenty of fresh basil!

ingredients
  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 2 shallots, diced
  • 1 red pepper, diced
  • 4 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 2 birds eye chilies, thinly sliced
  • 2 tablespoons fish sauce (or soy sauce or tamari)
  • 1 tablespoon palm sugar (or brown sugar)
  • 1 lime, juice and zest
  • 1 cup basil (preferably Thai basil)
  • 2 green onions, thinly sliced
directions
  1. Cook the ground beef and shallots in a large pan over medium-high heat until the meat is cooked, about 10 minutes.
  2. Add the red pepper, garlic and chilies and cook until fragrant, about 2-3 minutes.
  3. Add the fish sauce, sugar, lime and basil and cook until the basil just starts to wilt, about a minute. (Taste test and adjust to make sure that the balance of salty, sweet and sour is just the way you like it!)
  4. Enjoy garnished with green onions!
Option: For One-Pan: Make this a one-pan meal by adding 1 cup of rice and 2 cups coconut milk or broth or water (or 8 ounces of pasta and 2 1/4 cups coconut milk or broth or water ) to the sauce in step 2 and simmer, covered, until cooked, about 20 minutes (or 12 minutes for rice).
Option: Replace the birds eye chilies with other chilies like habanero, cayenne, jalapeno, etc.(or even red pepper flakes of srirachi chili sauce).
Option: Replace the ground beef with thinly sliced steak.
Option: Garnish with 1/4 cup chopped peanuts and/or crispy fried shallots!
Tip: Serve on jasmine rice cooked in coconut milk with lemon grass! (1 cup jasmine rice, 14oz can coconut milk, 1 tablespoon chopped lemongrass simmered on low for ~20 minutes) Start cooking the rice just before the beef and it will be done just on time!
Nutrition Facts: Calories 260, Fat 11.7g (Saturated 4.6g, Trans 0), Cholesterol 55mg, Sodium 563mg, Carbs 12.9g (Fiber 1.8g, Sugars 5.1g), Protein 25.8g

Nutrition by: Nutritional facts powered by Edamam
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20 Minute Meals, 30 Minute Meals, Beef, Food, Gluten-free, Low-carb, Main Course, One-Pan, One-Pot, Recipe, Rice Bowl, Thai

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Heather Christo says

    September 21, 2016 at 3:02 pm

    WOW! now I know what I am making for dinner tonight!

    Reply
    • Angela says

      January 31, 2021 at 9:15 pm

      Great flavor! Topped with peanuts!

      Reply
  2. Ken says

    September 21, 2016 at 3:23 pm

    Me too!

    Reply
  3. Jenny says

    September 21, 2016 at 4:16 pm

    Love love love this!!

    Reply
  4. Marla Meridith says

    September 21, 2016 at 9:20 pm

    This recipe looks great!

    Reply
  5. Maria says

    September 22, 2016 at 12:42 am

    I LOVE Thai basil!

    Reply
  6. Pat says

    September 22, 2016 at 12:46 pm

    I made this last night and it was excellent. My Midwest taste buds knew to add a bit less bird eye chili pepper though.

    Reply
  7. kevin says

    September 22, 2016 at 3:41 pm

    Pat: I'm glad you enjoyed it!

    Reply
  8. Laura says

    September 25, 2016 at 11:13 pm

    When cooking the beef and onions at the beginning, is it the green onions or the shallots? I can't wait to try this.

    Reply
  9. kevin says

    September 26, 2016 at 4:53 pm

    Laura: You add the shallots with the beef! I updated the recipe! Thanks and enjoy!

    Reply
  10. Anna says

    October 6, 2016 at 9:09 pm

    What's the fat content on the beef you used? I used extra-lean and, while the result was delicious, it wasn't all glisten-y and saucy-looking like your photo! I'm assuming yours looks like that because of higher fat content in the beef, or…?

    Reply
  11. kevin says

    October 10, 2016 at 5:31 pm

    Anna: I use lean ground beef. The 'glisten' could be from the fat content of the beef or the lighting that I use to photograph with (my windows don't let in a lot of sunlight…) I have noticed that the light being at just the right angle will make things look a bit glossier in the photos.

    Reply
  12. Jasmine says

    October 28, 2016 at 1:06 am

    I love basil beef and when I cook it, its even better the Thai restaurant. I love this recipe

    Reply
  13. kevin says

    October 31, 2016 at 4:44 pm

    Jasmine: I'm glad you like it!

    Reply
  14. Heather Buentello says

    March 4, 2017 at 4:24 pm

    Thinks looks amazing!

    Reply
  15. Anonymous says

    February 7, 2018 at 7:14 pm

    Giving this five stars! There was a fight over who got the leftovers! So good!

    Reply
  16. Christina says

    August 23, 2018 at 2:03 pm

    This is a new regular dish in our house. Its amazing. Ive got small toddlers so we switched up the heat levels but otherwise make as is. Its perfection.

    Reply
  17. Mandy says

    October 6, 2019 at 6:34 pm

    Just made this tonight. It was a hit with my family! I doubled thr recipe so we have leftovers for later in the week. Thanks!!

    Reply
  18. Fay says

    April 2, 2020 at 10:26 pm

    I have made this 3 times now and my family loves it. This last time I added fresh asparagus.

    Reply
  19. Mrs Q says

    September 2, 2020 at 6:26 am

    Mine didn’t look that brown, and it was only after I realised that by green onions they meant spring onions.
    It tasted like a sweet samosa filling. I liked it…but nothing like the picture.

    Reply
  20. Lori says

    July 15, 2021 at 11:34 am

    Does not look like ground beef in the picture. Looks like thinly cut flank, skirt, or sirloin steak. Is it really ground beef?

    Reply

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Kevin: I came to realize that my meals were boring and that I had been eating the same few dishes over and over again for years. It was time for a change! I now spend my free time searching for, creating and trying tasty new recipes in my closet sized kitchen.
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