One of our favorite dishes to order at a Thai restaurant is “basil beef“. We fell in love with this dish on our trip to Thailand almost a decade ago. It’s a dish that is packed with flavor and totally irresistible. My Thai basil ground beef isn’t authentic, but it’s EASY, DELICIOUS, and has great macros, so I’m calling it a win.
A traditional Thai basil beef features slices of beef steak, and a sauce made from grinding fiery chilis into a paste with a mortar and pestle. As much as I would love to do that, the reality is that I need quick, easy and affordable recipes to feed my family. My recipe uses lean ground beef, basic sauces you likely already have on hand, and some aromatics like onion and garlic.
Why You’ll Love This Thai Basil Ground Beef
Instead of using steak, I opted for lean, grass-fed ground beef as a more economical cut.
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My Thai basil ground beef whips up in minutes – you basically just brown the ground beef, add in some veggies/aromatics, give it a quick stir, and then pour in the sauce and simmer for a couple of minutes. It’s really THAT easy!
While not a truly authentic recipe (you won’t see me grinding chilis to make my own chili paste, for example) I did try to follow the concepts of Thai cooking that I learned when we were in Thailand, which are to try to incorporate the 4 main flavors of Thai cuisine into the dish.
Typical Four Flavors of Thai Cooking and Traditional Ingredients:
SALTY: fish sauce, shrimp paste
SPICY: chillies, pepper
SOUR: lime, tamarind
SWEET: palm sugar, fruits
For my salty flavors – I used soy sauce and oyster sauce. You can absolutely use fish sauce instead, but I opted for oyster sauce because my husband has a fish allergy.
For my spicy flavors – I used chili-garlic sauce, which just might be my most favorite condiment of all time!
For my sour flavors – I used fresh-squeezed lime juice.
And, for my sweet flavors – I used a bit of brown sugar. You can also substitute with a sugar-free brown sugar substitute if you prefer.
Thai Basil Ground Beef Recipe Notes
My Thai Basil Ground Beef has only a few ingredients, but it packs a ton of flavor.
Lean, grass-fed ground beef, red bell pepper, onion, garlic, and Thai basil. I really love Thai basil, and the flavor is different from a traditional basil. While you CAN substitute regular basil, I think it’s worth heading to an Asian market to search for the Thai version. I honestly love it Thai basil so much that I insist on growing it myself so I always have some on hand.
My husband got me an AeroGarden and I loved it so much that I bought another one, too! I use one to grow all the fresh herbs I use the most, and the other to grow fresh lettuces and salad greens. It’s amazing because, with the grow lights, you can grow fresh herbs and vegetables ANYWHERE! You can even set it up in a dark coat closet, as long as you have a power outlet to plug it into!
For my sauce, I mix together chili-garlic paste, soy sauce, brown sugar, fresh lime juice and oyster sauce. Fish sauce would be more authentic, so feel free to substitute that for the oyster sauce if you have it. My husband has a fish allergy, so we use oyster sauce instead.
How To Make Thai Basil Ground Beef
Brown your ground beef. I used a 90% lean, grass-fed beef so there wasn’t fat to drain. If your beef is greasy, make sure you drain off the fat after browning.
Add in your garlic, red bell peppers, and onions and cook for about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Deglaze with 1/4 cup of water and scrape up any browned bits. Add your sauce and stir to combine and cook for 1 minute.
Add in your Thai Basil and stir until basil wilts, about 1 minute.
What should I serve as a side?
I love serving this with steamed white rice, but it would also be delicious over some protein pasta, low-carb shirataki noodles, cauliflower rice, or just a pile of steamed vegetables.
Did you like this recipe? Make sure to check out my Asian lettuce wrap salad recipe as well!
Thai Basil Ground Beef
Ingredients
- 1 lb (454g) 90% lean ground beef
- Small (85g) white onion, sliced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 (135g) red bell pepper, sliced
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 tbsp (18g) oyster sauce
- 2 tbsp (36g) soy sauce
- 2 tbsp (34g) chili-garlic sauce
- 2 tbsp fresh lime juice
- 2 tsp (8g) brown sugar
- large handful Thai basil
Instructions
- Place a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add lean ground beef, and brown, stirring occasionally. No need to add any oil, the fat from the beef helps to brown the beef.
- If you use lean ground beef, you shouldn't have extra fat to drain, but otherwise you'll need to drain off the extra fat drippings.
- While beef is cooking, mix together your sauce ingredients in a small bowl. Add the oyster sauce, soy sauce, chili-garlic, fresh lime juice and brown sugar. Stir to combine and set aside.
- Add the sliced onion, bell peppers and garlic to browned beef and cook until garlic is fragrant, about 3 minutes.
- Add in a 1/4 of water and deglaze the pan, scraping up any browned bits stuck to the bottom of the pan.
- Add your sauce mixture and simmer for a few minutes. You can add in a little water if mixture is too dry (another 1/4 cup). Cook until liquid is mostly absorbed into the beef.
- Add in the fresh Thai basil, turn off the heat, and stir to combine and help basil wilt.
NOTE
Nutrition information for this recipe is provided below. For more information on the nutrition facts provided on this site, please visit our nutrition disclaimer.
If basil leaves not available, is arugula a good substitute?
Unfortunately no. The basil gives this thai basil beef the unique flavor.
actually, the dish is still extremely tasteful if you use at least keffir lime leaves (buy fresh or frozen) ☺️