I wanted a fried rice recipe that really celebrates the flavours of chilies - not just their heat. This fried rice features not one, not two, but three different types of chilies, combined with the fragrance of Thai basil to tie it all together! And no, it doesn't make this dish overwhelmingly spicy, and you can indeed customize the heat level while still preserving all the delicious chili flavour. It's not something I created out of thin air, but a traditional Thai dish (with a couple of tweaks from me)!

In Thai, this dish is called kao pad nam prik pa o, translated simply as Thai chili paste fried rice. So our chili #1 is Thai chili paste or nam prik pao , also known as chili jam. It's the sweet and savoury umami-loaded ingredient that is used in many Thai dishes including the world famous tom yum goong . Though this is an ingredient most people buy, you can make your own homemade chili paste relatively easily.

While Thai chili paste is delicious, it's very mild, so most of the heat in this dish is going to come from our second chili: roasted chili flakes. This is where you get to customize the heat level so add as much or as little as you like.

You can buy red pepper flakes, and then toast them in a dry pan over low heat, stirring constantly, until the get a little smokey. Or do it the Thai way by starting with whole dried spicy chilies, such as chile de arbol, and toasting them until charred spots form on the surface before grinding them into flakes. Check out this short Instagram video of me making this. It's a staple condiment in any Thai home, and is what we use as an all-purpose heat booster for any dish.

Both chilies 1 and 2 are dried, so a little freshness is needed. The third chili is any kind of fresh chilies you like, and you can go a little milder here given that the heat is already coming from chili #2 (or go hot if you like the burn!). These will serve as refreshing pops of fruitiness (if using red chilies) or grassiness (if using green) that I think is important here.

Jalapenos, fresnos, serranos are great spicy options, and the seeds and pith can be removed for less heat. If you don't want any more heat, anaheim or bell pepper will work beautifully. In Thailand we often use the mild spur chilies or prik chee fa for this purpose.

Here are all the ingredients you'll need. The chicken can be substituted with any other protein you like. Tofu works beautifully in this recipe.

Here's a bird's eye view of the process, but be sure to check out the  full video tutorial  in the recipe card below to ensure success!

Making fried rice is easy in theory, but many people run into issues of mushy rice, clumpy rice, or rice that tastes like "mixed rice" rather than fried rice with that nice toasted flavour. As a chef who has worked in restaurants that churn out fried rice, here are some tips to help you with these issues.

We're adding wet things, i.e. the sauce, meat, veggies, so if the rice starts out already too moist, you risk clumpy or mushy rice. This is not a problem with commercial stoves with very high heat that dry out the sauce quickly. But at home we generally have weaker stoves, and we tend to crowd the pan cuz we're feeding a family of 4. So what to do?

If you have cold, old rice in the fridge, great. That will help because the rice dries and loses stickiness when chilled, so they separate better in the pan. But if you don't have leftover rice, it is NOT a problem at all. Here are somethings you can do.

After the rice has mixed thoroughly with the sauce, don't rush it. Let it sit and sear for 10-15 seconds at a time, depending on the heat of your stove, so that the rice can toast and brown. This is where the flavour develops. Remember this is fried rice, not "mixed rice". See how I do this in the video at minute 06:45.

You've got delicious fried rice, but it's being interrupted by pieces of bland, dry boneless skinless chicken breast ...a common a way to spoil an otherwise perfect dish! So if using chicken, pork, beef, or even tofu, always marinate to give them flavour so they don't take away from the rice.

Shrimp isn't usually an issue though because they are more flavourful to start, so you don't need to marinade them.

A simple soy sauce or fish sauce marinade is fine, but I like to add a little sugar to help with browning (and flavour) and a little bit of water which will get absorbed into the meat like a brine and make it extra juicy. The water also gives us a bigger buffer in case we accidentally overcook the meat, which is easy to do!

Before you start, be sure to watch the video tutorial to ensure success!  I always include little tips and tricks not mentioned in the blog post. The video is in the recipe card below, but you can also  watch it on YouTube !

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