Mains
Thai Basil Chicken Thighs
Mains · serves 4 · under-30 min
Core AIP · Elimination phase compliant
You have about 20 minutes between walking in the door and being too hungry to cook anything worth eating, and some weeknights that is the entire window. This dish fits inside it: garlic and ginger hit a hot pan first, the chicken goes in right behind them, and dinner is on the table before you have fully decided on a side.
Chicken thighs carry more iron than the breast does, along with zinc, both involved in the kind of steady repair work a gut lining needs while you are working an Autoimmune condition toward calmer ground. Ginger has a long history of traditional use for settling digestion, and it goes into the pan first, right alongside the garlic.
The bird that became this dinner is worth a beat of attention before the basil goes in. Let the basil go in last, off the heat, so it stays green instead of wilting into the sauce. Then sit down with the plate instead of eating standing at the counter. That shift, plate to table, is where you actually taste what you made.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 5 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 inch fresh ginger, grated
- 1 pound chicken thighs, chopped
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon bacon fat
- 1 tablespoon coconut aminos
- 1/2 tablespoon fish sauce (clean, no additives)
- 1/2 tablespoon honey
- 1/4 cup Thai basil, chopped
Serve over cauliflower rice rather than grain rice, which is off-limits on strict AIP. The source recipe is already nightshade-free, so there are no chiles or peppers to remove here; if you adapt a more traditional Thai basil recipe, leave out the chiles and note it. If you have reintroduced seeds successfully, sesame oil can stand in for the bacon fat, but keep the bacon fat during strict elimination.
Method
- Warm the coconut oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and ginger and stir-fry for about 1 minute, until fragrant.
- Add the chopped chicken and stir-fry for about 5 minutes, moving it so it browns on all sides.
- Pour in the apple cider vinegar, bacon fat, coconut aminos, fish sauce, and honey. Stir to combine and simmer for about 10 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce has reduced a little.
- Take the pan off the heat and stir in the Thai basil so it wilts gently without losing its color. Serve over warm cauliflower rice.
*Adapted from acleanplate.com*
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Further reading
Daniela Hess, MSEd, is a co-founder of Great Energy and an Autoimmune Educator and Functional Wellness Consultant who lives and thrives with Hashimoto’s. She is not a licensed medical provider.
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Words in this recipe you can look up. Tap or click a term to learn what it means.
Bacon fatCoconut aminosFish sauceNightshadeThai basilZincEvery ingredient in this recipe is on the Core Autoimmune Protocol food list.
Download the Core Food List (PDF) Explore the food list