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Calories · Thai & Vietnamese

Calories in pad kra pao

A typical restaurant serving of pad kra pao (one plate of chicken stir-fried with holy basil over rice, with a fried egg, about 389 g) is about 600 calories, usually 450–850.

Restaurant portions vary; this is a typical estimate, not a label. Also called pad krapow, phat kaphrao, Thai basil chicken, kra pao gai with rice.

~600
Pad kra pao

The usual range

Drawn on one 0–2,000 scale shared by every dish page, so plates compare at a glance.

Protein, carbs and fat

  • Protein44 g
  • Carbs64 g
  • Fat18 g

One serving

Serving
one plate of chicken stir-fried with holy basil over rice, with a fried egg
Weight
~389 g
Per 100 g
~153

The dish

About pad kra pao

Pad kra pao is minced chicken or pork stir-fried hard with holy basil, chilli, garlic, fish and oyster sauce, spooned over rice with a crispy fried egg (kai dao). It is Thailand’s default lunch, and a plate lands near 600. Built from its parts: 150 g of kra pao gai and 200 g of jasmine rice from Mahidol University’s Thai food tables, plus a pan-fried egg lab-analysed by Singapore’s HPB; the portions are our estimates.

Ways it comes

One dish, a few numbers

Pad kra pao · rough numbers

  • Without the fried egg~510
  • Stir-fry only, no rice~230

What moves the number

Why one plate is 450 and another 850

  • Oil in the wok, and the fried egg cooked in more of it
  • Pork or minced fatty meat instead of chicken
  • Rice portion
  • Oyster sauce and sugar in the seasoning

Ordering lighter

If you want a lighter plate

  • Ask for chicken breast and less oil
  • Skip the fried egg, or ask for it not crispy
  • Take a smaller scoop of rice

Side by side

Next to other Thai & Vietnamese dishes

Thai & Vietnamese · typical restaurant servingAll about Thai & Vietnamese food →

  • Tom yum~160one bowl of clear shrimp tom yum with broth, rice not included · usually 100–350
  • Som tam~210one plate of som tam Thai: pounded green papaya with dried shrimp, peanuts, tomato and palm sugar dressing · usually 60–350
  • Larb~240one plate of larb (about 200 g): minced meat tossed with lime, fish sauce, chilli, herbs and toasted rice powder · usually 180–400
  • Thai milk tea~280one regular cup (400 ml) of Thai milk tea over ice, sweetened with sugar and milk or creamer · usually 150–400
  • Fresh spring rolls~300about three rice-paper rolls with vegetables and meat, dipping sauce not included · usually 200–400
  • Tom kha gai~370one bowl of tom kha gai: chicken, galangal, lemongrass and mushrooms in coconut milk broth · usually 250–550
  • Pho~440one medium bowl with broth · usually 330–650
  • Mango sticky rice~490one plate of sticky rice, sweet coconut sauce and half a mango · usually 380–650
  • Khao pad (Thai fried rice)~500one plate of khao pad: jasmine rice fried with pork, egg, onion and tomato, with lime and cucumber · usually 400–750
  • Boat noodles~530one full-size bowl of pork boat noodles with meatballs and rice noodles in dark spiced broth · usually 380–940
  • Bánh mì~550one mixed-pork bánh mì on an 80 g roll · usually 400–750
  • Moo ping~560three moo ping skewers (about 120 g of pork) with a bag of sticky rice (100 g) · usually 400–750

In PlateDiary

A rough number for the dishes you save — only if you want one.

Off unless you turn them on

Calories in PlateDiary are off unless you turn them on. Switch them on and, when PlateDiary AI reads your photo of the table, each dish gets one rough “~” number. Accept it or change it; a number you correct is remembered for that dish. With Calories off, the app looks exactly as it did before.

A read sends small pictures of the cut-out dishes, with the place's name as a hint — never the table photo, faces or your location. Calorie numbers never go to analytics, and nothing is written to a health app. PlateDiary AI starts with free tries; here is how it works.

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How these numbers were made

Method and sources

Last reviewed

Restaurant portions and cooking vary, so these are typical estimates for one serving, built from the sources below. Treat it as a rough number: your plate may land anywhere in the range.

If you manage a health condition, ask a doctor or registered dietitian.

AI helped draft this page; every number was checked against the sources.

  1. Thai Food Composition Database (INMU, Mahidol University) — Kra-pao-gai, chicken stir-fried with chilli and basil (food ID 1446); Rice, polished, cooked (food ID 139); Rice and stir-fried chicken with holy basil leaves, T54 (food ID 1561), for comparison
  2. Singapore Food Insights Database (SG FoodID, Health Promotion Board) — Fried egg, F01050005: 1 piece = 39 g (lab analysis, 2025)

Questions

Questions people ask.

How many calories are in pad kra pao?

A typical restaurant serving of pad kra pao (one plate of chicken stir-fried with holy basil over rice, with a fried egg, about 389 g) is about 600 calories, usually 450–850. The number depends mostly on the portion and how it is cooked.

How many calories is pad kra pao without egg?

About 510 for the chicken and rice; the fried egg adds about 90, more if it is deep-fried crispy.

Is pad kra pao high in calories?

It is a middle-of-the-road plate: about 600 with egg, about the same as a plate of pad thai.

How many calories are in 100 g of pad kra pao with rice?

About 190 for rice and stir-fry together, from Mahidol University’s value for rice with stir-fried chicken and holy basil.

What changes the calories in pad kra pao?

Oil in the wok, and the fried egg cooked in more of it. Pork or minced fatty meat instead of chicken.

How can I order pad kra pao lighter?

Ask for chicken breast and less oil. Skip the fried egg, or ask for it not crispy.

Can PlateDiary show calories for the dishes I eat out?

Yes, if you want it to: calories in PlateDiary are off unless you turn them on. Switch them on and each dish you save from a photo of the table gets one rough “~” number you can accept or change.