Thai Pork Basil Skewers

Our Thai Pork Basil Skewers are the BEST grilled Thai street food on a stick. It's made with a vibrant turmeric marinade and served with a Prik Nam Pla sauce that will tantalize your taste buds.

The Other White Meat!

You are going to just love this dish! Our easy Pork Skewers are melt in your mouth tender. Thai Cuisine is a great idea for a summer grilling and chilling entertaining. It is light, bright and is always a crowd pleaser.

The "other white meat" is sometimes overlooked in the grilling scene. However, if you have ever tried our Bacon Wrapped Sausage Stuffed Pork Tenderloin, you know we are on to something delicious.

These Asian pork kabobs are super aromatic from the spices and herbs. Once, you dip a slice into our Thai Basil Dipping sauce, you will be hooked. We can't wait for you to take your first bite.

The Special Marinade

The secret for success in making authentic Thai pork basil recipe is in the marinade. If you marinate pork tenderloin overnight, your skewers will be even more tender and flavorful. The delightful bath of turmeric, ginger, onion, garlic and fish sauce are going to make your taste buds sing.

Did you know that turmeric, ginger, onion and garlic are all warming spices? They pair nicely with the Thai basil and cilantro lime dipping sauce. Marinating your proteins like in our Green Chicken Kabab Recipe tenderizes the meat and infuses flavor. It uses all the lovely fresh herbs and spices of the summer season.

Get Turmeric in your Spice Drawer

If you do not have turmeric in your spice drawer, you need to get that sorted as soon as possible. You are missing out on so many delicious dishes and positive therapeutic effects. According to NIH, Turmeric is an anti-inflammatory, high in antioxidants and lowers your risk of heart disease.

However, our favorite reason for using turmeric is the bright yellow-orange color it gives to curries and our Thai spicy basil pork skewers. We also love the warming turmeric in our Turmeric Vegetable Medley, Easy Moroccan Ground Lamb Stew and our Golden Spiced Noodle Soup.

Cleaning up after a Turmeric Incident

However, there is one small warning when using turmeric. Turmeric can stain clothes, kitchen counters, finger nails and even utensils if you do not clean them right away. We don't normally wear an apron in the kitchen but when we am cooking with turmeric, we do. In addition, we wear disposable gloves whilst we thread the marinated pork on the skewers - unless you like yellow nails.

So how do you get turmeric off the countertop and clothes... bleach is the answer to that one.

Equipment

We used a food processor to make this delicious golden pork marinade. We blended onions, ginger, turmeric, garlic, coconut oil and fish sauce into a marinade. If you do not have a food processor, you can use a mortar and pestle.

Marinating the pork tenderloins overnight, will make turmeric pork basil skewers super tender and flavorful.

Thai Basil Dipping Sauce

Now on to this delightful Thai basil dipping sauce. Thai basil is just a beautiful herb and it has an anise like scent. However, we know this herb is difficult to come by anywhere else, if you live outside of Asia.

Therefore, just swap out Thai basil for just plain ordinary Italian basil. Our dipping sauce is just as beautiful either way. This dipping sauce is very similar to our Prik Nam Pla - The Incredible Thai Table Condiment. The only difference is that we swapped out Thai Basil for cilantro and green onions.

Balancing the Flavors

Thailand flavors always hold the balance of sweet, sour, savory and spicy. The only way you know if you hit the balance correctly, is to taste for yourself. We have really taken interest in really taking the time to be in the moment and practice mindful eating as a way to truly enjoy our food. Try this technique while you are taste testing.

Some people like the sauce more spicy, some more sweet and some more sour or salty. We like ours slightly spicy. However, the boys love it super spicy so we make a mild and a spicy version for the table. If you are new to Thai Cuisine, be sure to check our our Essential Thai Herbs and Spices article.

Recipe Exchanges and Substitutions

You can make the dipping sauce diabetic friendly by exchanging out brown sugar with a sugar alternative. If you need to watch your sodium intake, hold the fish sauce in the turmeric pork basil marinade. Instead, use a little Mrs. Dash or dried chili flakes in the grilling process.

Feel free to swap our the pork with chicken or even mushrooms and vegetables to keep it vegan.

Thai Cuisine Side Dishes

These are some of our favorite side dishes to serve with our kabobs.

• Thai Grilled Watermelon Salad
• Gluten- Free Thai Shrimp Pancakes
• Thai Shrimp Mango Salad
• Thai Pomelo Crab Salad Avocados

Frequent Asked Questions (FAQ's)

More Delicious Recipes with Turmeric

Easy Spiced Golden Milk

Golden Spiced Noodle Soup

Turmeric Vegetable Medley

Roasted Turmeric Spiced Turkey Breast

Easy Moroccan Ground Lamb Stew

Ground Turkey Sweet Potato Curry

Recipe Featured in Low Sugar Living

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Thai Pork Basil Skewers

Thai Pork Basil Skewers is a delicious turmeric and ginger spiced pork tenderloin skewers with an amazing Prik Nam Pla sauce that will tantalize your sweet, sour, salty and spicy taste buds.

5 from 15 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Mains

Cuisine: Thai

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Marinate Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes

Servings: 4

Calories: 294kcal

Author: HWC Magazine

Equipment

• ▢
  Blender or mortar and pestle

Ingredients

Marinade

• ▢ 1.5 inch turmeric
  knob peeled and sliced (or 1 heaping teaspoon ground dried turmeric)
• ▢ 1 inch ginger knob peeled and sliced (or ½ teaspoon ground dried ginger)
  
• ▢ ¾ cup onion or 1 small onion chopped (can exchange with shallots, if you like)
  
• ▢ 2 cloves garlic peeled and bashed
  
• ▢ ¼ cup fish sauce
  
• ▢ 2 tablespoon coconut oil
  
• ▢ 1.5 pounds pork tenderloin
  cut into slices about ¼ inch thick (or can use other cuts of pork that you wish but may have to marinate longer)
• ▢ 10-12 wooden skewers
  soak in water for ½ hour before using

Thai Basil Dipping Sauce (or Prik Nam Pla)

• ▢ 1 tablespoon Thai holy basil
  (holy basil) chopped or can use regular basil
• ▢ 1 tablespoon cilantro
  (coriander) chopped
• ▢ 2 tablespoon fish sauce
  
• ▢ 2 teaspoon sugar or sugar alternative - (brown sugar or sugar alternative if diabetic)
  
• ▢ 4 tablespoon lime juice
  
• ▢ 1 clove garlic
  peeled and minced
• ▢ chili to taste (fresh Thai bird chilis pack their punch in heat)

Garnishes

• ▢ limes optional
• ▢ chili optional
• ▢ green onions or cilantro optional

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

• Marinate the pork: In a food processor, add turmeric, ginger, onion, garlic, fish sauce and coconut oil. Blend well. (If you do not have a food processor you can do this in a mortar and pestle or just chop up finely instead) In a sealable baggie or sealed container add your sliced pork tenderloins pieces and add the turmeric marinade and mix well, cover and place in the refrigerator for up to overnight or at least one half hour marinade time.
  
• Make Thai Basil Dipping Sauce: In a small bowl add chopped Thai basil (or regular basil), chopped cilantro, fish sauce, brown sugar or sugar alternative, lime juice, garlic and chili to taste. Set Aside or place in refrigerator up to 24 hours in advance.
  
• Soak your wooden skewers for at least ½ hour. Skewer the pork lengthwise like you are using the wooden skewer to sew on the pork. Spread the pork slices flat so they are not overlapping. Depending on the size of your skewer and pork slices, maybe only 2 slices of pork tenderloin per skewer.
  
• Prepare and oil your grill and preheat. Cook your turmeric pork skewers for about 3 minutes on each side until nicely charred and cooked through.
  
• Serve your delicious Turmeric Pork skewers & Thai Basil Dipping Sauce as a delicious healthy meal. Enjoy!
  

Video

Notes

The Thai Basil Dipping Sauce is essentially our delicious Prik Nam Pla sauce but with Thai Basil instead of cilantro. Thai Basil can be hard to come by outside of Asia. Please exchange with regular Italian basil or just make our delicious Prik Nam Pla: The Incredible Thai Table Condiment. 

There is one small warning when using turmeric is it can stains clothes, kitchen counters, finger nails and even utensils if you do not clean them right away.

We don't normally wear an apron in the kitchen but when we are cooking with turmeric, we do. In addition, we use gloves when threading the turmeric pork on the skewers so it does not stain your finger nails. If you wash you hands well right away you will probably be okay, if you prefer not to wear gloves. 

So how do you get turmeric off the countertop and clothes... bleach is the answer to that one. 

Sometimes we use fresh turmeric in the recipe. Dried ground turmeric and ginger work just fine in this recipe too.

We used pork tenderloin for this recipe. However, you can use other cuts of pork as well but you may want to marinate longer or up to overnight. 

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 294kcal | Carbohydrates: 6g | Protein: 37g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 111mg | Sodium: 1936mg | Potassium: 798mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 26IU | Vitamin C: 7mg | Calcium: 30mg | Iron: 2mg

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