Also known as ไก่ทอด, ไก่ทอดหาดใหญ่, Kai Tod, Gai Tod Hat Yai, Thai Fried Chicken.
Thai street fried chicken, marinated in garlic, coriander root, pepper and fish sauce, coated lightly in rice flour and fried until the skin is dark and crisp. The Hat Yai version comes buried in crispy fried shallots and is sold with a bag of sticky rice.
320kcal / 1 piece (thigh, about 130g)
A single piece of gai tod, a thigh with skin of around 130g, is about 320 calories. Thai dietitian figures put a skinless breast at about 250, a thigh at 300, a hip at 350 and a thigh with hip attached at 420. The fried shallots on a Hat Yai piece add another 55 to 70 calories per 2 tablespoons.
Nutrition facts
Per 1 piece (thigh, about 130g) (130g)
Amount
Per 100g
Calories
320 kcal
246 kcal
Protein
24 g
18 g
Carbs
10 g
8 g
Fat
20 g
15 g
Where the calories come from
Chicken thigh with skin, fried110g
255 kcal
Rice flour coating and absorbed oil15g
45 kcal
Fried shallots5g
20 kcal
The real talk
The cut decides the calories more than the frying does. A 120g thigh is about 300 calories, a 150g hip is 350, and the big thigh with hip piece that stalls sell for 40 baht is 420. A skinless breast piece is around 250 for 170g. So two pieces from the same tray can be 170 calories apart. If you only remember one thing, remember that the hip is the fattiest cut on the tray.
Thai fried chicken uses a thin rice flour dusting, not the thick batter you get at American style fast food chains. That matters: the coating on a piece of gai tod is maybe 15g and 45 calories, while a fast food battered thigh carries 60 to 80 calories of batter plus the oil it holds. Per piece, gai tod is usually the lighter of the two, even though it looks darker.
The full meal is where it adds up. One thigh piece plus a 150g bag of khao niao plus fried shallots and nam jim is about 600 calories. Two pieces is 900. Thai dietitians put a Hat Yai chicken meal at 500 to 800 calories depending on how many pieces and how big the rice bag is, which lines up with that.
How many calories in 2, 3 or 4 pieces?
How many
Calories
Protein
1 piece
320 kcal
24 g
2 pieces
640 kcal
48 g
3 pieces
960 kcal
72 g
4 pieces
1280 kcal
96 g
5 pieces
1600 kcal
120 g
6 pieces
1920 kcal
144 g
How the portions compare
250 kcal
Breast piece, skinless (170g)
320 kcal
Thigh piece with skin (130g)
420 kcal
Thigh with hip (200g)
Gai Tod variants, ranked by calories
Variant
Calories
Notes
Chicken wing, fried
130 kcal
One wing with skin
Breast, skinless
250 kcal
Leanest piece on the tray
Thigh with skin
320 kcal
The standard 30 baht piece
Hip
350 kcal
Fattier than thigh
Thigh with hip
420 kcal
The big 40 baht piece
How to eat it lighter
Pick the breast piece (about 250 calories) or a drumstick (about 260) over the thigh with hip (420).
Peel the skin off one piece and you save roughly 100 calories; the marinade flavour is in the meat anyway.
Ask for less fried shallot on top, or brush most of it off; a big pile is 70 calories of oil soaked onion.
Take the small 5 baht bag of sticky rice with one piece, and add som tam for volume instead of a second piece.
Common questions
How many calories in Hat Yai fried chicken with sticky rice?
About 570 to 600 calories for one thigh piece with a 150g bag of sticky rice and fried shallots. Two pieces takes it to around 900.
Is Thai fried chicken healthier than KFC?
Per piece it is usually lower, because the rice flour dusting is thin. A gai tod thigh is about 320 calories where a heavily battered fast food thigh runs 350 to 400. The oil and the skin are still there though.
Which piece of gai tod has the fewest calories?
A wing at about 130, then skinless breast at about 250. The thigh with hip piece at 420 is the heaviest.
Calorie and macro figures are estimates for a typical street stall or food court serving. Actual numbers vary by stall, recipe and portion size. Use them as a guide, not gospel.
Calorie figure based on eatwellconcept.com (Thai dietitians) gai tod Hat Yai: thigh 298 kcal, hip 350, thigh with hip 420, skinless breast 252; hdmall.co.th 345 kcal per drumstick. Macros estimated from the ingredients.