Two quick-blaze second half goals gave the Swiss side victory and sealed a wonderful comeback after Oscar had given the Blues the lead on the stroke of half-time.
The house side struggled to fracture down their less illustrious opponents in the early stages, and had to wait for the 24th minute for their first sight of goal.
The Blues did well to work some space in the opposition penalty place, and a smart cut-back found a lurking Frank Lampard though his resulting drive was deflected behind.
The England stars effort seemed to spark Jose Mourinhos men into life and they again went close two minutes later, as Eden Hazard raced onto a good Samuel Etoo flick and smashed a shot at goal, but his effort flew well broad of the post.
However, Chelsea could not save up their pressure and Mohamed Salah had a superb chance to open the scoring for Basel on the half-hour mark. The Egypt international surged down the right flank and cut inside to unleash a left-footed strike at the summit corner, but Petr Cech was not called into action as it cleared the crossbar on its way over.
The Basel winger was soon made to pay for his mistake, as Chelsea took the guide upon the stroke of half-time, as Oscar raced onto a Lampard through ball and fired house upon the turn.
The smart Brazilian continued to threaten and almost doubled his sides guide in the 56th minute. He exchanged several passes with Eden Hazard and eventually curled a startling effort at the top corner from the left-hand corner of the crate, but the ball rattled the crossbar and bounced behind for a goal-kick.
Oscar was once more involved five minutes later. The midfielder collected the ball in the middle of the pitch and found a rampaging Eden Hazard though the Belgians resulting effort flew over the bar.
He was speedily made to pay for his miss, as Basel equalised in the 70th minute. Marco Streller picked out Salah with a superb through ball, and the winger promptly curled the ball into the bottom corner.
The Swiss side then looked to press home their advantage and took a shock lead in the 83rd minute, as Streller nipped in ahead of Etoo in the crate and nodded past Cech at the close post.
Chelsea then bombarded the Basel defence, with Etoo and Oscar both going close, but the away side stood firm and took all three points.
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