Chicken Satay with Peanut Dipping Sauce

Perfect Thai Chicken Satay can be served as great appetizers or even a delicious main meal with some steamed jasmine rice or brown rice and some slices of cucumber. This simple but on the other hand popular Thai cuisine would bring a new taste to your dinner table. And don’t forget that your Thai Chicken Satay can not be completed without its partner, the delicious creamy peanut dipping sauce.

Ingredients you’ll need

*Please check out the recipe card at the end of this blog post for the full recipe and amounts for each ingredient.

For Making Marinated Satay Chicken

As you can see this ingredient list for this Chicken Satay and Peanut Sauce might seem long, but don’t worry. In fact, this Chicken Satay is super FAST PREP but BIG FLAVORS. All you need to do is mix all these ingredients below in a large bowl to make the marinade then add the chicken. So simple right?

Here is what you need:

• Chicken –  You can use either chicken breasts or chicken thighs for this Chicken Satay recipe. 
• Coconut cream – This is one of the secret ingredients to make your chicken satay creamy and full of flavor.
• Curry powder – Curry brings a great flavor to your chicken satay. I used curry powder but the curry paste works well with this recipe as well. However, it depends on the brand of your curry paste,  you need to adjust the amount of curry paste to your family’s tastes.  If you use curry powders, keep in mind that the lighter yellow colors denote a mild flavor, while dark or even brown colors mean a much more spicy kick. This is Curry Powder I used in this recipe.
• Sugar – you can use any sweeteners you like such as caster sugar, brown sugar, coconut sugar, or even stevia. Just adjust it to taste.
• Salt – some other recipes use fish sauce and soy sauce but they made the meat was too strong flavor with my family’s taste. Therefore, I prefer to use just simple sea salt. If you want more salty, you can add more salt, but don’t forget that these Chicken Satay Skewers are served with Peanut Dipping Sauce, which is already salty.
• Garlic and Ginger – add a warm spicy and unique taste to your Chicken Satay. I like the original taste of fresh ones so I always have fresh ginger and garlic at home. But you can use ground ginger and garlic as well. 
• Turmeric powder – add more color and nutrition to your food.
• Vegetable oil – you can use any kinds of oil you prefer.

For making Peanut Satay Sauce

• Peanut butter – use smooth and unsweet peanut butter. If you want Gluten-free sauce, just make sure you use gluten-free peanut butter
• Soy sauce –  adds the salty and more flavor. You should use low sodium soy sauce so your sauce isn’t too salty. If you are on Gluten-free Diet, make sure you use Gluten-free Soy Sauce. 
• Lime – Fresh ingredients are always the best for your food. I used fresh lime juice in this recipe, but bottled lime juice works well too. If you don’t have lime in your hand, just substitute it with lemon.
• Sugar – you can any sweeteners you like such as caster sugar, brown sugar, coconut sugar, or even stevia, or any natural substitute sweeteners you prefer. Just adjust it to taste.
• Salt (optional) – just add a little more salt if you want more salty.
• Water or coconut cream– if your sauce is too thick, feel free to add 2 or 3 tbsp of water or coconut cream (if you want super creamy peanut sauce)
• Minced ginger – add a warm spicy and unique taste that you will love.

Now that’s everything you need, let’s go straight ahead to make our delicious Chicken Satay Skewers with amazing Peanut Sauce!

How to make Thai Chicken Satay?

(*Be sure to see the recipe card with a printable version below for full ingredients & instructions!)

1. Prepare the chicken: cut it into small cubes or thick slices as your desired shapes 
2. Make the marinade: add curry powder, sugar, salt, chopped garlic, chopped ginger, turmeric powder, and oil to the large bowl. Mix well.
3. Add marinade to chicken and let it rest in the refrigerator to marinate for at least 3 hours, but the best is overnight marinated chicken.
4. Make the skewers: Preheat the grill, oven, or a grill pan over medium-high heat while thread marinated chicken onto skewers. 
5. Grill for around 4 to 5 minutes, until browned, and perfectly cooked on both sides. Read more tips on how to cook it in different ways below.
6. Serve warm!

How to make Peanut Dipping Sauce?

Super simple and easy to make. Just mix well all the ingredients above, you have your homemade peanut satay sauce.  Adjust seasoning to taste:

• Sweeter? Add more sugar
• Saltier? Add more salt
• Tangier?  Add more lime juice
• Spicier? Add chili sauce or chile powder

You do not have time and want to make it in advance?  Read more useful tips here.

Watch How To Make It

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Common Questions

Which methods can I use to cook Chicken Satay?

• GRILL: When it comes to the grilling method, you need to prepare your grill by heating the grill with a light coating of spray oil, set high heat. Once hot, add chicken, reduce heat to medium to make sure the chicken is cooked through. Grill chicken for around 5 to 6 minutes on each side, or until chicken skewers are golden brown.
• OVEN: Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and place the skewers on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Cook them for 15-20minutes, turning halfway through, or until the meat is done to your desired liking. However, you should keep a close eye on your chicken. The time to cook it depends on how you cut your meat. If you cut it thick, your skewers need a longer time to cook than thin slices.
• STOVETOP: You will need a little extra oil, around 1 tbsp, to ensure it does not stick to the pan, and set the medium heat to make sure your meat is cooked through and golden brown on both sides, around 2 to 3 minutes each side.

Can I make Chicken Satay and Peanut Dipping Sauce in advance?

Marinade:

Whisk the marinade ingredients and store them in an airtight container for up to 5 days in the refrigerator. You can also freeze it for up to 1 month and thaw it in the refrigerator overnight before you use it to marinate the meat. 

Marinated chicken:

you need to marinate the chicken for at least 3 hours before cooking. However, your chicken satay skewers will taste much better since you marinate them overnight. Therefore, go ahead, prepare the chicken and let it rest in your refrigerator overnight or up to 24 hours (not longer than that) before you cook it the next day.

If you can not cook the marinated chicken after 24 hours of marinated process, I recommend keeping it frozen (up to 2 weeks) then thaw it at room temperature before cooking it.

Can I make Peanut Dipping Sauce in advance?

The peanut sauce will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days stored in an airtight container. Make sure your airtight container is clean before storing the sauce to keep it for a longer time.

When you are ready to enjoy, just reheat in the microwave or over low heat on the stovetop. If the sauce gets too thick, whisk in 1 or 2 tsp of water until the desired consistency is achieved.

How to serve with Chicken Satay?

Here are some side dishes that go beautifully with these Chicken Satay Skewers:

• Serve it over steamed jasmine rice or brown rice for a complete dinner.
• If you have extra peanut satay sauce, you can thin it out (by adding 1 or 2 tsp of water) and toss it with noodles (rice vermicelli, Been Threads Noodle (glass noodles), or egg noodles) and serve it with plenty of fresh vegetables such as lettuce, shredded carrot, cucumber, and coriander. 
• You can also use Peanut Satay Chicken as a salad dressing and serve with chicken satay. The best Chicken Satay Salad for gluten-free or loss weight diet.
• Add chicken satay to the baguette with some fresh veggies like cucumber, lettuce, and coriander…is perfect for your lunch or snack as well.

Can I make this Satay recipe with other meats?

Yes, 100% you can. There are many versions of Satay around the world. People created new recipes with what they had around them. 

For that reason, you can find a lot of different Satay recipes with chicken, pork, beef, and seafood like fish and shrimp or even just Tofu or/and mushrooms (if you want a vegan meal). Just keep in mind that different meats have different cooking times and of course the tastes are also different. 

You can make your style of this Satay dish. Share with me what you and your family prefer. Love to hear from you!

Can I make Vegan Satay?

Yes, you can. As I mentioned above. You can make Vegan Satay with Tofu and/or Button Mushrooms. Just make sure you use Firm Tofu to make sure your tofu does not contain too soft and watery like the other types.

However, firm tofu still contains lots of extra water. What you need to do is drain the tofu with paper towels before you marinate and cook it.

After draining the tofu, you need to cut the tofu into your desired shapes then continue straight away with step 2 above, which is to make the marinade, add the marinade to the tofu, make skewers and cook it.

IF YOU LOVE THIS RECIPE: You will also love my Lemongrass Beef Skewers, Vegan Coconut Curry and Vegan Filipino Mushroom Adobo.

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THAI CHICKEN SATAY WITH PEANUT SAUCE

Zoe Mai

Perfect Chicken Satay Skewers can be served as great appetizers or even a delicious main meal with some steamed jasmine rice or brown rice and some slices of cucumber. This simple but on the other hand popular Thai cuisine would bring a new taste to your dinner table.

5 from 2 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Total Time 30 minutes mins

Course Appetizer, Dinner, Main Course

Cuisine Thai

Servings 12 skewers

Ingredients

  

MARINATE CHICKEN SATAY

• 800 gr chicken breast
• 200 gr coconut cream
• 1 tbsp curry powder
• 3 tsp salt
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp minced ginger
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil

PEANUT SATAY SAUCE

• 3 tbsp smooth peanut butter
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp freshly squeezed lime (or lemon) juice
• 2 tsp brown sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp minced ginger
• 3 tbsp water

Instructions

 

CHICKEN SATAY SKEWERS

• Prepare the chicken: cut it into small cubes or thick slices as your desired shapes
• Make the marinade: add curry powder, sugar, salt, chopped garlic, chopped ginger, turmeric powder, and oil to the large bowl. Mix well.
• Add marinade and coconut milk to the chicken and let it rest in the refrigerator to marinate for at least 3 hours, but the best is overnight marinated chicken.
• Make the skewers: Preheat the grill, oven, or a grill pan over medium-high heat while thread marinated chicken onto skewers.
• Grill for around 4 to 5 minutes, until browned, and perfectly cooked on both sides.

  *** Read more tips on how to cook it in different ways in the Note below.
• Serve warm! Read more about how to serve it here

PEANUT SATAY SAUCE

• Super simple and easy to make. Just mix well all the ingredients above, you have your homemade peanut satay sauce.  Adjust seasoning to taste.

Watch How to do it

Zoe’s Notes

• You can use wooden or metal skewers. If you use metal skewers, they’re quite hot and they remain their heat for longer than wooden skewers. So be careful when you eat, not to burn yourself. If you prefer to use wooden skewers, soak them in water for an hour before using them. It will help to prevent them from burning during cooking at a high temperature.
• Try to keep the size of the pieces of chicken even as possible so they all cook evenly.
• Marinate chicken for at least 3 hours or overnight to allow flavors to soak into the meat. But make sure not more than 24 hours. If you can not cook them after 24 hours, I recommend keeping them freeze and thaw them at room temperature before cooking.
• Leftover coconut milk – freeze it OR use it in other recipes such as my Vegan Coconut Curry Recipe.
• Cooking time depends on your cooking method, the size of your chicken, and the weather. Therefore, you need to keep a closer eye on them while cooking to make sure your chicken won’t be overcooked.

 

WHICH METHOD CAN I COOK THAI CHICKEN SATAY?

 

GRILL

When it comes to the grilling method, you need to prepare your grill by heating the grill with a light coating of spray oil, set high heat. Once hot, add chicken, reduce heat to medium to make sure the chicken is cooked through. Grill chicken for around 5 to 6 minutes on each side, or until chicken skewers are golden brown.

OVEN

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and place the skewers on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Cook them for 15-20minutes, turning halfway through, or until the meat is done to your desired liking. However, you should keep a close eye on your chicken. The time to cook it depends on how you cut your meat. If you cut it thick, your skewers need a longer time to cook than thin slices.

STOVETOP

You will need a little extra oil, around 1 tbsp, to ensure it does not stick to the pan, and set the medium heat to make sure your meat is cooked through and golden brown on both sides, around 2 to 3 minutes each side.

 

CAN I MAKE CHICKEN SATAY AND PEANUT SAUCE IN ADVANCE? 

 

Marinade: Whisk the marinade ingredients and store them in an airtight container for up to 5 days in the refrigerator. You can also freeze it for up to 1 month and thaw it in the refrigerator overnight before you use it to marinate the meat. 

Marinated chicken: you need to marinate the chicken at least 3 hours before cooking. However, your chicken satay skewers will taste much better since you marinate them overnight. Therefore, go ahead, prepare the chicken and let it rest in your refrigerator overnight or up to 24 hours (not longer than that) before you cook it the next day. If you can not cook the marinated chicken after 24 hours of marinated process, I recommend keeping it frozen (up to 2 weeks) then thaw it at room temperature before cooking it.

Peanut Satay Sauce: The peanut sauce will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days stored in an airtight container. Make sure your airtight container is clean before storing the sauce to keep it for a longer time. When you are easy to enjoy, just reheat in the microwave or over low heat on the stovetop. If the sauce gets too thick, whisk in 1 or 2 tsp of water until the desired consistency is achieved.

 

MORE SKEWER IDEAS?  Lemongrass Beef Skewers

MORE DINNER IDEAS?  Vegan Coconut Curry, Vegan Mushroom Adobo.

Keyword asian food, chicken skewers, summer dinner

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