Chicken Satay is a delicious alternative to your standard saucy Thai curries, with chicken marinated in a positively potent mixture of red curry paste and coconut, seared to perfection and served up with peanut sauce.
It’s a great flavorful weeknight dinner or party appetizer, and people are sure to be clamoring for more of these flavorful little bites.
A Few Shortcuts to Make Your Life Easier
A lot of recipes call for an elaborate—and I’m sure, more authentic—blend of ginger, lemongrass, garlic, and shallots, but it’s easier to use a good Thai red curry paste to do the heavy lifting. We always use Maesri—you probably recognize the little red can from some of our other favorites like 15-minute Coconut Curry Noodle Soup!
Nagi over at Recipe Tin Eats gave us the idea to lean hard on red curry paste for the chicken marinade! This frees you up to worry about other important add-ins like fish sauce and lime juice for extra goodness.
One other modification on this recipe is that while “satay” is a fun thing to eat and say, you can also cut the chicken thighs into larger chunks and just sear those—without skewers. It would make this recipe a whole lot easier for weeknight dinners, but still pack all that good chicken satay flavah.
Where does Chicken Satay come from?
Chicken Satay is one of those dishes that many countries claim they make the best version of, so where does this delicious stick of chicken and peanut sauce actually come from?
Well it’s originally from Indonesia, and sate can be made from many different kinds of meat, not just the standard chicken that your average American knows and loves. However, like most good things, other Southeast Asian countries have adopted it as their own, and it’s much loved in Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore.
We originally thought Chicken Satay hailed from Thailand (and it’s no surprise that Thai restaurants are much more easily found in America than Indonesian restaurants), and while this Chicken Satay is influenced by Thai flavors with Thai curry paste, Indonesia is where the dish originated.
Apparently the most authentic street food versions are grilled on a woody piece of coconut palm frond for a true coconutty flavor! TWOL in Indonesia may be a travel post coming to you soon…
A Classic Peanut Dipping Sauce
The staple of any good Chicken Satay recipe is the dipping sauce. Ours is a simple blend of peanut butter, soy sauce, and fish sauce that really lets the flavor of the chicken shine, with a little twang from freshly minced garlic, ginger, and lime juice.
If you end up with leftover peanut sauce, just boil up some spaghetti and make quick peanut noodles! Perfect for a little afternoon snack! A touch of soy sauce, sesame oil, and chili oil wouldn’t hurt either. You can make something akin to me and Sarah’s “After School Special.”
The Finishing Touches
We made this recipe the focal point of a family dinner, served with my mom’s Asian Smashed Cucumber Salad and rice on the side (the little yellow flecks are millet, which my mom adds to white rice when she thinks we all need an extra hit of grains).
It’s great with extra lime, cilantro, and slices of red chili over the top. If you’re looking for additional Thai sides to go with this classic Chicken Satay, check out our recipes for: Pad See Ew Thai Rice Noodles, Shrimp Pad Thai, or Thai Basil Shrimp Fried Rice. And for dessert, how about our Thai Black Sticky Rice with Mango?
How to Make Chicken Satay: Recipe Instructions
Before you get started, if you’re using bamboo skewers, soak them in a bowl of water for at least an hour––this prevents them from burning during the cooking process!
Marinate the chicken for at least 30 minutes with coconut milk, fish sauce, soy sauce, red curry paste, curry powder, sugar, and lime juice. You can also let it sit overnight if you want to do this in advance!
While the chicken is marinating, prepare the sauce by combining the peanut butter, hot water, lime juice, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, fish sauce, and sesame oil. If you want it saltier, you can add more soy sauce or fish sauce.
Skewer the chicken (4-7 pieces of chicken per skewer depending on the length).
You can cook the skewers on the grill, but we cooked them in a skillet set over medium-high with 2 tablespoons of oil. Make sure to let your skillet preheat first, and when you add the chicken, turn down the heat to medium or medium-low if it’s browning too fast. Cook the chicken evenly for about 10-12 minutes, turning it until golden on all sides.
Because the chicken is irregularly-sized on the skewers, take care to make sure it’s cooked through.
Serve with the peanut sauce. Excellent sides for this Chicken Satay are rice and our Smashed Asian Cucumber Salad! Enjoy!
Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce
Ingredients
For the Chicken:
- 1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs (680g, cut into chunks)
- 1/4 cup coconut milk (60 ml)
- 2 teaspoons fish sauce
- 2 teaspoons soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons red curry paste
- 2 teaspoons curry powder
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 2 tablespoons oil
For the Peanut Sauce:
- 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
- 2-3 tablespoons hot water (to your desired consistency)
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 1 clove garlic (minced)
- 1 teaspoon ginger (minced or grated)
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon fish sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
Instructions
- Before you get started, if you’re using bamboo skewers, soak them in a bowl of water for at least an hour––this prevents them from burning during the cooking process!
- Marinate the chicken for at least 30 minutes with coconut milk, fish sauce, soy sauce, red curry paste, curry powder, sugar, and lime juice. You can also let it sit overnight if you want to do this in advance!
- While the chicken is marinating, prepare the sauce by combining the peanut butter, hot water, lime juice, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, fish sauce, and sesame oil. If you want it saltier, you can add more soy sauce or fish sauce.
- Skewer the chicken (4-7 pieces of chicken per skewer depending on the length).
- You can cook the skewers on the grill, but we cooked them in a skillet set over medium-high with 2 tablespoons of oil. Make sure to let your skillet preheat first, and when you add the chicken, turn down the heat to medium or medium-low if it’s browning too fast. Cook the chicken evenly for about 10-12 minutes, turning it until golden on all sides. Because the chicken is irregularly-sized on the skewers, take care to make sure it’s cooked through.
- Serve with the peanut sauce. Enjoy!
Laura says
This was ridiculously good – the next day we put the leftover chicken in naan with spicy pickles and a bit of the peanut sauce. Thank you for the recipe!
Kaitlin says
Yum yum yum yum yum GREAT use of leftovers. That sounds so delicious!
Ciara says
This was sooooo good! I skipped the skewers and just put the chicken directly on the grill. Also added a bit of honey and chili powder in the sauce for some spice. This is gonna be part of the summer menu rotation!
Kaitlin says
So glad you enjoyed it, Ciara! :) Love your additions too!
Haley says
Fantastic recipe, a great shortcut for those who don’t have easy access to fresh lemongrass etc to make the curry paste. Just be sure to not jam too many pieces on a skewer too tight as I found the chicken took forever to cook in certain spots.
Kaitlin says
Good tip, Haley! Probably sacrilegious to say about my own recipe, but next time I make this, I’m skippin the skewers unless I’m serving these for a par-tay. :P
Chris says
Hi Kaitlin,
We loved this recipe in our house, thank you for sharing it! A perfect meal for this time of the year! Made everything just as you recommend except we added a couple tablespoons of the leftover coconut milk to the peanut sauce, which of course makes it nice and creamy.
Chris
Kaitlin says
Awesome, Chris! You’re welcome :) I debated adding coconut milk to the peanut sauce (and some of the red curry for that matter), but we liked a more classic, simpler tasting sauce. But, as with all home-cooking, I’m glad you took matters into your own hands!
Carol V says
Would it be possible to just skip the skewers and do a quick sauté with the marinated chicken? Or would it stick to the skillet too much?
Kaitlin says
Hey Carol, you definitely can skip the skewers! Just be careful to not stir the chicken too much so it has a chance to really sear.
Hersh says
Amazing….this is pretty much the exact shortcut I came up with to make satay. In fact I have it marinating now and will be cooking it after work…crazy! The only main difference is that I use Massaman curry paste because it contains more of the spices that are in traditional satay such as coriander, turmeric and clove. Half of the tin for the marinade and half for the peanut sauce. The added tamarind in the paste also gives the peanut sauce a nice flavor. This is also a nice work around for those that don’t like it too spicy. I often make it with thinly sliced pork too.
Kaitlin says
Thank you for the intel, Hersh! Chicken satay is one of those dishes that has been adapted by many different countries, so we love hearing some of these insider tips.
Steve Gardner says
Delicious! Grilled over a charcoal fire.
Added some sambal oelek to the sauce, as we like some kick!
Kaitlin says
Yum! This over coals sounds epic.
Corinna says
Will yellow curry paste work for this marinade? How will it alter the taste?
Thank you & I am really enjoying all your recipes 👍🏻So good😊
Kaitlin says
Hi Corinna, great question! I can’t say for sure without making it myself, but I think that the yellow curry paste will be less spicy and have a stronger turmeric flavor; whereas the dominant flavor in the red curry paste is driven by red chilies. Either way, I think one is definitely better than none! Hope that helps! Thank you for cooking and commenting :D
Janis says
My recipe from malaysian friends uses coconut cream(the almost solid stuff so not can) to baste the skewers brushed on with Lemon grass brush.
The secret ingredient in the marinade is ayam satay seasoning. and TIME – lots of time…
This produces SUPERB chicken satay.
The peanut sauce is preferably made with peanuts but also belacan and lemongrass and palm sugar IIRC. I’m not so fussy about my peanut sauce and usually use peanut butter(real stuff just ground peanuts not jarred stuff)with add ins.
Kaitlin says
Hi Janis, oh we’ll have to go hunting for yam satay seasoning! Belacan in the peanut sauce sounds incredible!!!! Thank you for the tips :)
George Gale says
Well, ok but no! Bullhead sauce for the marinade and a bit of coconut milk in the peanut sauce.
At least that’s how we do it at my house!
Kaitlin says
Nice adjustment! We’ll have to try it next time :)