Chicken Satay Skewers with Spicy Peanut Sauce marries delicious, grilled chicken breasts marinated in coconut milk, curry, honey, and soy sauce with a finger-licking-good, slightly spicy peanut sauce for dipping.
Looking for more easy grilling chicken recipes? Read up on some of my favorite recipes and see if one of them doesn’t hit the spot! Bang Bang Chicken Skewers, Grilled Chicken Margherita, Grilled Chicken Souvlaki, and Grilled Sweet and Spicy Thai Kabobs.
It’s grilling season! I want to grill alllllll the things. I cannot find enough time to grill all the things though (sad), so for now, I’m going to have to do just one recipe at a time. First up? Chicken Satay! By now you know I have mad love for all foods Thai. (I can’t get enough of these Thai Drunken Noodles for instance.) But I’ve yet to make this easy Chicken Satay. Why? I can’t say (tay)? Okay bad joke. It’s late at night though, and I have a belly full of satay and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies so my brain is sooo happy yet a bit mushy. Worth every bite though!
The thing that really caps off this Indonesian Chicken Satay recipe is the Spicy Thai Peanut Sauce. I just can’t have one without the other! Whoever thought to dip chicken into peanut sauce was a real genius in my book! This recipe comes together quickly and is amazing for an appetizer or as a main dish — or both!
Here’s What You Need
Making Chicken Satay Skewers is easy! All you need is some chicken and a quick marinade made of easy-to-find-ingredients:
- Chicken breasts
- Canned coconut milk
- Soy sauce
- Yellow curry powder
- Red curry paste
- Honey
Yepppp that’s about it! What did I tell you? Easy.
What is Thai Peanut Sauce Made of?
It is possible to eat Chicken Satay without peanut sauce, but I don’t recommend it. (I realize some people are allergic, see info below on alternate dipping sauces that will work well too!)
- Reserved coconut milk from the can you used for the chicken marinade
- Creamy peanut butter
- Soy sauce
- Sriracha sauce or crushed red pepper flakes
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce or 1T extra soy sauce
- juice of 1 lime
- 1 tablespoon honey
How do you Make Chicken Satay?
1. First, slice the chicken into 1-inch strips. Then, whisk together all the marinade ingredients (coconut milk, soy sauce, curry powder/paste, and honey) and add the chicken to it. Toss it together to coat, and then pop the chicken in the fridge for 1 hour to chill.
2. When you’re ready to grill, skewer each chicken piece longways and grill over medium heat for 6-8 minutes, turning occasionally to ensure the chicken is cooked all the way around.
3. If you don’t want to grill, you can put the chicken skewers on a greased baking sheet in the oven set to 375 degrees for 15-18 minutes, or until cooked all the way through.
4. Either way you cook — be careful when taking off the grill/out of the oven, the skewers (especially if you use metal ones) will be hot!
How do you Make Peanut Sauce from Scratch?
This sauce is so easy, you can whip it together while the chicken cooks. Simply mix together all the peanut sauce ingredients in a bowl, stirring thoroughly to combine. Set it aside until the chicken is done cooking, and then dip away!
Alternately, you can make this peanut sauce with coconut milk up to two days in advance. It might thicken while in the fridge. If this is the case, then you can stir a tablespoon or two of water into the sauce thin it back out.
Serve in a bowl with a spoon for easy sharing or serve in individual bowls for dipping. Or, crazy idea, just pour it all over the chicken. There really is no wrong answer here.
Other Dipping Sauces for Chicken Skewers
If you are interested in other dipping sauces that would go well with this chicken satay, rather than going with the traditional Thai Peanut Sauce, here are some amazing alternatives:
- Tzatziki Sauce is a great addition to just about any meat dish (and veggie for that matter) in my opinion!
- The cilantro and garlic in this Argentinian Chimichurri Sauce works wonderfully with the curry in the chicken marinade.
- Try Cilantro Lime Avocado Sauce when you’re in the mood for a little bit of green and some heart-healthy fats in your dipping sauce.
- Honey Mustard sauce adds a little bit of tang and sweet to the skewers.
- Use store-bought hoisin or even teriyaki sauce drizzled over the skewers for a sauce that’s salty, tasty, and not too thick.
- You can also try a nut-free peanut butter alternative as a substitution (I have heard good things about Wowbutter) in the Spicy Thai Peanut Sauce instead of regular creamy peanut butter.
More Tasty Recipes
Did you make this recipe? Leave a comment and give it a rating below!
Chicken Satay Skewers with Spicy Peanut Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds chicken breasts - sliced into 1-inch thick strips
chicken marinade
- ½ cup canned unsweetened coconut milk - reserve remaining coconut milk for peanut sauce
- 4 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon yellow curry powder
- 1 teaspoons red curry paste - OR additional 1T yellow curry power
- 2 tablespoons honey
peanut sauce
- reserved coconut milk from the can
- ½ cup creamy peanut butter
- 4 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1-2 tablespoons sriracha sauce - or 1-2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce - or 1T extra soy sauce
- juice of 1 lime
- 1 tablespoon honey
Instructions
- In a medium bowl whisk together all marinade ingredients.
- Add chicken, toss to coat. Cover and chill for 1 hour.
- While chicken is marinating, prepare the peanut sauce by combining all ingredients and stirring well. Set aside.
- Skewer the chicken and grill over medium heat for 6-8 minutes, turning throughout to ensure even cooking OR bake on a sheet pan at 375 degrees for 15-18 minutes until cooked through.
- Serve warm with peanut sauce for dipping. Enjoy!
Notes
- Tzatziki Sauce is a great addition to just about any meat dish (and veggie for that matter) in my opinion!
- The cilantro and garlic in this Argentinian Chimichurri Sauce works wonderfully with the curry in the chicken marinade.
- Try Cilantro Lime Avocado Sauce when you’re in the mood for a little bit of green and some heart-healthy fats in your dipping sauce.
- Honey Mustard sauce adds a little bit of tang and sweet to the skewers.
- Use store-bought hoisin or even teriyaki sauce drizzled over the skewers for a sauce that’s salty, tasty, and not too thick.
- You can also try a nut-free peanut butter alternative as a substitution (I have heard good things about Wowbutter) in the Spicy Thai Peanut Sauce instead of regular creamy peanut butter.
Is the coconut milk unsweetened?
Yes!
Hi tiffany!
I just want to Let you know that the country of origiN for sataY is indonesia!
UnfoRtunAtely both Thailand and Malaysia claim it as their own. 🤦🏼♀️ its origin was in Java, a province in Indonesia. Satay is very extremely poPular in all south east asia countrIes. Even in the country where my mother came from, netherlands, satay is very pOpular, you’ll find this Dish easiLy along with other indonesIan dishes.
I love your recipes, Printed numerous amount. ☺️
Indonesian food is hands down the best food i ever tasted and I’ve been living in 7 different countrIEs so far so i’ve tasted Dishes from many countries. But My oh my, to me Nothing can beat inDonesian cuisines. 😋😋😋
Ooh so good to know, thanks for sharing Anna! I hope you try this one and let me know what you think! I did my best to keep it very simple and use easily accessible ingredients. 🙂
How big of a can of coconut milk is needed? I made a double batch of the peanut sauce because I had a little over a cup of coconut milk left and needed to add a lot more peanut butter because it was very runny.
Wonderful!
Wow, how happy I am that I couldn’t find my old recipe for this dish and I “had” to try this one… it is really delicious! I made it exactly to the recipe (using only the red pepper flakes vs. Sriracha substitution) and boy howdy did my table enjoy it. Me particularly, followed closely by my brother-in-law who had requested I make the dish. Can’t wait for this to come up in recipe rotation again.