Chicken Satay With Peanut Sauce
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Chicken Satay With Peanut Sauce is a beautiful dish that uses red curry paste and curry powder to bring a lot of flavor to the chicken. Add a peanut sauce to dip or pour over the chicken and you’ll have a meal that’s a big hit.
You will want to plan ahead for this recipe because it is best if the chicken can marinate overnight. If that doesn’t fit your plans let it marinate at least three hours.
We will make this dish gluten free by using tamari instead of soy sauce.
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The Ingredients For Chicken Satay With Peanut Sauce
For the Chicken:
- 1.5 lbs Chicken Thighs
- 2 Tbls Red Curry Paste
- 1 Tbls Curry Powder
- 2 tsp White Sugar
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Fish Sauce
- 1/2 Cup Coconut Cream
- Skewers
Peanut Sauce
- 2 Tbls Red Curry Paste
- 1 1/4 Cup Coconut Cream or Milk
- 3/4 Cup Peanut Butter
- 2 Tbls White Sugar
- 2 tsp Tamari
- 1 tsp Salt
- 2 Tbls Cider Vinegar
- 1/2 C Water
- 1/4 tsp Hot Chile Powder
- 1 tsp Fish Sauce
Cut The Chicken
We’ll begin by cutting our chicken into fairly large chunks. We’ll be using about 1 1/2 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken thighs but you can use any parts of the chicken you prefer. We like to make these about 2 bites each because of the way the larger chunks cook. They tend to come out a little more tender than if they are smaller pieces. Then we will make our marinade.
Make the Marinade
Our marinade starts with 2 tablespoons of red curry paste in a bowl.
Curry Powder
To this we will add 1 tablespoon of curry powder. You might think this sounds redundant but we are just trying to pack as much flavor into this marinade as we can.
Salt, Sugar, Fish Sauce, Coconut Cream
We will then add 1 teaspoon of salt, 2 teaspoons of sugar, 1 teaspoon of fish sauce and 1/2 cup of coconut cream. You can use either coconut cream or coconut milk for this recipe.
Marinate the Chicken
We’ll stir this all together thoroughly and then pour it over our chicken. Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. The longer this marinates the better so we like to let it marinate overnight.
Peanut Sauce
Next we want to make our peanut sauce. We’ll put 2 tablespoons of red curry paste, 3/4 cup of peanut butter and about 1 1/4 cups of our coconut cream. Creamy peanut butter works best for this but if, like us, you only have chunky it will be fine. If you are using coconut milk, it usually comes in 14 ounce cans. You can just use the rest of the can at this point. Coconut Cream often comes in 19 ounce cans and you won’t need all of the can for this.
Salt, Tamari and Vinegar
To this we will add 1 teaspoon of salt, 2 teaspoons of tamari and 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. We are using tamari because it is gluten free. If you don’t have to worry about gluten you can use soy sauce.
Cook the Sauce
We’ll stir this all together, add 1/2 cup of water and cook it over medium heat until it reduces to a good saucy consistency. We just keep an eye on this and when it gets to a good thickness we’ll turn the heat down and keep it warm while we cook our chicken.
Put the Chicken On Skewers
Now it’s time to cook our chicken. We like to put the chicken pieces on skewers to make them easier to turn over in the pan but you don’t have to do this. The chicken can be cooked under the broiler or in a frying pan, as loose pieces or on skewers, however you prefer to do it.
Heat the Oil
Next we will heat some oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. We use olive oil with just a splash of chile oil added to get a little heat into the dish.
Add Chile Powder and Fish Sauce to the Peanut Sauce
While the oil is heating up we will add 1/4 teaspoon of hot chile powder and 1 teaspoon of fish sauce to our peanut sauce and stir that in. We use a rocoto powder that we made but you can use any chile powder you have on hand.
Cook the Chicken
When the oil is hot we will put the chicken into the frying pan and get it cooking. We do this in two batches. If your frying pan is large enough you might fit it all in at one time.
Turn and Cook the Other Side
The chicken cooks fairly quickly. After about four minutes we will turn the chicken over and cook the other side. We want to make sure the chicken gets all the way cooked so we will give the second side about 5 minutes.
Plating
Now we just need to plate our dish. You have several options at this point. You can serve the chicken on the skewers and put the peanut sauce in a bowl on the side for dipping. We like to take the chicken off the skewers, plate it with rice and pour the peanut sauce over the whole thing.
Add Lime Juice
As a final touch we will squeeze lime juice over the sauce. Adding that little bit of acid really brings out the rich flavors in the dish.
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PrintChicken Satay With Peanut Sauce
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes + 3 to 24 hours
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Main Dish
- Cuisine: Indian
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
Chicken Satay With Peanut Sauce is a beautiful dish that uses red curry paste and curry powder to bring a lot of flavor to the chicken. Add a peanut sauce to dip or pour over the chicken and you’ll have a meal that’s a big hit.
Ingredients
For the Chicken:
- 1.5 lbs Chicken Thighs
- 2 Tbls Red Curry Paste
- 1 Tbls Curry Powder
- 2 tsp White Sugar
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Fish Sauce
- 1/2 cup Coconut Cream
- Skewers
Peanut Sauce:
- 2 Tbls Red Curry Paste
- 1 1/4 cup Coconut Cream or Milk
- 3/4 cup Peanut Butter
- 2 Tbls White Sugar
- 2 tsp Tamari
- 1 tsp Salt
- 2 Tbls Cider Vinegar
- 1/2 C Water
- 1/4 tsp Hot Chile Powder
- 1 tsp Fish Sauce
Instructions
- Cut the chicken into large pieces, about 2 bites per piece.
- Make the marinade: In a bowl, combine 2 Tbls red curry paste, 1 Tbls curry powder, 2 tsp white sugar, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp fish sauce and 1/2 cup coconut cream. Stir thoroughly and pour over the chicken pieces, making sure to coat them well. Cover and let marinate in the refrigerator for 3 to 24 hours.
- Make the peanut sauce: In a saucepan, combine 2 Tbls red curry paste, 1 1/4 cups of coconut cream, 3/4 cup peanut butter, 2 Tbls white sugar, 2 tsp tamari, 1 tsp salt, 2 Tbls apple cider vinegar and 1/2 cup water. Put the pan on a burner over medium-high heat, bring to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer for 30 minutes until it has thickened to a good dipping sauce consistency. Add 1/4 tsp hot chile powder and 1 tsp fish sauce. Reduce heat and keep warm.
- Cook the chicken: Put the chicken pieces on skewers. Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat and place the skewers in. You may need to do this in batches. Cook the first side for 4 minutes. Turn and cook for 5 minutes more.
- Remove the chicken from the skewers and plate with rice and peanut sauce. Squeeze the juice of half a lime over the sauce. Garnish with cilantro. Or serve the chicken on the skewers with the sauce in a bowl on the side for dipping.
Notes
Tamari is used here to make this recipe gluten free. You can use soy sauce instead if you are not concerned about gluten.