Simple Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce is an easy-to-make meal that's packed with flavour. Sizzling chicken skewers are grilled to perfection and served with the best spicy peanut sauce that will have you coming back for seconds!
One of my favourite casual meals: Simple Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce! With just the right balance of sweet, savoury, and spicy flavours, these mouth-watering chicken satay skewers are perfect for a quick weeknight dinner or a fun weekend barbecue with friends and family.
Jump to:
❤️Why this recipe works
- Sizzling Satay! Even the word conjures up visions of hot Singapore nights, sizzling grills, and flavourful meat. This easy chicken satay recipe makes a great appetizer or a light meal when served with crunchy veggies.
- A fun way to eat! Spicy skewers make a perfect choice for a casual meal. Who doesn't love food on a stick?
- Indoors or outdoors! Golden brown bites of chicken marinated in a full-flavoured chicken satay sauce and served with a zesty peanut sauce on the side are hard to resist! It's an easy meal that you can cook on either an indoor or outdoor grill.
- Delicious peanut sauce is an essential accompaniment to chicken satay. Its nutty and slightly sweet flavour goes perfectly with slightly charred, marinated skewers of juicy chicken.
If you love these flavours, you'll also like this Slow Cooker Thai Peanut Chicken! It's an easy "dump-and-go" slow cooker meal the whole family will love.
Let's make some quick and easy satay chicken skewers!
🛒 Ingredients for chicken satay with peanut sauce
Here's what you'll need to make satay. You'll find a complete list with amounts in the recipe card below.
- chicken breasts: Boneless, skinless breasts cook quickly and are easy to thread onto skewers.
- aromatics: Lemongrass, shallots, and fresh garlic add enticing flavours to this satay marinade.
- spices: Turmeric, coriander, chili powder, and sea salt.
- sugar: Your choice of coconut palm sugar, brown sugar or Monkfruit 0-calorie sweetener.
- for the best spicy peanut sauce: You'll need natural peanut butter, canned creamy coconut milk, tamari, rice vinegar, garlic, ginger, and sweet chili sauce combine to make this amazing peanut dipping sauce.
🔪 Instructions
Chicken satay skewers dipped in spicy peanut sauce and served with fresh veggies make a meal that's fun to eat and share with friends!
Mix and marinate, skewer the chicken, grill, and dip! This satay recipe is easy, but oh-so-good!
- First, soak wooden skewers to prevent them from burning on the grill.
- Mix all the peanut sauce ingredients in a blender or food processor and process until smooth. This recipe may make more than what you'll need, so refrigerate or freeze any leftover sauce. It will last for months in the freezer.
- Next, slice the chicken breasts into long thin strips. Thread onto soaked skewers.
- Mix the marinade ingredients together and marinate the chicken for 2 to 8 hours or overnight.
- Grill the chicken satay skewers over medium-high heat for 2 - 3 minutes on each side or until no longer pink in the middle. You can use either an outdoor or indoor grill to cook satay.
- Serve the skewers hot and fresh from the grill. Garnish with chopped peanuts, cilantro leaves and wedges of fresh lime.
🔁 Possible Variations
Change the protein: Satay is also commonly made with pork, lamb or beef.
Change the level of spiciness: While this recipe isn't overly spicy, you know your family best. You can certainly reduce the amount of chili powder in the marinade or halve the amount of ginger in the peanut dipping sauce.
Keep it gluten-free: Be sure to use gluten-free tamari instead of soy sauce.
❓Satay recipe FAQs
Satay likely originated in Indonesia, but you'll find it in many areas of Southeast Asia, including Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore.
As soon as it gets dark in Singapore, Lau Pa Sat Satay Street wakes up and the area comes alive. It's magically transformed into an outdoor dining area!
Stalls are swiftly set up on the pedestrian-only street to serve the crowds of office workers who stop in for satay and a cold beer before heading home. Skewers of chicken, beef, pork, and lamb sizzle on grills, filling the air with tantalizing aromas.
🍽 What to serve with chicken satay
- The traditional accompaniments to chicken satay skewers are celery sticks, and pickled red onions. However, feel free to add any other fresh veggies. Cucumber spears or slices to cool your mouth from the spicy skewers are good too! Serve with wedges of fresh lime and give each satay skewer a generous squeeze of lime.
- If you like, you can make this a full meal and serve it with Thai Coconut Rice. A fluffy and fragrant rice dish made with coconut milk, its creamy, tropical flavor pairs nicely with chicken satay.
- Add a refreshing salad, like Thai Cucumber Salad with Mint, or a noodle salad like this Crunchy Thai Noodle Salad. Chicken Satay skewers are also delicious when served on a bed of crisp Thai-Style Coleslaw.
🥶 How to store and freeze satay skewers
How to store: Store leftover chicken satay skewers tightly covered in the fridge for 3 to 4 days. To be safe, refrigerate within two hours of cooking.
To freeze: Store cooked skewers tightly wrapped in an airtight container for 3 to 4 months.
Peanut sauce freezes well. I store it in 4 oz. or 8 oz. Mason jars. It will last for months in the freezer.
When you make this chicken satay recipe, please leave a comment and a star rating below. Thanks in advance! Subscribe to my newsletter and have new recipes delivered straight to your inbox once a week.
🗒 More yummy chicken recipes
This satay recipe was originally posted way back in 2017. I've updated it with new photos and extra information and I've tweaked the recipe to make it even more useful.
📖 Recipe
Simple Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 medium chicken breasts, boneless, skinless
- 3 tablespoons olive oil extra virgin
- 2 stalks lemon grass, white parts only, chopped finely
- 2 cloves fresh garlic
- 4 medium shallots
- 1 ½ teaspoons turmeric
- 1 teaspoon coriander
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons sea salt
- 2 tablespoons coconut sugar, or brown sugar or Monkfruit sweetener
- 1 - 2 tablespoons water
Peanut Sauce
- 1 cup peanut butter, smooth
- 7 oz coconut milk, (half a can)
- ¼ cup coconut aminos (for paleo diet) , or tamari soy sauce
- ¼ cup rice vinegar
- 2 cloves garlic
- ¼ - ½ inch knob fresh ginger
- 2 tablespoons sweet chili sauce
Garnish
- ⅓ cup chopped peanuts
- ¼ cup chopped cilantro
Instructions
- Soak bamboo skewers in water for 2-3 hours or more.
- Combine all ingredients for Peanut Sauce in a food processor or blender and process until smooth. Add a little water, if necessary to thin it. Set aside.
- Slice chicken breasts lengthwise into long narrow strips. Thread on bamboo skewers.
- In a food processor, combine the marinade ingredients: oil, lemon grass, shallots, garlic, turmeric, coriander, chili powder, sea salt, coconut sugar and water. Marinate chicken strips in this marinade for 2 - 8 hours.
- Grill over medium-high heat for 2 - 3 minutes on each side. If not cooked through, lower the heat and grill 3 minutes longer until fully cooked. Use an instant-read meat thermometer to check that the internal temperature of the chicken has reached 165°F.
- Sprinkle with freshly chopped cilantro leaves and chopped peanuts, if desired. Serve chicken satay hot with sliced cucumbers, pickled red onions and peanut sauce for dipping.
Gloria @ Homemade & Yummy
Chicken and peanut sauce are the perfect match. This is great as a appetizer. I would use it as a meal with a couple of side dishes. Dinner is served!!
prasanna hede
I can imagine how the lemon grass will add wonderful flavor here.Lovely recipe to try!
Flavour & Savour
Thanks! Lemongrass adds such a subtle flavour to recipes. I wish it grew here!
Jenni
Oooh, these sound so delicious!! Love the peanut dipping sauce!
Colleen
We love Satay and this recipe looks so much easier than the ones I've made in the past, but still with all the flavour. Will be trying this one for sure!
Flavour & Savour
Thanks Colleen,
Hope you like it too!
Tiffany
I would love to go to Singapore and it looks like you had a great time. I must make this for my dad. He loves chicken satay and this certainly looks delicious.
Flavour & Savour
We loved Singapore, despite the incredible heat!! The satay street food stands were fun, too!
Shareba
Ooh I love a good spicy peanut sauce. Your satay skewers look delish!
Flavour & Savour
Thanks Shareba! The spicier the better in my opinion!
Terri@foodmeanderings
I love chicken satay with peanut sauce. I have never tried to make it at home - need to give this one a try!
Flavour & Savour
I hope you get a chance to make it, Terri. It's super simple!
Hilary
Anything with peanut sauce has my name on it!! I could see these become an excellent summertime dinner with the hubby- he will be thrilled when I make these! 🙂
Flavour & Savour
Thanks Hilary, I hope you get a chance to make them this summer!
Natalie Browne
What a wonderful trip! The outdoor dining street sounds so neat. I love this for a light summer meal. It looks delicious.
Ayngelina Brogan
I LOVE satay with peanut sauce and haven't had it in forever. Thank you for the reminder and the recipe!
Flavour & Savour
You're welcome! Sometimes we just need to explore food blogs to discover our old favourites and make them new again!
Colleen Milne
What a great trip that must have been! I love satay, and this looks so good with the peanut sauce!
Flavour & Savour
Thanks Colleen,
Yes, we had a fabulous time exploring a part of the world that we hadn't been to before. I love learning about a country through its food!
Kathi @ laughingspatula
I could eat this every night! It looks delicious!
Flavour & Savour
Me too! I'm going to make it with shrimp this weekend.
Inci @ Bella's Apron
I love food on skewers and this looks like such a good appetizer to serve or even put on a bed of rice. I will definately be giving this a try
Flavour & Savour
Thanks! Food on a stick is always fun to eat, don't you think?