Delicious homemade chicken satay skewers with peanut dipping sauce. One of the most popular Asian street food made with tender grilled chicken served with savoury creamy peanut sauce. Learn how to make at home with our simple instructions.
You'd love this simple satay skewers recipe. It's so easy to make in the home kitchen and perfect for both outdoor and indoor BBQ parties or gatherings. After you tried this recipe, you'll want to plan for a BBQ party every single weekend.
What is Chicken Satay Skewers?
This chicken skewer is originally from Indonesia and Malaysia but most Southeast Asian countries has their own version of it. Basically made of grilled chicken and peanut dipping sauce. Chicken marinade and dipping sauce are slightly different depend on the country. In this recipe, I want to share Thai-style chicken satay skewer that I have had in Thailand street food stalls. You can make this super tasty chicken satay at home with our easy to follow recipe. It might look like you need to make lots of steps to make both the chicken skewers and peanut sauce but the result will worth your effort. I can guarantee that!
How to make it
Here is the few ingredients explained :
- Coconut Milk - You can use any creamy coconut milk tin for this recipe. Highly recommend not to skip the coconut milk or substitute as coconut milk is one of the key flavours that makes this dish unique. You will need to add in both the marinade and peanut sauce.
- Curry paste - I used Mae Ploy Thai red curry paste in this recipe. You can use any brand red curry paste available at your local stores. If you cannot get it easily, you can substitute with hot/mild Madaras curry paste.
- Bamboo skewers - Traditionally bamboo skewers are used for this recipe. It totally fine to grill with metal skewers or grill it without skewers.
- Peanut - You can use natural peanut butter or peanut butter spread for this recipe.
- Roasted crushed peanuts - If you like your dipping sauce smooth, you can avoid the crushed peanuts. I personally love crushed peanuts in the sauce.
Chicken Marinade :
Satay chicken marinade includes simple everyday ingredients, except coconut milk. Adding coconut milk in the marinade can make the chicken pieces super moist and tender. You can use any kind of mild or hot curry powder for this recipe. I used to make this for my little one without chilli or paprika powder. You can omit paprika if you are making it for kids or don't want to add a spicy flavour.
Simple Tips for Making this dish perfectly :
- Soak the bamboo skewers in water for at least 15 minutes before threading to prevent form burning.
- Use skinless boneless chicken thigh to achieve the juicy tender chicken. As chicken thigh has more fat content and less likely to get tough and dry when you grill it.
- You can use a charcoal grill to taste exactly like the restaurants but for the home cook, you can grill over skillet or grill pan as I did in this recipe.
- If you wish to bake it in the oven, heat the oven to high heat about 350 F. Place the chicken pieces on the baking sheet, spray a bit of oil, and bake for 20-25 minutes until cooked through.
How to Serve this dish
I love to have this dish on its own or with a bowl of plain rice and crispy vegetables salad on the side. You can simply serve it with steamed rice, fried rice, stir fry noodles, and salad on the side. You can make a wholesome family banquet dinner with these following recipes:
- Chicken Fried Rice or Basil Fried Rice ( Quick and easy fried rice recipes! )
- Tom Yum Soup & Noodles ( Classic Thai Soup with Chicken and Prawns )
- Pad Thai or Pad See Eww ( Delicious Thai Stir Fry Noodles Recipes )
If you enjoy our Chicken Satay Skewers with Peanut Sauce recipe, please leave a comment and give us a rating! If you've tried this recipe, tag me on social medias, I would love to see your creations! Follow me on social medias Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest for latest updates.
Watch How to Make it Recipe Video
Chicken Satay Skewers with Peanut Sauce
Ingredients
- 500 g (17.5 oz) Boneless skinless chicken thigh ( or chicken breast )
Chicken Marinade
- 4 tbsp Coconut milk
- 1½ tsp Curry powder
- ½ tsp Paprika or chilli powder
- ½ tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Sugar
Peanut Dipping Sauce
- 1 cup Coconut milk
- 1 tbsp Red curry paste ( I used Mae Ploy red curry paste in this recipe )
- 80 g (3 oz) Peanut butter ( smooth )
- 2 tbsp Sugar
- 1 tsp Dark soy sauce
- ½ tsp Salt
- ½ cup Water
- 2-3 tbsp Roasted Peanut ( crushed ) ( Optional )
Side Salad
- ½ Onion
- ½ Cucumber medium size
- 2-3 Red or green chillies
- ½ Lime
- Salt to taste
- ½ Sugar
Instructions
- First of all, soak the bamboo skewers in water for 15 minutes.
- Cut the chicken into thin bite size pieces. In a large bowl add the chicken pieces, marinate the chicken with the curry powder, paprika, coconut milk, salt and sugar. Mix well to combine all ingredients together. Set aside and marinate for at least 15 minutes or you can leave it over night in fridge.
Peanut Dipping Sauce
- In a medium sauce pan, add coconut milk and all peanut sauce ingredients. Stir well to combine all ingredients with medium low heat until the sauce is smooth and creamy. You can add a bit more water if the gravy is too thick.
- Remove from heat and set aside. Make a taste test and add some salt or sugar according to your taste.
To Grill the Chicken Skewers
- Thread the chicken pieces on the skewers. You will get 10-15 skewers for this recipe.
- Heat a grill pan or skillet over medium high heat. Grill the skewers for 3-4 minutes then flip and cook for another 3 minutes until cook through.
To Serve
- Place the satay skewers on the serving plate. Serve with chilli peanut dipping sauce and salad . Garnish with cucumber slices, onion slices and lime wedges.
- You can have satay skewers on its own or serve with rice or noodles and make it a wholesome dinner.
To Make A Side Salad
- Cut the cucumber, onion and chilli into thin slices. Add the cut vegetables in a bowl, sprinkle sugar and salt to taste. Squeeze half lime and mix well. Ready to serve.
More crowd pleasing recipes on my websites : Thai Wings, Crispy Salt and Chilli Chicken, Crispy Fried Wonton recipes.
Lorianne says
This was delicious and so easy!! I put the chicken into the satay sauce rather than serving separately. Will definitely be making again. Thank you so much for the recipe.
Nicola says
Absolutely love this best satay sauce I have had.
Can you freeze the sauce?
Khin says
Hi Nicola, I haven't tried freezing the sauce. I've done keep in fridge and it usually last in an air-tight container up to one week. Then reheat on stove with a splash of water before serving.
Denny says
Thanks for sharing. Is there any substitute sauce for peanut sauce.
Khin says
Hi Denny, as this satay dipping sauce is the key to the dish. Highly recommend to try with peanut sauce. If you want to avoid peanut, you can serve with any of your favourite dipping sauce like, Thai Sriracha sauce, hot or sweet chilli sauce.
Michou says
How many tablespoons is 80g of peanut butter?