This Thai Chicken Satay recipe is made with a savory marinade, then grilled to perfection and served with a delicious spicy Thai peanut sauce.
Simple ingredients come together to make this satay chicken, which goes perfectly with Easy Vegetable Lo Mein or Classic Asian Ramen Salad.
This is truly tasty grilled chicken with a Thai peanut sauce recipe that will make you come back for more!
Thai Chicken Satay
Chicken Satay is tender pieces of chicken marinated in peanut butter, coconut milk, lime, brown sugar, and soy sauce, then grilled to perfection.
It’s served with a delicious Thai peanut sauce that is tangy and spicy.
What Does Satay Mean?
The word “satay” means a Southeast Asian dish containing small pieces of meat that is grilled on a skewer and served with a spiced sauce that usually contains peanuts.
Chicken is a very common meat to satay, but you can also use thin slices of beef.
Ingredients Needed
Here’s the basic list of ingredients you’ll need in order to make Thai Chicken Satay and the delicious peanut sauce. As always, you can find the full list of ingredients located in the printable recipe card below.
- Chicken – tenderloin
- Peanut Butter – creamy
- Coconut Milk – not coconut water!
- Brown Sugar
- Soy Sauce
- Lime – zest and juice
- Salt
- Hoisin Sauce
- Sriracha
- Water – for peanut dipping sauce
How To Make Thai Chicken Satay
This recipe is a favorite because of the simple Asian chicken marinade and quick cooking time. The marinade can even be made ahead!
Make Marinade
In a medium bowl combine the creamy peanut butter, coconut milk, brown sugar, soy sauce, lime juice, lime zest and salt. Stir until smooth.
Marinate Chicken
Place the chicken tenderloins in a gallon zip close bag. Then pour the marinade into the bag over the chicken. Seal it up and let marinate in the fridge for 2-4 hours, more time for maximum flavor!
Prepare For Grilling
Once the chicken is finished marinating, soak the wooden skewers in water for ten minutes. Thread chicken onto the wooden skewers.
Cook The Chicken
Heat grill to medium. Grill for 3-4 minutes on each side or until internal temp reaches 165 degrees F.
Make The Dipping Sauce
Place the peanut butter in a small dish and heat in the microwave for 10-15 seconds to soften. Add the hoisin sauce, sriracha, lime juice, and 1 Tablespoon of water. Stir until combined. Add more water to thin sauce as needed.
To Serve
Garnish chicken with chopped cilantro and serve hot with the peanut dipping sauce.
Can You Make This Ahead?
Yes! You can follow the recipe as directed to prepare the raw chicken and marinade in a zip-close bag, then refrigerate for 1 day or freeze for up to 3 months before using.
Just make sure to thaw completely before grilling!
Tips And Variations
- Crunchy peanut butter is amazing in place of the creamy peanut butter in this recipe for a little bit of crunch in your Thai peanut sauce.
- Chicken tenderloin is used because they are more tender and flavorful than chicken breast, but you may also cut chicken breasts into strips.
- Add more or less sriracha sauce to make this dish more or less spicy!
- Not grilling season? No worries! You can easily prepare this chicken on an electric grill as well!
More Asian Chicken Recipes
Looking for more easy Asian chicken recipes for dinner? I have you covered! Here are a few of our favorites to try…
- Quick Asian Chicken Salad
- Easy Teriyaki Chicken Recipe
- Best Orange Chicken Recipe
- Chicken Pad Thai Recipe
I know you’ll love this amazing Satay Chicken! I can’t wait for you to try it.
Thai Chicken Satay with Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce
Equipment
- Wooden Skewers soaked in water
Ingredients
For the Thai Chicken Satay:
- 2 pounds Chicken Tenderloin
- ½ cup peanut butter, creamy
- ¾ cup Coconut Milk
- ½ cup Brown Sugar
- ¼ cup Soy Sauce
- 1 Lime, zest and juice of
- ¼ tsp salt
- Cilantro for a garnish, optional
For the Dipping Sauce:
- 1/2 cup Peanut Butter, chunky or creamy will work
- 3 tbsp Hoisin sauce
- 1 tsp Sriracha
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- 2-3 tbsp water
Instructions
For the Thai Chicken Satay:
- Place chicken tenders in a zip close bag.
- In a medium bowl combine the creamy peanut butter, coconut milk, brown sugar, soy sauce, lime juice, lime zest and salt. Stir till smooth, then pour over the chicken in the zip close bag. Seal it up and let marinade in the fridge for 2-4 hours.
- Once done marinating, soak wooden skewers in water for 10 minutes to prevent burning on the grill. Thread chicken onto the wooden skewers.
- Heat grill to medium. Grill for 3-4 minutes on each side or until internal temp reaches 165 degrees F.
For the Dipping Sauce:
- Place the peanut butter in a small dish and heat in microwave for 10-15 seconds to soften.
- Add the hoisin sauce, sriracha, lime juice and 1 tbsp of water. Stir until combined, add more water to thin sauce as needed.
- Garnish chicken with chopped cilantro and serve hot with the peanut dipping sauce.
There’s no peanut butter in chicken satay marinade.
For the coconut milk, do you use the coconut milk from the grocery store in 1/2 gal, or the Thai coconut milk in cans?
Thanks! Can’t wait to make this recipe, as it sounds delicious!
Made this for a baby shower and EVERYONE wanted the recipe. It was so easy and has just the right amount of spice. Leftovers taste great microwaved. The most time consuming part was cutting up the chicken! Next time maybe I’ll try using whole boneless breasts and cooking them on my George Foreman grill. YUMMY!
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I can’t wait to try this, peanut butter is my most fav thing in the world, to eat that is! Ingredients on my grocery list 🙂 Plus it’s on a stick!!
Not quite the same as paying 50 baht for a bag full of them and eating them with an ice cold Chang in the wonderful evening heat, but they really are delicious and the fragrances that hit you are sure to bring back Thai memories! Highly recommend them on a charcoal barbecue too, just make sure the coals aren’t too hot.
So simple and looks amazing! Perfect for kids too…they love anything on a stick! 🙂
My kids totally loved these, yes, food on a stick is perfect for kids of all ages!
This looks so good! Perfect as an entree or an appetizer. Love it!
Easy is good and this looks easy and good!
That’s my motto!
Oh yes, this is something I could happily eat a couple of times each week. Peanut sauce makes anything taste magical!
Yes, it truly does!
I adore peanut butter. Worship peanut butter. Buy it nearly every week. But I’ve never been able to wrap my head around peanut butter + chicken. Now, I’ve never tried it, so certainly I can’t judge, but it just doesn’t SOUND good, does that make sense? And I’m not brave enough to order it at a restaurant and risk not liking it, lol. It looks good from your pics though. You have a lovely way of staging your food for the camera. 🙂
Maybe you could make only the sauce to dip your chicken in and see how you like it! It’s not much peanut butter to use and it’d be low-commitment. 🙂
I love peanut butter in savory dishes. This sounds really good!
Thanks Amie, I know it’s hard to wrap your head around peanut butter and chicken, but the two together are just magical! Adding the peanut butter to the marinade with the coconut milk gives the chicken a nutty taste, and it’s not at all like eating straight peanut butter. It’s really good, you will have to try it!