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Easy Thai Chicken Satay in a thick and creamy peanut sauce! A special ingredient makes this satay taste incredible. KETO and LOW CARB RECIPE!
The one ingredient I add into it covers over 10 ingredients so YOU don’t have to worry about forgetting anything in the supermarket! This is a quick and easy Chicken Satay recipe using bone-in chicken thighs.
CHICKEN SATAY
The thing about this Satay Chicken recipe is that it may not be the authentic real deal directly from Thailand, BUT it IS incredible. TASTES like take-out Thai, which to me is a crucial part of eating. This recipe is my answer to those moments you want a Thai Satay Chicken, but either:
- Don’t have time to cube chicken or soak skewers. Or thread chicken onto those skewers while trying to avoid stabbing fingers and palms with said skewers.
- Sometimes we just want an easy route. This is for us.
SATAY PEANUT SAUCE
Serve with this incredible peanut sauce on the side OR drown the chicken in the satay sauce before it hits the table. I love both ways and can never decide which one is better, because in the end it’s going to end up in sauce.
Serving the sauce on the side would suit most people for easier control of exactly how much sauce goes over the chicken.
HOW TO MAKE CHICKEN SATAY
MARINADE: The chicken is first marinated in a beautiful sauce FULL of satay flavours, and seared in that sauce for extra flavours. Don’t even try to skip this step. You’d be loco to rush ahead. What makes this marinade extra special is using Thai red Curry Paste!
Forget about buying a basket full of spices and ingredients and grinding them into a paste, which is essentially what most Thai sauces are made from. There’s no need when you can get a good Thai Paste at any supermarket.
Once you’ve seared your chicken, it then finishes cooking in the oven while you prepare the satay sauce.
THE SAUCE. God help me. NOT just peanut butter and coconut milk. The peanut sauce ALSO has Thai paste for an extra hit of flavour, plus other flavours and spices to get that WOW factor.
From here, once the chicken is cooked through, you can pour the sauce straight into the pan and reserve maybe 1/4 cup for serving.
Or just drown your chicken satay in sauce.
MORE CHICKEN RECIPES!
Chicken Satay ON VIDEO
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Easy Thai Satay Chicken
Ingredients
For The Chicken Marinade:
- 4 tablespoons coconut milk
- 1 1/2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
- 1 1/4 tablespoon light brown sugar packed, omit for keto
- 1 1/4 tablespoon Thai red curry paste
- 1 tablespoon Kecap Manis sweet soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 pinch salt
- 4 skinless chicken thighs bone-in or out
- 2 teaspoons peanut oil for frying
For the Peanut Sauce:
- 1 1/3 cup coconut milk all remaining milk from the tin
- 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter all natural preferable
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon sweet soy sauce Kecap Manis
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar packed, omit for keto
- 1 tablespoon Thai red curry paste
- 1/2 tablespoon Tamarind puree optional
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic minced
- 1-2 tablespoons lime juice freshly squeezed
- 1 handful cilantro to garnish
- 3 lime wedges to garnish
- 1 red chillies sliced to garnish
Instructions
- For the chicken marinade, mix together the coconut milk, peanut butter, brown sugar, curry paste, sauces and salt in a large, shallow bowl until well combined and creamy. Add in the chicken, turning to coat completely with the marinade. Allow to marinade for at least 10 minutes to half an hour in the refrigerator (if time allows).
- Preheat oven to 400°F | 200°C.
- Heat oil in an oven-proof pan or skillet over medium-high heat. Sear the chicken until browned on each side and fragrant (about 8-10 minutes each side). Transfer to the oven and continue cooking for a further 30 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through (juices run clear and no longer pink inside).
- While the chicken is in the oven, combine all Peanut Sauce ingredients into a saucepan EXCEPT for the lime juice. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and allow to simmer until combined and thickened (about 5-6 minutes). Once thick, take off heat and stir in the lime juice (start with 1 tablespoon and adjust accordingly to suit your tastes).
- Serve the chicken with the peanut sauce: either pour it all into the pan with the chicken OR serve separately.
- Garnish with fresh cilantro leaves, lime wedges and red chillies.
Notes
- Boneless chicken breasts can be replaced. Adjust cook times accordingly.
- Replace Fish Sauce with Soy Sauce
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Delicious. I don’t think it needs both Taramind and Lime Juice though. Because Taramind is quite tart already. I didn’t add the Lime Juice for that reason.
Thankyou first time looks great and tastes amazing
Superb! Never made a satay recipe for so absolutely delighted by how good this one was. Not sure I’ll ever be able to order takeaway satay again after tasting this. Easy to make and delicious.
This was delicious and super easy. My Husband declared this “possibly the best chicken satay I’ve ever had”. I used boneless thighs so they didn’t take nearly as long in the oven (20mins) and had to keep them warm while I finished cooking the sauce. The result were fall apart tender thighs with nicely caramalised bottoms. The satay sauce is very authentic tasting and what you would expect to get in a Thai restaurant. Served the thighs on a bed of rice with the sauce poured over and finished off the dish with a sprinkle of coriander (cilantro), sliced red chilis, a lime wedge as suggested as well as some crushed peanuts. Restaurant worthy and this will definitely be on the menu again.
Wow! So glad this recipe came up on my search for Satay. We have just finished eating and it was all demolished despite a large portion. I used 6 chicken thighs and the marinade and sauce was still plentiful. I put some of the sauce in with the chicken and it’s juices, returned it into the oven for 5 minutes and it thickened up and caramelised nicely. Dished up leftovers for work tomorrow and I think everyone will be jealous of how it looks!
This is one of those sauces that you keep going back to the pot for! Definite WOW factor, really delicious. Thanks Karina.
Hi Claire, you’re very welcome! I’m delighted to hear that you found the sauce to be a WOW factor and really delicious. It’s always wonderful when a recipe becomes a go-to favorite.
Absolutely gorgeous sauce! Incredible flavours! Such an easy midweek , last-minute recipe to put together and astonishingly good! Will be a regular dish and is already a family favourite
Thanks again Karina xx]
Hi Claire, I’m thrilled to hear that you found the sauce absolutely gorgeous and the recipe easy for a midweek meal! It’s wonderful to know that it has become a family favorite. Thank you for your kind words, and if you ever have more culinary adventures or questions, feel free to reach out. Happy cooking, and thanks for being a part of our cooking community!
absolutely amazing – cooked this last night and it was the best ever, tasting better than takeaway. The only change I made was using crunchy peanut butter, just for personal preference.
We are a family with 3 vegetarians. So I used this recipe with plain quorn fillets for the vegetarians and chicken breast for the meat eaters. Absolutely delicious. has quickly become a firm family favourite.