Skip to Content

Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce

Dancing with flavors like ginger, coconut, turmeric and garlic, chicken satay with peanut sauce turns out out beautifully tender, and extraordinarily scrumptious.

Categories:

Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce With Cucumber Salad

Easy Chicken Satay With Homemade Peanut Sauce

Our succulent, turmeric-marinated chicken satay skewers with rich, creamy homemade peanut sauce puts even the best Thai restaurant chicken satay to shame.

Homemade peanut sauce is something that everyone should master. It comes together quick and it makes everything taste delicious. Pro-tip: a bowl of peanut sauce for dipping is like pixie dust for picky eaters. Serve it with veggies and watch them magically disappear. Oh, and it’s especially good when paired with classic chicken satay! Marinated, then skewered and grilled, chicken satay makes for a fun weeknight supper or an out-of-the-ordinary appetizer for company. Dancing with flavors like ginger, coconut, turmeric and garlic, skewers of chicken satay with peanut sauce are so tender, and so extraordinarily scrumptious. What are you waiting for?

Chicken satay marinating in a turmeric sauce on a baking sheet

How to Make Chicken Satay:

Grilled chicken skewers are quite possibly the perfect company food. You marinate them ahead of time—at least two hours, or overnight—and so when your guests arrive, all you need to do is pop the marinated chicken on the grill. Here’s the step-by-step:

  1. Mix your marinade. Add coconut milk, garlic cloves, turmeric, cilantro, brown sugar, fish sauce and salt to a bowl and stir to combine.
  2. Place your chicken breast pieces between two pieces of wax paper or plastic wrap, and pound them until they’re nice and thin.
  3. Drizzle the marinade over your chicken, and let time do the rest!
  4. Two hours later (or the next day), it’s time to skewer your chicken! If your kids are big enough, this is a fun job for them to help with (just be sure there’s some thorough hand-washing afterward.)
  5. Grill! About two minutes on each side, depending on how hot your grill is. **You can also use an indoor grill for this step.
homemade peanut sauce ingredients red curry paste coconut milk
Homemade peanut sauce in a small bowl

How to Make Homemade Peanut Sauce:

This peanut sauce recipe has no dairy in it, yet is incredibly rich and creamy because it's made with coconut milk. It's also completely gluten free. Win, win. Incredibly versatile, flavor packed, it has that perfect balance of just slightly spicy and so, so rich and savory. Make it, put it on everything, love it as much as we do.

Here’s how to make our chicken satay sauce! In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine:

  • full-fat coconut milk
  • Thai red curry paste (this one is our favorite)
  • unsweetened natural peanut butter
  • salt
  • sugar
  • apple cider vinegar
  • water

Bring the ingredients to a low simmer and cook for five minutes, stirring continually so the peanut sauce doesn’t burn. Remove from heat and allow to sit for 10 minutes before serving. The sauce can be stored for up to a week. If it gets too thick, just warm it on the stove with a few drops of water.

grilled Chicken satay on skewers
Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce and Cucumber Salad

How to Make the Best Chicken Satay Even Better:

Serve it with a cooling cucumber salad! Grilled chicken skewers, a big bowl of peanut sauce for dipping and a tangy cucumber salad is our idea of the ideal summer dinner. Big, bold flavors and no oven required! Our favorite cucumber salad is a simple one. Just combine:

  • Cucumber (seeded and sliced)
  • Rice vinegar
  • Sugar
  • Sea salt
  • Red pepper flakes
  • Sesame oil
  • Green onion
Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce on 2 Plates

Tools You’ll Need:

This is a fairly simple meal. You’ll just need:

Peanut Sauce on Everything:

It’s not just a sauce, it’s a lifestyle.

Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce With Cucumber Salad
Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce on a plate With Cucumber Salad

How’d It Turn Out?

Did you make this chicken satay with peanut sauce? Be sure to post a pic to Instagram and tag @themodernproper and #themodernproper. We’d love to see how it turned out and fully expect to hear how much you loved it!

Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce

  • Serves: 6
  • Prep Time:  15 min
  • Cook Time:  10 min
  • Calories: 220

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken tenders, pounded to be extra thin
  • 1/3 cup coconut milk
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tbsp tumeric
  • 2 tbsp freshly chopped cilantro (plus more for garnishing)
  • 2 tbsp brown sugar
  • 2 tbsp fish sauce
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 cup crushed peanuts

Peanut Sauce

  • 13.5 oz can of full fat coconut milk
  • 1-2 tbsp thai red curry paste (1-2 tbsp depending on how spicy you like it)
  • 3/4 cup unsweetened natural cream peanut butter
  • 1/2 tbsp salt
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
  • 1/2 cup water

Method

  1. In a small bowl combine coconut milk, garlic, turmeric, cilantro, brown sugar, fish sauce and salt.
  2. Arrange the chicken in a single layer in a baking dish or rimmed baking sheet and pour the marinade over the top. Cover and allow to marinate for 2 hours or overnight. Alternatively, place the chicken and marinate in a ziplock back and seal tight, removing excess air.
  3. While the chicken is marinating, prepare the peanut sauce. In a small sauce pan, add all the ingredients. Whisking to combine, bring the sauce to a low simmer.
  4. Cook sauce for 5 minutes, stirring continually to make sure that the sauce doesn't burn on the bottom of the pan. Remove from heat and allow to sit for 10 minutes before serving. Can be stored for up to a week. If it gets too thick, just warm up over the stove with a few drops of water.
  5. Preheat grill on medium heat for 10 minutes. Using bamboo or metal skewers, weave through the meat lengthwise. Place chicken on the prepared grill and allow to cook without moving for 3-5 minutes. Turn the meat and grill just until chicken is cooked through, about 2 more minutes.
  6. Remove from grill and garnish with cilantro and fresh peanuts. Serve with peanut sauce and cucumber salad. Enjoy!

*Recipe for this peanut sauce was developed by shesimmers.

Nutrition Info

  • Per Serving
  • Amount
  • Calories220
  • Protein32 g
  • Carbohydrates7 g
  • Total Fat6 g
  • Dietary Fiber1 g
  • Cholesterol87 mg
  • sodium977 mg
  • Total Sugars5 g

Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce

Questions & Reviews

Join the discussion below.

or
  • Nikki

    Powdered turmeric or fresh?

    Ground, hope you enjoy Nikki!

  • Anne

    If using regular peanut butter, should I cut back on the sugar, and if so, how much?

    Hmmm, good question Anne. We haven't tested it with sweetened peanut butter. Maybe combine all the ingredients using 1/2 cup of sugar first, if it isn't overly sweet you could add the rest of the sugar or if you like the sweetness level just leave it at that. Hope you enjoy!

  • Anne

    If using regular peanut butter, should I cut back on the sugar, and if so, how much?

    We. haven't tested this with sweetened peanut butter. We recommend mixing the ingredients for the sauce using 1/2 cup sugar first then if you like the sweetness level leave as is if it isn't sweet enough add the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar and finish heating. Hope this helps Anne!

  • Sandra L Brim

    can i cook in the oven? and at what temperature?

    Try 400°F on an oiled baking sheet. Bake the chicken for 12 to 15 minutes or until an internal temperature of 165°F. I wouldn't bother to skewer them if you are making them in the oven.

  • atxitmom

    Toasted sesame oil?

    Either one will work. We like using toasted!

  • Anne

    This chicken is delicious! My husband and teenagers loved it, and the sauce! I didn’t have the skewers, or time, so just grilled the tenderloins, and served with the peanut sauce and the cucumber salad recommended. Perfect flavor combination. I used regular peanut butter, so used about a third of the sugar. Does make a lot of sauce so I think I could have halved the whole recipe for that.

    Thanks Anne, we are so glad you and your family loved these!

  • Beth

    This was easy and delicious, liked by kids and adults alike.

    Thanks Beth, so glad everyone enjoyed it!

  • Evelyne

    I've made this recipe (both the chicken and the peanut sauce) dozens of times over the past few years- it's always a hit with guests and it's become a regular for our family also.

    Wow! This is so amazing to hear Evelyne, we are so happy it's become a regular dish! Thanks for letting us know!

  • Jenn

    This tastes like I'm eating at my favorite Thai restaurant! It's so much better than other peanut sauces I've tried at home. LOVED IT!

    Thank you so much Jenn!