Peanut Sauce Chicken

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Whether you’ve enjoyed this delicious dish from a local Thai restaurant, or perhaps you’ve been lucky enough to travel to Southeast Asia, we can all agree. Peanut Sauce Chicken, or Satay Chicken, is one of the best street food snacks you can get!

A perfectly cooked piece of succulent Chicken, flavored with all kinds of fun spices. Topped off with a velvety, sweet, sour, and salty Peanut Sauce. It’s a mouth wateringly great dish that is loved the world over

The simplicity of a great Thai Peanut Sauce Chicken is its secret

When this dish is great, its simply phenomenal. When it’s not – it really is underwhelming. I have always been so amazed at how many restaurants can get this dish so right, or so wrong. For a dish that just punches so much flavor it is shocking that it somehow can be completely messed up

We couldn’t be bothered cooking dinner one night so decided to order takeout from our local Thai restaurant. As always, I add the Peanut Sauce Chicken to the appetizers selection because it’s my all-time favorite. The dish, however, was not great. Overly spiced, overcooked and simply not great. It was for this reason that I began my journey to perfect this amazing dish. Restoring it to it’s all-time glory. Along the journey I realized that, like many things in life, keeping things simple is the key to success

Cook the dish with Chicken Thighs

Chicken Thighs are, in our opinion, the best cut to use. They do not dry out like the breast and pack way more flavor. They are also far more forgiving during the cooking process. So, even if you overcook them slightly they will still taste amazing and be beautiful and tender

Be careful not to over spice the Chicken

Many a great Satay Chickens downfall is being over spiced. Leave the aggressing flavoring to the Peanut Sauce! The sauce packs such a mighty punch of flavor, why try to have additional spices conflict and compete with it? One of my big no-no’s on this dish is using Turmeric. It is such an overpowering spice and tends to ruin the dish when used. Just leave it out and keep the seasoning of the Chicken to simply Salt and Pepper. Trust us!

The flavor in a great Peanut Sauce Chicken comes from.. you guessed it, the Peanut Sauce!

Make a great Peanut Sauce, cook the Chicken well and we guarantee you will have the perfect appetizer on your hands. We’ve outlined in the recipe below how to make this delicious sauce. In fact, we love it so much we wrote an entire article about it here

The unbelievable depth of flavor of this sauce comes from that beautiful mix of Peanut Butter, Fish Sauce, Sugar, Lime, and Coconut Milk. It’s such a simple sauce to make. Add all the ingredients into a saucepan. Cook it for a bit, then it’s done! What could be easier!

For a truly authentic flavor the best way to cook the Chicken is on the open fire / outdoor grill. Just like they cook it in Thailand. Cooking it this way will achieve a lovely, charred flavor which just tastes phenomenal. No grill, or too cold outside? No problem at all, as the stovetop will work wonders too

Peanut Sauce Chicken Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 ½ lbs. Boneless, Skinless Chicken Thighs
• 2 tbsp. Peanut Butter
• 120ml Coconut Milk
• 1 tbsp. Brown Sugar
• 1 tbsp. Fish Sauce
• Juice of 1 Lime
• 1 Lime, cut in half
• ¼ cup Peanuts, roughly chopped
• ¼ cup Coriander, roughly chopped
• 1 tsp. Vegetable Oil
• Salt and Pepper
  
  

Instructions

1. Begin by making the Peanut Sauce by combining the Peanut Butter, Coconut Milk, Brown Sugar, Fish Sauce, and ½ tsp. Salt in a saucepan over medium / low heat. Simmer for 10 minutes stirring occasionally
2. Turn off the heat then stir in the Lime Juice then set aside until ready to serve
3. While the Sauce is cooking, season the Chicken Thighs well with Salt and Pepper (about 1 tsp. of each)
4. Heat the Vegetable Oil in a frying pan over medium / high heat. Once hot, add the Chicken Thighs and cook for 4-5 minutes on each side until cooked and the internal temperature reads 160 degrees
5.  Slice the Chicken Thighs into strips and serve on a plate with a generous amount of Peanut Sauce on top. Finish by adding the chopped Peanuts and Cilantro and serve with a Lime wedge
   
   

That is our recipe for a delicious Thai inspired Peanut Sauce Chicken / Satay Chicken. If you want to be super fancy with this recipe you can put the Chicken on skewers to go all-in street food style!

To complete an amazing Thai-inspired menu, why not try these other amazing Thai dishes and have an amazing feast!

• Tom Kha Gai – Thai Coconut Soup
• Thai Mango Salad with Peanut Dressing
• Chicken Coconut Green Curry
• Sticky Wings
  
  

Happy Cooking!