Chicken sate / satay with peanut sauce

In this recipe for Thai-style chicken sate / satay, the chicken is marinated in a mixture of coconut milk, fish sauce, soy sauce, Sriracha, garlic, ginger and turmeric.

Chicken thighs are ideal for cooking sate / satay. They have enough fat to prevent the meat from drying out during grilling. I’ll never understand the preference for white over red meat but if you if you absolutely have to use breast fillets, I recommend keeping the skin on. 

Smooth or chunky peanut butter are both okay to use. Personally, I prefer chunky because I enjoy the occasional crunch from the bits of peanut.

Chicken sate / satay with peanut sauce

Just to reiterate, sate / satay is the dish, not the peanut sauce. There is an entire post dedicated to that topic; go read it for better understanding of the dish.

If grilling over live coal, soak the bamboo skewers in water for at least 30 minutes to lessen the chance that they will catch fire on the grill.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 8 minutes

Marinating time: 30 minutes

Course: Snack

Cuisine: Thai

Keyword: Grilled, skewered

Servings: 4 people

Author: Connie Veneracion

Equipment

• bamboo skewers

Ingredients

Chicken and marinade

• 500 grams chicken fillets
• ½ cup coconut milk
• 3 tablespoons fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons Sriracha (double the amount for more heat)
• 1 teaspoon grated garlic
• 1 teaspoon grated ginger
• 1 teaspoon grated turmeric

Peanut sauce

• 2 tablespoons lime juice (lemon juice is okay but you may need more)
• 2 tablespoons grated palm sugar (dark brown sugar is an okay substitute but the flavor of the sauce will be different)
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 teaspoon grated ginger
• ¼ cup unsweetened peanut butter
• 1 teaspoon sesame seed oil

Instructions

Marinate the chicken

• Pound the chicken fillets into uniform thickness then cut into bite size pieces.
• Place the chicken pieces in a bowl, add the rest of the ingredients for the marinade and mix well.
• Cover the bowl and let the chicken soak up the flavors for 30 minutes in the fridge.

Make the peanut dipping sauce

• While the chicken marinates, whisk the lime juice sugar and fish sauce in a microwaveable bowl.
• Add the peanut butter and ginger to the lime-sugar-fish sauce mixture.
• Microwave for 10 seconds on HIGH to soften the peanut butter.
• Stir in the sesame seed oil.
• Taste and add more lime juice, fish sauce or sugar, until you get the balance that pleases you.

Grill the chicken

• Drain the chicken.
• Thread the chicken pieces with the bamboo skewers, three to five pieces per skewer depending on their length.
• Grill the skewered chicken (charcoal is traditional but we did this on a stovetop grill) over medium-high heat, two to four minutes per side depending on the thickness of the meat.

Serve the chicken sate / satay

• Arrange the grilled skewered chicken on a plate and serve with peanut dipping sauce on the side.