I love days like today in Seattle. Blue skies, not to cold, but not to hot. You can get away with wearing flip flops and ordering an iced latte all within the rules of acceptability for a living here. Because the weather around here has been so unpredictable I appreciate a nice day like today even more because I know it will not last. I’m not sure what it is about a beautiful sunny day, but they always command a need in me to grill. One of my favorite dishes to bbq is chicken satay. I love the flavors of cardamon, lemongrass, and ginger (to name a few) infusing the meat and transforming the tender grilled chicken into something spectacular. And if that weren’t enough, the coconut peanut sauce is to die for. I really do love this recipe because it is as good, if not better than what you would eat at a Thai restaurant. It can be served as an appetizer or main dish and is a great meal for entertaining. Serve it with a side of cucumber salad and you’ll be thanking me later. Yes, it is that good.
Chicken Satay and Coconut Peanut Sauce Recipe
serves 4-6 people
Ingredients for the marinade:
2 lbs of boneless chicken breasts cubed in 1″ pieces
4 tbs. soy sauce ( use Tamari San-J Brand Soy Sauce for Gluten Free)
2 tbs. oil
3 tbs. brown sugar packed
1 tbs. of finely chopped lemongrass (You can purchase this in a tube in the produce section of your grocery store)
1 slice (coin) of peeled ginger – approx. 1 tsp. finely minced
1/2 tsp cardamon powder
1 tbs. of curry powder
2 cloves of garlic
2 tbs. of fresh lime juice (approx. half a lime)
Wood skewers
Ingredients for the coconut peanut sauce:
1 can (13.5 oz) of coconut milk
3 tbs. of peanut butter
4 tbs. of brown sugar, packed,
2 tsp. of massamam curry paste
2 tbs. of fresh lime juice (approx. half a lime)
Directions for the marinade:
Place cubed chicken in a medium bowl. Combine all the ingredients except for the chicken in a food processor and blend for 30 seconds. Pour the marinade over the cubed chicken and massage the meat with your hands for 1 minute. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and marinade for at least 3 hours. After the meat has had time to marinade, thread 6-8 cubes of chicken on a wooden skewer until all the chicken is gone. Pre-grease (with non stick spray) and pre-heat grill on high heat.
While grill is preheating, heat a medium sauce pan on medium-low heat. Add coconut milk, brown sugar, massamam curry, lime juice, and peanut butter to the sauce pan and continuously stir until all of the ingredients have completely come together. Turn off heat and pour sauce into a serving bowl.
The grill should be nice and hot by now. Grill chicken skewers for 4-5 minutes on front and back side or until fully cooked. Total cooking time will vary but mine were finished in 9-10 minutes. Chicken should be tender and not overcooked. Plate the skewers with the peanut sauce and serve with a side of cucumber salad. Enjoy!
Sorry for the multiple posts, but forgot to add that I have been putting some lime zest in the marinade too, and it’s really nice way to up the lime flavour 😉
This recipe is wonderful! Have now used it half a dozen times and have shared it with many family and friends, who all loved it too. Making some again today! If you have bamboo skewers, I didn’t know this, but just found out that soaking them in water first will keep them from burning once on the grill. Thanks Alice!
I was wondering, as I was shopping for the ingredients for this and had a hard time finding massamam curry paste, if you could replace it with another curry paste, such as thai red curry? Or if you know where one could usually find the massamam. Looking forward to trying this out tonight 🙂
I made this for my son’s 10th birthday party! It was a hit! (He is developmentally delayed and a resistant eater but he ate this delicious chicken! I was thrilled!) I also made the Asian Cucumber salad. It was also awesome! I used fresh lemon grass from Duvall. It was such a sunny day here in Seattle! Thanks for the recipe and great photographs and directions.
tried these and OH SWEET JEBUS! these are out of this world. Definitely making this part of my repertoire. Theres delectable and then there is a symphony of balanced flavors that is on an entirely different level. Wish i would’ve used a better coconut milk, tho , i used a cheap-o hispanic save-a-lot version and it was too watery.
wow! our dinner club theme was asian this month. i made this along with the cucumber salad b/c we love that at pur local thai restuarant. this was soo good! the peanut sauce was amazing! it made a lot. so i’m reheating it tonight with new satay and veggie fried rice! yummy!
Hi Alice,
Came across your blog via Pinterest and I am SO glad I did. I’m been looking for great recipes for Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese & Korean and I must say this will be my GO TO blog for sure! Love your presentation and the simplicity of it all!
I have to ask where can you purchase massamam curry paste? Can you get it a any store or do you have to go to a particular oriental store.
Looking forward to trying your recipes!
Thank you so much for this recipe. I have made it at least 5 or 6 times and it is ALWAYS a hit! It is one of those rare dinners where every single member of our family just LOVES it and devours it. It is our go-to asian chicken recipe now. MUCH better than my previous soy/brown sugar based teriyaki recipe. WONDERFUL!
Blue skies, not to cold, but not to hot.
picardfacepalm.jpg
Love this, and so did everyone else. Thanks!
Oh be still my heart!
This recipe looks easy enough to make every week -and I just may do that!! 🙂 Let me explain: I am 6 months pregnant and craving Thai nearly by the hour, but we have moved to Kentucky where they do not seem to have any Thai restaurants at ALL, so I am left wanting. My husband and I had a favorite restaurant we used to frequent before the move, and Chicken Satay with the cucumber salad was our very fave!! Thank you, I will be making this! 🙂
I have to tell you that I think this is the best thing I’ve ever made! I don’t usually follow recipes very carefully but you convinced me to and the flavour of the marinade and sauce is amazing! And I’m not even a fan of Thai food. I also tried it with tofu, which was nice, but the chicken was divine. I’m a convert – I’ve now shared your site with a bunch of friends. Thanks!
I have been looking for a good satay recipe so will give this a try!
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Thank you that you helped to search for an alternative for peanuts….
to use ground cashew or macadamia is a briliant idea!
So long!
This is my favorite chicken satay recipe. I was in a frenzy a few moments ago trying to rack my brains on where I found it originally. Normally I keep recipes links in my delicious.com bookmarks, but this one I had stashed in Evernote for some reason, and it’s down right now! Luckily, I was able to read some of the ingredients from the cached thumbnail and throw them into google, and found this page again easily. I just wanted to say thanks, this recipe is definitely worth it!
This recipe was delicious! We didn’t heat up the grill so I used whole boneless/skinless chicken breasts and marinated them and baked them instead – 40 minutes at 350 degrees. The peanut sauce was absolutely perfect. Kudos to Alice!
This recipe was the bomb, the best food we have had in a long time and we didn’t even have to go out. Thanks so much from the entire Brown clan.
Hi Bobbins Kitchen,
I haven’t tried any different type of sauce. Perhaps ground cashew or macadamia nut would make a nice substitute.