Thai Marinated Grilled Chicken Skewers with Peanut Sauce
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Fire up the grill for marinated Thai chicken skewers served with a creamy peanut dipping sauce that’ll keep everyone reaching for more!
I first discovered this wonderful recipe in the Costco magazine, but it comes from Alice Currah, the talented voice behind the blog and book Savory Sweet Life. The marinade—a blend of soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, and spices—perfectly seasons the grilled chicken. Yet, it’s the rich peanut sauce that truly steals the show. When I first served this dish to my family about ten years ago, the reaction from my then-young son was memorable. After he went for seconds of the steamed broccoli I served alongside, and seeing my surprised look, he simply said, “Mom, this sauce would make anything taste good.” Honestly, I couldn’t agree more—I am always half-tempted to skip the chicken entirely and just slurp up the sauce like soup!
Table of Contents
What You’ll Need To Make Thai Marinated Grilled Chicken Skewers With Peanut Sauce
Step-by-Step Instructions
Begin by pounding the chicken breasts to an even 1/2-inch thickness. This both tenderizes the meat and ensures it cooks evenly.
Cut the chicken into chunks.
Make the marinade by combining the soy sauce, brown sugar, lime zest, vegetable oil, garlic, curry powder, ginger, cardamom and salt in a bowl. Add the chicken to the marinade, then cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.
Meanwhile, make the sauce by combining the coconut milk, peanut butter, dark brown sugar, soy sauce and red curry paste in a medium saucepan. Bring the sauce to a boil, then turn the heat down and cook a few minutes more. Finish the sauce with freshly squeezed lime juice.
Once the chicken has marinated, thread the chunks onto skewers.
Grill the chicken about 5 minutes per side, or until cooked through. Serve with the peanut sauce and lime wedges. If you have leftovers, try serving the chicken over a salad; the chilled sauce makes an excellent dressing.
Video Tutorial
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Thai Marinated Grilled Chicken Skewers with Peanut Sauce
Fire up the grill for marinated Thai chicken skewers served with a creamy peanut dipping sauce that’ll keep everyone reaching for more!
Ingredients
For the Chicken
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons dark brown sugar, packed
- Zest of one lime
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon curry powder
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
For the Peanut Sauce
- 1 (13-oz) can coconut milk (do not use low fat)
- ⅓ cup peanut butter
- ¼ cup dark brown sugar, packed
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon red curry paste
- 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice, from 2 limes
For Serving
- 1 lime, cut into wedges (optional)
Instructions
- Prep the Chicken: Pound the chicken breasts to an even ½-inch thickness between two pieces of wax or parchment paper. Cut the breasts into 1½-inch pieces and set aside.
- Marinate the Chicken: Make the marinade by combining the soy sauce, dark brown sugar, lime zest, vegetable oil, garlic, curry powder, ginger, cardamom and salt in a large bowl. Add the chicken pieces to the bowl and mix until chicken is evenly coated. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight.
- Make the Peanut Sauce: In a medium saucepan, whisk the coconut milk, peanut butter, brown sugar, soy sauce and red curry paste until evenly combined. Bring to a simmer, then cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 3 minutes. Stir in the fresh lime juice and set aside.
- Grill the Chicken: Preheat the grill to high heat. Meanwhile, thread the chicken pieces onto skewers. Grease the grill. Place the skewers on the grill and cook for about 10 minutes, turning once, or until the chicken is cooked through. Serve the chicken skewers with the peanut sauce and lime wedges, if desired.
Pair with
Nutrition Information
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- Calories: 547
- Fat: 29 g
- Saturated fat: 14 g
- Carbohydrates: 21 g
- Sugar: 14 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 52 g
- Sodium: 1106 mg
- Cholesterol: 152 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Gluten-Free Adaptable Note
To the best of my knowledge, all of the ingredients used in this recipe are gluten-free or widely available in gluten-free versions. There is hidden gluten in many foods; if you're following a gluten-free diet or cooking for someone with gluten allergies, always read the labels of your ingredients to verify that they are gluten-free.
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Could I use salmon or another fish instead of chicken? I want to make this for some friends but one of them doesn’t eat meat.
Thanks
Hi Susan, I wouldn’t recommend fish here — I’m sorry!
2.5 -3 lbs chicken for FIVE servings??? I am about to make this but am a little shocked at the amount of chicken -mistake?? At 8 ounces each – which is excessive, you are at max of 2.5 lbs.
I have exactly the same question. I want to serve this to 10 people—but 5-6 pounds? Also wondering if I could use thighs. I much prefer them—especially grilled—even though they are a little fattier.
Hi TMS, they are generous servings but the leftovers are really good. Feel free to cut back if you’d like. And yes, you can definitely use thighs here. They make take about 5 extra minutes to cook but keep an eye on them. Hope you enjoy!
I made this over the weekend and it was OUTSTANDING! I followed the recipe exactly and it was perfection! The chicken was tender and so flavorful on it’s own and then dipping in the sauce brought it to a whole other level. I tasted the sauce before adding the lime juice and it was so good I was afraid to add it but I did and it just added to the depth of flavor! Thank you so much for sharing this!
This was SO good! With or without the peanut sauce. My daughter loved the peanut sauce, as did I. I paired it with OUAC’s Thai Cucumber Salad with peanuts (not the cucumber salad with mint recommended below the recipe) and it was a match made in heaven. The fish sauce in the cucumber salad dressing played beautifully off the peanut sauce. Our whole family really loved this dinner.
Hi Jen -In the description of the recipe you say to heat grill to medium – high heat. In the actual recipe it says to heat grill to high heat. No idea if it matters but…which one do you recommend? Thanks so much!
Hi Allison, sorry about the inconsistency there! You should heat the grill to high heat. Hope you enjoy!
I wanted to try this recipe as a potential dish to serve to guests at an outdoor dinner party on our deck. It is outstanding! I used Mae Ploy curry paste as I think it is so much better and spicier than Thai Kitchen curry paste. I served it with some Asian style slaw (red and green cabbage, shredded carrots, green onions and cilantro) and some thin rice noodles. We used the sauce from this recipe to dress the slaw and noodles. It was light and fresh with a little kick to it. I love that I can make everything in advance and then my husband will just grill the kabobs and dinner is ready. It will be perfect to serve at our dinner party!
This might be my favorite recipe yet by Jenn and I adore all of her many recipes I’ve made. I made it for a a group of people and got rave reviews. Our grill was broken so I made it in the oven (350 for about 15 min, I used a cookie sheet with a grill rack on top of it) it was still fabulous.
Just finished making the marinade & sauce. Really good. My suggestion is to use fresh ginger in the marinade not powder as it’s a nicer taste. I added more red curry paste and peanut butter to the sauce and cut back a bit on the lime juice. But this was a personal preference. Since I used regular chunky peanut butter I only used 3 tablespoons of sugar. This recipe is a keeper. Thanks for another excellent recipe. This is my go to site for what to cook next!
Absolutely “Delish” The chicken is very flavourful and the sauce heavenly.. in fact in my opinion… @drinkable” Leftovers tomorrow on a salad.. mmmmmm
Instead of cardamom (as I had none) I substituted with 1/2 cinnamon and1/2 nutmeg..
I also had to cut the lime juice in half for the sauce, hubby is not a lime fan.
I actually broiled it in my oven.. why!
Well where I live it was -35 today. U can hardly wait for grilling season.
Will make this many times over!!
This is my favorite item to grill in the summer which is odd because I’m more of a beef lover then chicken but I love these. And so have guests & family when I’ve served them. Oh and that peanut sauce is pure heaven.