Making your own chicken satay skewers is surprisingly quick, easy, and perfect for entertaining. In 15 MINUTES, you can enjoy perfectly tender and juicy grilled chicken breast served in a flavorsome peanut sauce and happily eaten on a stick.
Yields: 4 portions
Prep Time: 5 mins Cook Time: 10 mins Total: 15 mins
I love this satay chicken on skewers because it feels like a cheat meal but can be integrated with many healthy diets out there. Apart from being very tasty, this homemade version is also a HEALTHIER CHOICE using higher quality meat and finer ingredients. In particular, this healthy chicken satay skewers recipe also uses very few ingredients making it easier and quicker to prepare. A total win-win!
Why are satay chicken satay skewers the best healthy cheat meal?
What’s not to like? Satays are for Malaysian kids the next best things after nuggets and fries. And it would be like that even for our kids if we let them taste it early enough.
A good part of the secret lies in the succulent, smoky, tender chunks of chicken on skewers, intensified by Asian flavors of turmeric, lemongrass, cumin, and ginger. And if you really want to bring satay to the next level of smokiness try to grill over a charcoal fire giving it that extra depth of flavor.
However, I have to admit that what actually makes me drool is the peanut dipping sauce. It is sweet, savory, spicy, acidic, aromatic, and nutty all at the same time. This sauce marries perfectly with the smoky flavor of the chicken skewers themselves.
As a good start when cooking the satay chicken at home, you should invest in the finest equipment and ingredients.
Why does this recipe work?
3 skewers chicken satay without rice from a Chinese takeaway can easily add up to 489 calories and over 100% of the daily recommended fat.
Here’s what makes this Satay Chicken On Skewers with Peanut Dipping Sauce much healthier than other recipes:
- low sugar. There is 7.3g of sugar per serving.
- high protein. The recipe gives 32.5g of protein per serving.
- healthy cleaner ingredients. Preferring homemade or organic ready-made products
- grilled or barbequed. We have tried to grill the skewers using both an indoor grill or an outdoor barbeque.
Since I suffer from heartburn and probably suffer from IBS I usually try to avoid as much as possible foods that are not Low Fodmap. Additionally, I have been pro low GI diets long before keto was ever mentioned anywhere. However, despite having peanuts (high FODMAP) this recipe never bothers or upsets my stomach even if I’m sleeping a couple of hours later. So I won’t change this over anything bought from takeout or restaurant. When I’m on a stricter diet I simply use light coconut milk and top my skewers with a little sauce.
This healthy satay chicken on skewers recipe is a lighter version, adapted so that people following a low fat, low calorie, low gi, gluten-free, dairy-free can enjoy it.
Chicken Satay Skewers Recipe with Peanut Sauce
Ingredients
Whether it’s the meat, the oil, or the spices I always keep in mind that every ingredient makes a difference adding both taste and nutrition to your meals. The key is to avoid adding too much sugar, spice, or peanut butter as most low-end restaurants do to hide their cheaper ingredients. Choosing organic peanut butter or using homemade peanut butter prepared from scratch can give a total makeover to the recipe.
You only need these 11 ingredients to do this recipe!
- Kebab Chicken on a stick
- Peanut Butter
- Tamari Sauce (can be replaced by soya sauce)
- Fresh Ginger
- Brown Sugar (easily replaceable with maple syrup or honey)
- Coconut Milk
- Olive Oil
Don’t have tamari sauce? No problem you can use soy sauce. If you don’t want to use sugar you can replace it with maple syrup or honey.
Equipment
While it’s fine to use a griddle, outdoor barbeques or indoor grills are more suitable for cooking meat. Another important tool is the choice of skewers. If opting for disposable bamboo skewers choose 10 and 12-inch skewers and soak them in water for 30 minutes before putting them on the grill.
How to make Healthy Satay Chicken on Skewers with Peanut Sauce
Making these satay chicken skewers with peanut sauce from scratch is easy! If you buy the chicken already diced then the most difficult part for me is threading them onto skewers. This is partly because I hate to touch raw chicken with my hands especially when kids are around.
Prepare and grill the chicken skewers
- Preheat the grill to medium heat
- Thread the chicken pieces onto skewers and brush them with the oil and half of the tamari sauce
- Add the skewers to the grill turning occasionally until the chicken is completely cooked.
- In a saucepan, whisk together the rest of the soy sauce, coconut milk, peanut butter, and ginger. Finally, add the brown sugar or syrup and heat everything slightly until the sugar dissolves and a thick sauce is obtained.
Serve the satay chicken skewers with peanut sauce
- Serve immediately with the peanut sauce.
- Optionally serve with your choice of vegetables, rice, or noodles. I love to eat this recipe with some sauteed broccoli.
FAQ
Here are some facts about satay chicken
Satay is an Indonesian and Malaysian dish of small pieces of meat grilled on a skewered, served with a sauce.
Satay is used mainly with chicken and pork but also with beef, duck, and tofu.
No. While the former is a condiment commonly placed on restaurant tabletops for the customers to use on their food, satay is a grilled dish of meats or meat alternatives on skewers usually paired with a peanut sauce.
You might like more…
- Sweet And Sour Chicken Cantonese Style Recipe
- Chicken Yock Noodles
- Cantonese Sweet and Sour Turkey Meatballs
- Indian Red Lentil Dahl
- Vegan Jalfrezi Recipe
- Vegan Doner Kebab
Healthier Satay Chicken on Skewers with Peanut Sauce
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs 680g chicken breast, diced
- 1 cup coconut milk canned
- 4 tbsp tamari sauce organic
- 2 tbsp oil coconut oil, olive oil or any vegetable oil
- 4 tbsp peanut butter heaped
- 2 tbsp brown sugar (or 2 tbsp maple syrup)
- 1 tsp grated ginger
Instructions
Prepare and grill the chicken skewers
- Preheat grill to medium heat.
- Thread the chicken pieces onto skewers and brush them with the oil and half of the tamari sauce.
- Add the skewers to the grill turning occasionally until the chicken is completely cooked.
Prepare the peanut sauce
- In a saucepan, whisk together the rest of the soy sauce, coconut milk, peanut butter and ginger. Finally add the brown sugar or syrup and and heat everything slightly until the sugar dissolves and a thick sauce is obtained.
Serve
- Serve immediately with the peanut sauce.
- Optionally serve with your choice of vegetables, rice or noodles. I love to eat this recipe with some sauteed broccoli.
