Keto Chicken Satay With Spicy Peanut Sauce

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What Is Satay?

Satay is a Southeast Asian food consisting of small pieces of meat, chicken or fish cooked on a stick – usually grilled – and served with a spicy peanut sauce. By spicy, I mean spiced, not hot!

You might have heard of Malaysian, Thai or Indonesian satay and there are regional variations to the recipe: what meat is used, how thick it’s cut, how savoury or sweet the marinade and the peanut sauce are, how thick or thin the dipping sauce is, and the spice level. One thing is the same for all – satay is delicious, especially made with chicken.

Keto Chicken Satay Skewers 

Traditional chicken satay will use sugar or another sweetener both in the marinade and the peanut sauce. This keto recipe is made with sugar-free sweetener and is dairy-free and gluten-free friendly. It’s like a healthy chicken satay!

You can make keto chicken satay as skewers or grill marinated pieces of meat as they are. I like to marinade the chicken for at least 2-3 hours (I often get it prepared in the morning before work) but even 20 minutes will work.

Grilled satay chicken can be served as finger food or appetizer or as a main protein dish with a side of rice or noodles, cauliflower rice, cucumber salad or any other vegetable dish you like.

How To Make Keto Chicken Satay

You will find the full recipe with ingredients and nutritional breakdown in the recipe card below. Here are some handy step-by-step photos of how to make chicken satay skewers and the peanut dipping sauce.

Satay Chicken Skewers

Step 1. Cut the chicken thighs into bite-size pieces/rectangular or square pieces. Season with curry powder, garlic powder, white pepper and a little salt. Rub all over and add to a bowl.

Step 2. Gather ingredients for the rest of the marinade: lime juice or rice wine vinegar, fish sauce, gluten-free soy sauce (e.g. Tamari or coconut aminos) and olive oil. If using bamboo sticks for grilling the skewers, soak them in some cold water for a few minutes (to prevent burning).

Step 3. Drizzle with the remaining marinade ingredients and mix through to coat evenly. Leave to marinate for at least 10-15 minutes (can be done ahead of time and left in the fridge). Once marinated, thread the chicken pieces onto bamboo or metal skewers.

Keto Peanut Sauce

Step 4. Prepare the peanut sauce. You can use a food processor or a blender to blend the sauce ingredients until smooth. Alternatively, melt the peanut butter in a microwave or over hot water. Combine with the remaining ingredients and whisk until smooth. Taste for salt/sweet/acidity balance. You may need to add a little more sweetener or lime juice or salt/fish sauce. Should be sweet but not too much.

Grilling The Skewers

Step 5. Heat up a grill pan or cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat and add the oil, and spread it around the pan. When the oil is hot, add the chicken skewers and cook for 4-5 minutes on each side, until cooked through. You can do the same on an outdoor grill or barbecue.

Place the cooked skewers on a platter with peanut sauce, garnish crushed peanuts, red chilli, coriander and lime wedges. You can serve it with shaved cucumber salad on the side.

What To Serve With Chicken Satay

Grilled chicken satay can be served as the main protein dish or as an appetizer or finger food, especially if done as skewers. As with most Asian dishes, satay chicken pairs beautifully with steamed rice or coconut rice or noodles. To keep it keto-friendly, I like to serve these with a simple cucumber salad with some coconut cauliflower rice on the side.

You can also make an Asian-style coleslaw salad or a quick stir-fry of broccoli and zucchini or any other vegetables you have on hand.

More Recipes With Chicken

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Full Recipe & Ingredients

Find the full list of ingredients, instructions and extra cooking notes below. If you have questions or cook this recipe, please let me know in the comments and make sure to rate this recipe so it’s easy for others to find.

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