Chicken satay is one of my favourite Asian foods. Juicy flavoursome chicken with a sweet peanut dipping sauce. Yum! I’ve made a couple of adjustments to the standard recipe you may have to bring you healthy chicken satay skewers. Still totally delicious but coming in at only 300 calories per portion.
Chicken satay for one
This is a great dish for scaling up and down. It’s also perfect when you have one chicken breast to use up. I do suggest that you marinade the chicken for at least 2 hours so you do need to do a little advance planning, but the great thing about this recipe is that you can take a couple of different approaches to advanced prep and freezing:
- You can batch prep the chicken in the marinade and then freeze in individual portions for up to 3 months. Defrost and then place on the skewers when you are ready to serve
- You can just freeze the peanut sauce and the marinade sauce individually (using ice cube trays is a good idea here). Then if you have a leftover chicken breast you can just defrost the sauce and use as needed
How to make healthy chicken satay skewers?
Chicken satay isn’t necessarily an unhealthy dish traditionally, but most recipes you find will have a fair amount of sugar and also ready made peanut butter which has often got a lot of sugar and salt added to it.
This recipe uses raw peanuts and the sauce is sweetened with honey rather than sugar. The marinade uses just half a teaspoon of sugar as well.
While blending raw peanuts might sound like a lot of work, I promise you it’s not. Since you’d need to mix the peanut butter with the other ingredients for the peanut sauce anyway, this doesn’t really add much additional prep.
This recipe comes in around 300 calories. The peanuts do contain a fairly high fat content but it’s heart healthy unsaturated fats that are perfectly healthy in moderation.
Where does satay come from?
Chicken satay comes from Indonesia despite people commonly associating the dish with Thailand. I’ve eaten satay in both Indonesia and Thailand personally and can’t really recall any huge difference (although it was a few years apart).
There are actually several variations of satay across Asia – this recipe is most similar to the satay we are most familiar with in the western world – flavoured skewered chicken with a peanut sauce. In Asia this sauce is often spicy, however in this recipe I’ve kept it mild and sweet.
What goes with chicken satay?
These healthy chicken satay skewers makes a great starter with a little lettuce and chopped tomato & cucumber. It also works really well for a light meal or a lunchtime – with a larger crisp green salad. For a more substantial meal then make this with nasi goreng (fried rice) for a true Indonesian style meal.
If you’re a fan of things on sticks then also check out these curried chicken kebabs.
Products that work well for this recipe
Reusable Stainless Steel Barbecue Skewers
Bamboo Kebab Skewers
Tabletop Portable Grill
Healthy Chicken Satay Skewers
- Total Time: 35 minutes + 2 hours to marinade
- Yield: 1 (2-3 skewers) 1x
Description
These healthy chicken satay skewers are flavoursome and juicy – with a healthier peanut sauce on the side – using raw peanuts and natural honey rather than processed foods.
Makes 2-3 skewers per 1 portion (depending on how much chicken you put on each skewer)
Ingredients
SAUCE
- 1 tsp soy sauce light
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 2 tbsp (20 g) whole raw shelled peanuts
- 1 tsp lime juice
- 1 tsp honey
- 2 tsp water
MARINADE
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp ginger paste
- 1 tsp lime juice
- 1/2 tsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp soy sauce
Instructions
1. Mix together all the ingredients for the marinade and toss the chicken through it. Place in the fridge for at least 2 hours. Meanwhile place some wooden skewers in a large glass or bowl of water to soak.
2. Place the peanuts in a blender with the honey and blend well.
3. Add the lime juice, soy sauce, garlic and water into the blender and blend again until well combined. Set aside until ready to serve.
4. Thread the chicken onto the soaked skewers.
5. Cook the chicken under the grill (broiler) for around 5-8 minutes, turning frequently.
6. Serve with your preferred dish (see above for ideas). You can serve the peanut sauce in a separate ramekin as a dipping sauce or drizzle over the skewers.
Notes
- Light soy sauce works much better than other varieties for this recipe – particularly the peanut sauce. If you do only have dark soy sauce then the result will be stronger and much darker looking than in the recipe pictures.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes + 2 hours marinade
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Starter
- Method: Grill
- Cuisine: Asian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
- Calories: 300
- Fat: 14g
- Carbohydrates: 15g
- Protein: 30g
Keywords: chicken, skewers, indonesian, thai, asian, dinner, lunch, starter, appetizer, peanut
3 Thoughts on “Healthy Chicken Satay Skewers”