Grilled Peanut Butter Chicken

Name: Grilled Peanut Butter Chicken
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 2 lbs Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs; 1/4 Cups Low Sodium Soy Sauce; 2 Tablespoons Peanut Butter; 2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar; 2 Tablespoons Rice Wine vinegar; 1 Teaspoon Sesame Oil; 1 Teaspoon Fish Sauce; 2 Cloves Garlic (grated); 2 Teaspoons Ginger (grated)

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

This Grilled Peanut Butter Chicken is a weeknight take on one of my favorite restaurant dishes. Boneless, skinless chicken thighs are coated in a satay inspired marinade perfect for grilling. This Thai inspired main comes together in just 30 minutes.

This recipe is a household favorite, and I serve it very simple with either rice and veggies or over a light coleslaw. This best part is that the thick marinade sticks to the outside of the chicken and makes a beautiful brown crust around each piece of chicken.

If you love grilling, try Mediterranean Chicken Kebabs or Easy Chimichurri Flank Steak for your next barbecue.

Contents hide

Make this recipe, because…

Ingredients

Instructions

FAQs

Expert Tips

"📖 Recipe"

Grilled Peanut Butter Chicken

Peanut Butter Chicken

Make this recipe, because…

The Thai inspired peanut butter marinade is super flavorful and clings to the chicken thighs perfectly for grilling.

The sweet and savory combination of peanut butter and soy sauce with sharp hits from ginger and garlic make for over the top delicious flavor.

You can easily double or triple the recipe size to serve at your next big event.

This peanut butter chicken is packed with flavor and comes together quickly. No need for a lengthy marinade time.

Ingredients

Boneless, Skinless Chicken Thighs- Thigh meat is some of the juiciest and most tender meat you can get. It is very forgiving to cook and takes on flavor really well. You can use breast meat for this dish, but it can be tricky to grill breast meat without drying it out.
Fish Sauce- This might not be an ingredient you have on hand or have used very much. While it does derive its flavor from fish, I promise, you won’t be overwhelmed by fish taste. It does add a nice pungent flavor to the marinade. If you do not have fish sauce you can skip or substitute with Worcestershire sauce.

Instructions

Step 1

In a small bowl, combine peanut butter, soy sauce, brown sugar, rice vinegar, fish sauce, sesame oil, garlic, and ginger.

Step 2

Pat the boneless, skinless chicken thighs dry and place them into a food storage bag.
Add the satay inspired marinade to the bag. Then seal the bag and massage the marinade into the meat.

Step 3

Heat a grill or grill pan on medium heat.
Next, remove the peanut butter marinated chicken from the bag and place it top side down on the hot grill.
Let the thighs cook without disturbing them for about six minutes.

(When the chicken is ready to turn, it should come away from the pan without sticking and be well browned.)

step 3- marinated chicken thighs on grill

Step 4

Turn the thighs over and finish cooking for six to ten more minutes.

(Thigh meat can sometimes have a pink coloring making it hard to tell if it is done. The internal temperature should be 165° when fully cooked.)

FAQs

Can I marinate my chicken ahead of time?

You can marinate the chicken up to one day in advance. A long marinade will not do much for adding flavor, but you can have your chicken prepared ahead of time to make the day of cooking easier.

Expert Tips

Whisk the marinade vigorously to make sure the peanut butter is well combined with the other ingredients.

To keep the marinade from burning, lightly brush vegetable oil on your grill or grill pan and turn down the heat to just below medium.

Don't play with the meat once it is on the grill. It is best to let the pieces sit over the heat undisturbed.

If you are making this dish on a gas grill, I would highly recommend a pan for the drippings. The thigh meat can render off a good amount of fat and a drip pan will make clean up much easier.