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This Thai Chicken Satay recipe made in an Air Fryer is off-the-charts DELICIOUS! Thanks to a no chopping satay marinade, the chicken is super flavorful and bubbly delicious out of the fryer. The smell is UBER DELICIOUS and you’ll be astonished how EASY it is!
With only 10 ingredients, this is a great Asian style chicken marinade for summer BBQ or meal prep. Stovetop instructions are also included!
Thai Chicken Satay is one of my favorite dishes whenever we eat out. The chicken tastes earthy and little sweet, and with a light charcoal smoky flavor. Today’s recipe is a simplified version, made in an air fryer. It is my answer to those days when you want a Thai Satay Chicken, but –
- Don’t have time to hunt down specialty ingredients,
- No time to soak and thread the skewers, and
- You just want something easy and it still tastes A-MAZING! This is for you. 🙂
The smell is SUPER GOOD when the chicken fries up in an air fryer or hits the stove, you’ll know they are going to taste amazing.
What Does Chicken Satay Taste Like?
This Thai-inspired Chicken Satay recipe with the marinade tastes earthy, savory, and with a kiss of sweetness. It’s far more complex than teriyaki chicken and is a popular street food in southeast Asia. I use boneless and skinless chicken thighs so that every bite is tender and flavorful.
This dish is usually served with a satay dipping sauce or a peanut sauce mixed with soy sauce. I’ve made this dish several times without dipping sauce and it’s tasty enough to eat on their own. If, however, you like to kick the flavor over the top, try my no peanut Thai “Peanut” Sauce to make it extra tasty!
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Thai Chicken Satay Marinade
This dish tastes uber yummy that you might be surprised how few ingredients go in the dish! Here’s what you need –
- Turmeric powder
- Coriander powder
- White pepper
- Cumin powder
- Dairy-free creamer, or melted coconut cream
- Fish sauce
- Coconut aminos
- Ginger
- Hot sauce
How To Make Thai Chicken Satay
- Marinate the chicken with turmeric, coriander, cumin, white pepper, dairy-free creamer, fish sauce, coconut aminos, grated ginger, and hot sauce for at least 30 minutes.
- Lightly drip off the marinade and from here you can air fry, pan fry, or barbeque!
See easy? This Thai-inspired Chicken Satay recipe makes a great everyday as well as party food. Kids will love it!
Meal Prep Version
This dish is perfect for meal prep – just dump and store!
- Add all the ingredients to a large freezer friendly ziplock bag.
- Gently mix well with the seasonings.
- Squeeze out the air and store the bag flat until it’s solid frozen.
- Defrost a night before in the fridge with a tray underneath.
What To Serve With Chicken Satay
Serve it with Thai Chicken Fried Rice (made with shirataki rice), Keto Fried Rice (with garlic chips!), or Broccoli Fried rice!
If you want to go all out with a homemade Thai banquet, serve this Thai Chicken Satay on the side with Thai basil chicken, Air fryer chicken wings, Green curry chicken, Crispy Thai chicken salad, Whole30 Pad Thai, Thai Chicken Curry Noodles – Khao Soi, Keto Pad Woon Sen, or Keto Pad See Ew!
More Paleo Thai Recipes
For A Fresh Side Salad
Try my Mandarin Orange Salad, Smoked Salmon Salad, Japanese Potato Salad, Broccoli Pesto Salad, Grilled Peach Salad, Thai beef salad, or Watermelon Fruit Salad.
More Paleo Salad Recipes
This Air Fryer Thai Chicken Satay is a new favorite in my household. Trust me, this dish smells so good the moment the chicken gets fried up, you’ll know immediately tonight’s dinner is gonna be GREAT! With only 10 ingredients and no chopping, this dish comes together in a snap. Pair it with fried rice and a big bowl of salad, you’ll love every single bite!
Thai Chicken Satay Recipe (Paleo, Keto, Whole30)
Ingredients
Thai chicken satay marinade:
- 1.5-2 lbs chicken thighs boneless and skinless
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 0.5 tsp white pepper
- 0.5 tsp cumin powder
- 4 tbsp dairy-free coffee creamer or melted coconut cream
- 1 tsp fish sauce
- 2 tbsp coconut aminos or 1 tbsp low sodium/gluten-free tamari
- 2 tsp grated ginger
- 2 tbsp hot sauce I use Frank’s original hot sauce
- Avocado oil cooking spray for the air fryer basket
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, marinate the chicken thighs with ingredients from turmeric to hot sauce. Gently mix well and cover the bowl. Store in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or up to 1 day before cooking.
- To air fry, lightly spray the fryer basket with avocado oil. Slightly drip off the marinade and place the chicken thighs into the basket in one layer with some space between each piece. Please do not over crowd the basket. I cook mine in two batches.
- Air fry at 370F (188C) for 15 minutes on the first side and 8-10 minutes the second side or until the chicken is cooked through. Please note that cook time varies, depending on the type of air fryer.
- To pan fry (stovetop), add 1 tbsp avocado oil to a well-heated skillet. Pan fry 6 minutes the first side and 5-6 minutes the second side over medium heat or until the chicken is cooked through.
- Serve hot or at room temperature. The chicken is very tender and flavorful and you don’t need a dipping sauce however if you like to kick the flavor over the top, try my Paleo Thai “Peanut” sauce. Serve it over a big bowl of salad greens or Keto garlic fried rice!
Notes
This dish is perfect for meal prep – just dump and store!
- Add all the ingredients to a large freezer friendly ziplock bag.
- Gently mix well with the seasonings.
- Squeeze out the air and store the bag flat until it’s solid frozen.
- Defrost a night before in the fridge with a tray underneath.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I made this last night and it was delicious! I made the peanut sauce as well. For lunch today, we cut up the leftover chicken, tossed it with the cooked vegetables and drizzled more sauce over it. This is a keeper recipe for sure!
Thanks so much for sharing, Judy! Love how you re-purpose the leftover. Great idea!
This recipe blew me away!! I did the stovetop version and it was just as crispy and delightful. I only had time to let marinate for 20 min and it was STILL divine. I absolutely plan to make it again and again.
Thanks for sharing! I’m so happy to hear. This is a great dish!
Any recommendations for alternatives to Frank’s hot sauce? I get bloated 🙁
Any red pepper sauce should work. Keep it original (i.e. plain) with no other flavors added. 🙂 I used to use another brand called American A&B hot sauce. That’s pretty good, too! Sieta food also has quite a bit selection on hot sauce that are grain-free and gluten-free. 🙂
Can I use liquid amino or does it need to be coconut amino? Will it have a significant difference in taste?
Hi Rowena, please don’t substitute my recipes with liquid aminos. I’ve never tasted liquid aminos and the ingredients aren’t as good for you. Based on reading the ingredient label and from people who used liquid amino for my recipe (even though my recipe instructions says coconut aminos), the result is NOT GOOD. I create recipes based on the taste and flavor of each ingredient so I cannot guarantee what your food will taste like if you use something else unless you are quite comfortable of trying and adjusting seasonings. For example: you can use gluten-free tamari (knowing that Tamari is more salty and less sweet so you can adjust the quantity to less and perhaps add a sugar sweetener to balance the dish). Hope this helps!
DELISH. And looks delightful, too! THANK YOU for sharing!!!
I tried the satay sauce also, however, think i will use my existing recipe with unsalted natural peanut butter & white vinegar (couldn’t get past the ACV smell). So, we enjoyed the chicken plain, and it was delicious as-is and really doesn’t need the sauce (unless you want it!). 🙂 Looking forward to making this again.
Sounds delicious! I’d like to use boneless, skinless chicken breasts in the air fryer. Any idea what temp and cooking time? Thanks so much!
Thanks, Christine. Sorry I haven’t tried it with chicken breasts….they tend to be drier than thighs under high heat cooking.
Honestly such a delicious healthy recipe that I make 1x a week for my husband and I! I always have to make extra for him so that he can bring it into work over salad for lunch! Thank you so much for this recipe, it is SO EASY and tastes better than take out! LOTS OF FLAVOR which I love.
Thank you for the review! Appreciate it, Rey!
Hi, I so want to make this recipe, but i’m a bit confused on the dairy free coffee creamer. What brand did you use, flavor, and are we talking about the dry powder? Thanks, I want to make this tonight.
HI Trina, I use califa coffee creamer – it’s dairy-fre and unsweetened. Note that there are two versions of Califa creamer – the larger bottle has thicker texture than the small jar and I use the large bottle version. 🙂
Is that Napa cabbage? How is that made ? It looks so good.
Hi Linda, the pairing vegetable I use in the photo is baby bok choy. That side dish is from this meal plan – https://iheartumami.com/easy-homemade-mini/
I just discovered your page and this is the first recipe I’ve tried. Oh my goodness!!! It turned out absolutely perfect. My husband couldn’t stop talking about how good it was. I can’t wait to make more of your recipes!
Thank you, Jessica!