One-pan spicy Thai peanut chicken

Satay lovers stop right here! This spicy Thai peanut chicken is cooked in one pan, is perfect for easy entertaining, and you can have it on the table in just 40 minutes. You’ll be dreaming about that spicy peanut sauce!

A show-stopping dish

Peanut butter chicken recipes – love them or hate them?

Meals with peanuts in them are my food heaven! You’ll often find this quick massaman chicken curry with sweet potato and peanuts on our table. These easy chicken satay skewers with peanut sauce are another midweek favourite.

You won’t go wrong with either of these yummy peanut chicken recipes. If however you’re looking for more of a show-stopper, then I can’t recommend this one-pan spicy Thai peanut chicken enough!

What’s so great about this recipe?

• It’s a one pan recipe. Big bonus. Especially when entertaining.

• When I’m eating this, I don’t want my meal to end. There aren’t many meals I say that about.

• It’s almost ridiculously easy to make. It almost makes itself. All you do is whisk together the spicy peanut sauce with these easy-to-find ingredients:

peanut butter, coconut milk, chicken stock, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, fresh red chili, garlic, ginger, honey

Pour it over chicken thighs and bake for just half an hour.

And that’s it. Done.

How to serve it

1. Spoon the chicken and sauce into a nice serving dish.
2. Sprinkle over colourful chopped green spring onions, red chilis, and extra crushed peanuts.
3. Serve with rice, lime wedges and maybe a simple green salad.
4. Naan bread or poppadoms are optional to mop up all that lovely spicy Thai peanut sauce. And there is a LOT of sauce in this recipe, because that’s how we like it around here!

Pro tip: Wear kitchen gloves when chopping up your chilis. One time I forgot and my hands were on fire!

Can I freeze this?

Absolutely! Simply let cool then freeze in glass containers for up to 3 months. Just make sure you freeze without the garnishes, of course!

Let defrost (ideally overnight in the fridge), then cover it with aluminium foil and reheat in the oven at 325F/160C for about 25 minutes or until properly heated through.

Alternatively, reheat in the microwave. I suggest reheating it at 50% power to make sure it doesn’t dry out. Check the chicken is piping hot after about 5 minutes, and if not keep reheating for a minute at a time until thoroughly reheated.

More easy Asian meals

• 15 minute Thai basil pork stir fry (delicious!)
• This 20-minute chicken and cashew nuts is another quick and easy Chinese takeout classic!
• Perfect Thai chicken and butternut squash curry (On the table in 40 minutes and makes a TON. We ALWAYS have some of this in our freezer!)
• Sticky and delicious 15 minute Shanghai chicken
• Perfect Mee Goreng (spicy Indonesian noodles)
• Here’s the wildcard option – this Moroccan chicken tagine. It isn’t strictly ‘Asian’ but it tastes like a curry, except it’s more aromatic than spicy.
• Or take a look at all my Asian recipes!

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One-pan spicy Thai peanut chicken

Chicken thighs cooked in a spicy Thai peanut sauce. If you like satay chicken, you'll LOVE this. It takes moments to whisk up the spicy Thai peanut sauce and just over half an hour to bake. Sprinkle with spring onions, fresh red chilli and more peanuts and congratulate yourself on making such a delicious one pan chicken recipe. Mmmm!

4.67 from 12 votes

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Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 35 mins

Cuisine Thai

Servings (click to change) 3 to 4

Author Helen

Equipment (affiliate links)

• ▢
  9 x 12 inch baking dish

Ingredients (UK/Australia? Click below for grams/ml)

cups/ounces – grams/ml

Chicken

• ▢ ¼ cups peanut butter
• ▢ ¼ cups soy sauce
• ▢ ¼ cups coconut milk
• ▢ ¼ cups chicken stock blended into 2 tablespoons cornflour
• ▢ 3 cloves garlic crushed
• ▢ ginger (thumb-width piece, at least)
• ▢ 2 tablespoons honey
• ▢ 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar (I used Japanese mirin, but Chinese is fine, too)
• ▢ 2 chilis small red
• ▢ 1½ pounds chicken thighs skinless boneless (I used 10 smallish ones)

Toppings

• ▢ 3 scallions (spring onions), chopped finely
• ▢ 1 handful peanuts salted is fine, crushed in a food processor or bashed with a rolling pin in a plastic bag
• ▢ 1 more red chili chopped finely
• ▢ lime wedges
• ▢ rice or rice noodles to serve

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Instructions

 

• Preheat the oven to 180C/355F.
• Slowly blend the soy sauce into the peanut butter in a jug or medium bowl, then blend in the coconut milk & stock/corn flour. Stir in the garlic, ginger, honey, rice vinegar & chilis.
• Arrange the chicken thighs in a large baking dish (I use 9 x 12 inch), then pour the sauce all over them.
• Cover with aluminium foil and bake for about 35 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce bubbling and thickened a little. 10 minutes before the end of cooking time, remove the foil, spoon the sauce all over the chicken again and then return to the oven uncovered – you might need to cook longer depending on the size of your chicken thighs (see notes).
• Spoon the chicken and sauce into individual bowls over rice or rice noodles (or into one nice larger serving dish with a separate bowl of rice/noodles) and sprinkle the spring onions, peanuts and remaining chili over. Eat immediately with lime wedges and poppadoms/naan bread if you like.

Notes

Sauce

Sometimes I find the sauce turns out a little thicker, sometimes a little thinner. It depends on how big the chicken thighs are. Bigger thighs means more juices running out during cooking and mingling with the sauce.

To thicken slightly more, just add another tablespoon of corn flour blended with a bit of water or stock, drizzle and stir it into the sauce, then return to the oven for 5 more minutes.

Gluten free?

Use gluten free soy sauce & chicken stock to make this dish gluten free.

Nutrition

Calories: 796kcalCarbohydrates: 24gProtein: 48gFat: 57gSaturated Fat: 16gCholesterol: 222mgSodium: 1392mgPotassium: 919mgFiber: 3gSugar: 16gVitamin A: 580IUVitamin C: 46.3mgCalcium: 63mgIron: 3.9mg

Tried this recipe?Let me know if you liked it!

Note: This post has been updated from its original version to include step-by-step cooking instructions, an FAQ, and similar recipes. I hope you like it!