Chicken with Peanut Sauce (Video)

Chicken with Peanut Sauce is one of my favorite easy low-carb recipes with chicken and this dish is flavored with Thai Curry Paste! If you like Thai flavors, this might be a recipe you’ll end up making over and over.

PIN Chicken with Peanut Sauce to try it later!

Chicken with Peanut Sauce is a recipe I’ve loved for years, and today I’m updating the recipe with better photos, plus two slight changes that I think make this delicious chicken dish even better!

The recipe starts with trimmed chicken breast strips that are lightly browned. Then a few key ingredients are blended to make a creamy peanut/curry/ginger paste. Then you heat the paste and mix with coconut milk and chopped cilantro (if desired) and the result is a highly flavorful, fresh tasting sauce that really bumps up the flavor of whatever you serve it with.

For years I made this recipe with trimmed boneless, skinless chicken breasts and pounded them. But when we recently decided to improve the photos we also decided the chicken would cook a bit more evenly (without pounding) if we cut the chicken pieces in half lengthwise. And that also gave more surface area to get covered with the delicious sauce. No worries if you prefer to keep your chicken breasts whole; either method will work.

The other change we made was to skip the few tablespoons of chicken stock and use the whole can of coconut milk instead for the sauce, adding a bit more soy sauce and curry paste to be sure it was still really flavorful. This Thai-inspired peanut sauce was really great on the chicken, but I you could also serve it on pork, fish, broccoli, or cauliflower. Anyone have other ideas for using the extra sauce? Let me know in the comments.

What ingredients do you need?

(This is only a list of ingredients; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)

• boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• Minced Ginger (affiliate link)
• Minced Garlic (affiliate link)
• Adams 100% Natural Peanut Butter (affiliate link) or other smooth natural peanut butter
• Unseasoned Rice Vinegar (affiliate link)
• soy sauce or Gluten-Free Soy Sauce (affiliate link)
• Monkfruit Sweetener (affiliate link) or other sweetener of your choice (see notes)
• Red Thai Curry Paste (affiliate link)
• fresh ground black pepper to taste
• Peanut Oil (affiliate link)
• unsweetened coconut milk (affiliate link)
• cilantro

What gives this peanut sauce Thai flavors?

I would never suggest this is an authentic Thai dish, but the peanut sauce does have a lot of Thai flavors like ginger, garlic, soy sauce, sweetener, Red Thai Curry Paste, and coconut milk.

Can you use other curry pastes for the peanut sauce?

I’m not an expert on Thai curries but I know that green curry, yellow curry, Massaman curry, and Panang curry are all used with chicken, so if you have a different type of curry paste on hand I bet it will work for this recipe.

How can you tell when the chicken pieces are done?

We used an Instant Read Meat Thermometer (affiliate link) to make sure the chicken had reached 165F/75C before we removed it from the pan.

What if you’re not a cilantro fan?

You can use thinly-sliced green onion instead of cilantro if you’re not a fan.

How to make Chicken with Peanut Sauce:

(This is only a summary of the steps for the recipe; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)

1. Trim the chicken breasts, cutting off visible fat or ragged parts. Cut chicken breasts in half lengthwise.
2. Heat oil in a large heavy frying pan. Season the chicken with pepper, then add to the pan and cook over medium heat until chicken is nicely browned, about 5 minutes on first side and 4-5 minutes more on the second side.
3. That cooking time is for thick pieces of chicken. For best results, turn the chicken when it’s browned and then use an Instant Read Meat Thermometer (affiliate link) to tell when chicken is done.
4. In food processor combine ginger, garlic, peanut butter, rice vinegar, soy sauce, sweetener and Red Thai Curry Paste.
5. Buzz ingredients together and taste to see if you want a bit more curry paste.
6. You’ll also need finely chopped fresh cilantro (or thinly sliced green instead if you prefer not to use cilantro.)
7. When chicken is nicely browned and has reached 165F/75C, remove chicken to a plate and cover with foil to keep it warm.
8. Reduce heat to low and add coconut milk, scraping the pan to get off browned bits. 
9. Stir in curry paste/peanut butter mixture and simmer until it’s hot, about 2-3 minutes.
10. Uncover chicken and stir juices that have accumulated on the plate into the sauce and simmer another minute or so.
11. Then turn off the heat and stir in most of the chopped cilantro (or green onion), saving a little to garnish. 
12. Serve chicken hot, with the sauce spooned over.

Make it a Meal:

This would taste great with Roasted Broccoli with Soy Sauce and Sesame Seeds, Air Fryer Asian Green Beans, Napa Cabbage Asian Slaw, Spicy Szechuan Green Beans, or Garlicky Green Beans Stir Fry for a low-carb meal.

More Easy Chicken Dinners You Might Like:

• Baked Pesto Chicken
• Instant Pot Teriyaki Chicken
• Chicken Bake with Olive and Caper Sauce
• Herb-Marinated Air Fryer Chicken Thighs
• Baked Chicken Nuggets

Continue to Content

Print

Yield: 4 servings

Chicken with Peanut Sauce

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 25 minutes

This tasty Chicken with Peanut Sauce is one of my favorite low-carb recipes with chicken!

Ingredients

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed and cut in half legthwise
• 2 T minced ginger
• 1 T minced garlic
• 1/2 cup smooth natural peanut butter at room temperature (see notes)
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar (see notes)
• 3 T soy sauce
• 2 T Monkfruit Sweetener or sweetener of your choice
• 2 tsp. red Thai Curry Paste
• fresh ground black pepper to taste
• about 2 T peanut oil (depends on your pan)
• one 13.5 oz. can unsweetened coconut milk (see notes)
• 4 T finely chopped cilantro, plus more for garnish if desired (see notes)

Instructions

1. Trim the chicken breasts, cutting off any visible fat or ragged pieces. Cut each chicken breast in half lengthwise, trying to make two pieces that are the same size.
2. Heat the oil in a large heavy frying pan. Season the chicken with pepper, then add chicken pieces to the pan and cook over medium heat until chicken is nicely browned, about 5 minutes on first side and 4-5 minutes more on the second side. (This was for thick pieces of chicken.)
3. For best results, turn the chicken when it's browned and the use an Instant Read Meat Thermometer (affiliate link) after the second side has cooked to tell when the chicken is reached the safe temperature of 165F/75C.
4. While chicken cooks, combine ginger, garlic, peanut butter, rice vinegar, soy sauce, sweetener and Red Thai Curry Paste in a food processor.
5. Buzz those ingredients together and then taste to see if you want a bit more curry paste.
6. You'll also need a generous amount of finely chopped fresh cilantro (or thinly sliced green if you prefer not to use cilantro.)
7. When chicken is nicely browned and has reached 165F/75C, remove chicken to a plate and cover with foil to keep it warm.
8. Reduce heat to low and add the coconut milk, scraping the pan to get off any browned bits. 
9. Stir in curry paste/peanut butter mixture and simmer until it's hot, about 2-3 minutes.
10. Uncover chicken and stir any juices that have accumulated on the plate into the sauce and simmer another minute or so.
11. Then turn off the heat and stir in most of the chopped cilantro (or green onion), saving a little to garnish. 
12. Serve chicken hot, with the sauce spooned over.

Notes

Use peanut butter without added sugar if you want this to be low in carbs. I prefer Adams 100% Natural Peanut Butter.

Be sure to use unseasoned rice vinegar, not “seasoned” vinegar which has sugar.

Use regular or lite coconut milk, but full-fat coconut milk will be more flavorful.

Use thinly sliced green onions if you’re not a cilantro fan.

Recipe from Fine Cooking Annual with slight adaptations by Kalyn.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

4

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 488Total Fat: 29gSaturated Fat: 6.1gUnsaturated Fat: 20.5gCholesterol: 102mgSodium: 697mgCarbohydrates: 10gFiber: 3.1gSugar: 2gProtein: 47g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.

Did you make this recipe?

Did you make this recipe? Please leave a star rating (under the PRINT button in the recipe) or share a photo of your results on Instagram! THANKS!

Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions: 
Made with an approved sweetener, natural peanut butter without added sugar, unseasoned rice vinegar, and lite coconut milk, this Low-Carb Chicken with Peanut Sauce would be approved for low-carb diets and for any phase of the original South Beach Diet. It’s also good for low-carb diet plans, which would prefer full-fat coconut milk.

Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Easy to Cook Recipes to find more recipes like this one. Use the Recipes by Diet Type photo index pages to find more recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to Follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.

Historical Notes for this Recipe:
Above you see the photo from 2012 that I replaced with the newer ones, although it was actually not bad for those days. This favorite recipe was first posted in 2007! It was last updated with better photos and more information in January 2022!

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