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This Thai peanut chicken marinade uses peanut butter, soy sauce, honey, and chili garlic to make juicy grilled chicken (or sliced chicken for stir fry) with only 5 minutes of prep!
I first mixed up this Thai peanut marinade for grilled chicken, but it works great for stir fries, air fryer recipes, and even baked chicken! We’ve tried it on pork chops, tofu, and vegetables now, and I’m happy to report that they all came out super flavorful with the most delicious, caramelized edges. Just marinate your food of choice for an hour, cook through, and enjoy the mild, sweet flavor with a little chili garlic kick at the end!
If you ever tried Panera’s Spicy Thai Salad (which is sadly discontinued now), you will LOVE this chicken. I’ve created a copycat of the salad, the dressing, and this delicious marinated chicken to complement it.
Ingredients for Thai Peanut Chicken
The ingredient list for this Thai Peanut Chicken Marinade is super simple and if you often make homemade Asian inspired dishes at home you probably already have them all! For specific measurements, keep scrolling to the printable recipe card.
- Peanut butter – Use creamy peanut butter for the best consistency. Natural, separated peanut butter should be thoroughly mixed before using.
- Honey – If you are keto, use brown sugar swerve, golden monkfruit, or a sugar free maple syrup.
- Soy sauce – If you are soy-free, try coconut aminos. Low-sodium soy sauce works great, too.
- Water
- Rice vinegar
- Sesame oil
- Lime juice (or lemon juice)
- Chili garlic sauce
- Minced garlic
- Fresh ginger, minced
- Chicken – You could also use this with pork chops, steak, tofu, or vegetables
How to make the BEST Thai Peanut Chicken Marinade
- Combine all the marinade ingredients together in a gallon ziplock bag or bowl, then add in your pound of chicken. OPTIONAL: Before adding the chicken, spoon out 2-3 tablespoons of the marinade and set it in the fridge separately. This is perfect for basting the chicken!
- Marinate for 1-5 hours in the refrigerator, giving it time to soak up that great flavor.
- When you’re ready to cook, heat the grill to high (aiming for 400 degrees F).
- Cook each side for 4-5 minutes or until the meat thermometer registers 165 degrees F. If you reserved a few tablespoons of the marinade, brush it over the chicken as it cooks for a juicier bite.
How to Marinate Chicken for Stir Fry and Pad Thai
- For a quicker, more flavorful marinade, slice your chicken (across the grain) into thin strips before tossing it into the marinade. More surface area = more place for the flavor to latch on.
- Before cooking, place a colander over a bowl. Pour the marinade out and let the chicken strips drain in a colander, shaking occasionally to remove excess marinade. Reducing the amount of liquid that makes it into the pan means you’ll get a great sear.
- Cook the chicken in batches, spreading the strips out so that they sear instead of steam. Act quickly because the thin strips will cook fast.
- Cook whatever vegetables you’re including in your stir fry. When they are crisp-tender and you’re ready for the sauce, pour in the marinade and let it cook down as it coats your chicken and whatever veggies you choose.
Favorite ways to serve Thai Grilled Chicken
This chicken is one of my favorite recipes when I just want to change up a normally boring sandwich or salad. Some of my favorite recipes are:
- Make my favorite Spicy Thai Salad with Chicken
- This Chopped Thai Chicken Salad is one of my favorite lunch recipes! It tastes wonderful on a sandwich, in a lettuce wrap, on crackers, on a bed of green, or even just by itself!
- Pair the chicken with some slaw and this Thai Peanut Dressing for a perfect lunch wrap.
- Make some homemade Veggie Lo Mein and add in your sliced Thai chicken breast.
- Create this Thai Chicken Collard Wrap and use this marinade as your peanut dipping sauce.
How to store unused marinade
Once you have added raw chicken to the marinade, it is not safe to store. You can use it to baste the chicken while it’s grilling, but you should not use it for anything else. If your marinade is unused, you can store it in the fridge up to two weeks (great for meal prepping)!
Use it as a dipping sauce for wraps or vegetables or drizzle it onto salad for a delicious dressing. It’s amazing with these keto chicken nuggets!
Thai Chicken Marinade FAQs
Absolutely! Marinate the chicken as written, then preheat the air fryer to 375 degrees F. Cook 11-12 minutes for chicken breasts, 7-8 minutes for chicken tenderloins, or 10-12 minutes for chicken bites (flipping or shaking the basket halfway through).
Technically you can, but I find the flavor a bit overwhelming when I go past 5 hours. This marinade isn’t too heavy on the acid, so you don’t have to worry about the chicken becoming mushy, it’s just a flavor preference.
As long as you vigorously stir the peanut butter before using it, you can use natural peanut butter. You may need to shake or stir the marinade more to fully distribute the peanut butter throughout the mixture.
This comes down to flavor preferences. I find the flavor is too overpowering for longer marinating times (including freezing and thawing), but you may enjoy it.
More Marinades and Easy Chicken
Thai Peanut Chicken Marinade
Equipment
- Mixing Bowls or ziplock bag
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp peanut butter
- 2 tbsp honey, or sugar-free maple syrup
- 2 tbsp soy sauce, or coconut aminos, reduced sodium soy sauce
- 2 tbsp water
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 2 tsp lime juice, or lemon juice
- 2 tsp chili garlic sauce
- 2 tsp minced garlic
- 2 tsp fresh ginger, minced
- 1 lb chicken, or tofu, veggies, pork chops, etc.
Instructions
- Combine peanut butter, honey, soy sauce, water, rice vinegar, sesame oil, lime juice, chili garlic sauce, minced garlic, and minced ginger
- Stir well until all ingredients are incorporated
- Pour sauce over chicken and let it marinate in the refrigerator for 1-5 hours
- Heat grill on high to 400° F
- Cook chicken 4-5 minutes on each side, or until meat thermometer reads 165° F
- Reserve 1-2 tablespoons of sauce for basting your chicken while it cooks
Video
Notes
- For keto or low carb diet: replace honey with brown sugar swerve, golden monkfruit, or sugar free maple syrup.
- Nutrition information if using sugar free maple syrup: Calories: 224 grams Total Fat: 10.5 grams Cholesterol: 82.7 milligrams Sodium: 340 milligrams Carbohydrates: 4.2 grams Fiber: 0.5 grams Sugar: 1.3 grams Protein: 28 grams Net Carbs: 3.7 grams
- Air Fryer Cooking Time: 375 degrees for 11-12 minutes for chicken breasts or 7-8 minutes for chicken tenderloins.
- For Stir Fry: Slice chicken against the grain before marinating, then shake off excess marinade before cooking in batches the skillet.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Do you think this would be good in a lettuce wrap with the peanut sauce you posted? What else would you add to it? I’m trying to cut carbs but I’m new to all of this. It’s hard! lol!
Yes, I think that would be perfect! One wrap I’ve done with this chicken and LOVE is mixing some packaged slaw with the peanut sauce. I add that and the chicken in a lettuce wrap and it is so tasty! A reader also made this low carb chopped chicken salad recipe with the peanut sauce and I am HOOKED! Definitely try it!
Low Carb Chopped Thai Chicken Salad: https://www.maebells.com/easy-chopped-thai-chicken-salad-keto-low-carb/
Hi there! This makes my mouth water and cannot wait to try it. Can I ask you what chili garlic sauce you use and where you get it? I think I have one but I want to make the recipe as close as I can. Again, this looks great – anxiously waiting to make it! Thank you!
Hi Jen!
I can’t wait to hear how you like it 🙂 It is truly delicious!
The chili garlic sauce I used is the Huy Fong Foods one. I found it at Walmart and I’ve left a link below so you can see what it looks like.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Huy-Fong-Foods-Chili-Garlic-Sauce-18-oz/10452866