2013 is going to be GREAT, I can feel it!
This is the first recipe of the year and I already know that it’s going to go on next year’s “best of” list! It’s SO good and SO easy. Peanut and coconut combine to make an incredibly luxurious and creamy sauce for the chicken, which is then sassed up with just a little soy sauce, brown sugar, lime, and sriracha! If you don’t have sriracha, you can just add a pinch of red pepper flakes… or just leave it out for a mild version.
Of course this “luxurious” sauce is a little high on the fat content, so make sure to serve this up with a side of some yummy vegetables, like this Crunchy Asian Salad. And, if you can find it, serve it over brown jasmine rice for some added fiber.
Enjoy and HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Chicken in Peanut Sauce
Chicken in Peanut Sauce
Servings 4Ingredients
- 2 cloves garlic ($0.16)
- 2 inches fresh ginger ($0.14)
- 1 Tbsp vegetable oil ($0.08)
- 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast* ($1.99)
- 1 14oz. can coconut milk ($2.14)
- 1/2 cup natural peanut butter ($0.66)
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce ($0.10)
- 1 Tbsp brown sugar ($0.02)
- 1/2 tsp sriracha hot sauce, optional ($0.02)
- 1 lime ($0.50)
- 1/4 bunch cilantro, optional ($0.20)
- 4 cups cooked jasmine rice ($0.69)
Instructions
- If you don’t have cooked jasmine rice on hand, begin cooking your rice first so it will be ready by the time the chicken and sauce are complete. To begin the sauce, mince the garlic and then peel and grate the ginger into a large skillet or pot. Saute both in the vegetable oil over medium heat for about 2 minutes or until they are soft and fragrant.
- Cut the chicken into small pieces (about one inch across). Add them to your skillet or pot. Saute until lightly browned and cooked through (about 10 minutes).
- Turn the heat down to low and add the coconut milk and peanut butter. Stir gently to combine the two and dissolve any browned bits off of the bottom of the pan. Once the sauce is relatively smooth, add the soy sauce, brown sugar, sriracha, and juice from half of the lime. Stir to combine and heat through (about ten minutes).
- Pull the cilantro leaves from their stems and roughly chop. Scoop about one cup of jasmine rice into the bottom of each bowl and then top with the chicken and sauce (about 3/4 cup). Sprinkle the fresh cilantro over top and enjoy!
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Notes
Nutrition
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Step By Step Photos
Start by mincing the garlic and grating the ginger (peel the ginger with a vegetable peeler or scrape the skin off with the side of a spoon). Saute both in vegetable oil over medium heat for 1-2 minutes, or until soft and fragrant.
Cut the chicken into small pieces, about one inch across each.
Add the chicken to the pot/skillet and saute until cooked through (about 10 minutes). It’s okay if stuff sticks to the bottom of the pan because it will dissolve off into the sauce, just don’t let it go past “brown” to “burned.”
Next, add the coconut milk and peanut butter.
Turn the heat down to low. Gently stir (to minimize splashing) the two together until they are smooth and all of the browned bits on the bottom of the pan have also dissolved in.
Now it’s time to add a little pizazz! We’re touching all of the flavor bases here with the soy sauce, brown sugar, sriracha, and lime juice. You can start with juice from half of the lime and add more if you’d like. If you don’t have sriracha, add a pinch of red pepper flakes for a little heat.
Stir all of those flavor ingredients in and your sauce is finished! Allow the sauce to heat through and then serve. Just make sure to have the heat low enough so that the pot does NOT boil. If it reaches a boil, the coconut milk will separate.
Serve with cooked jasmine rice and a sprinkle of fresh, chopped cilantro. INCREDIBLE.
I could swim in the peanut sauce. It’s sooo good! This is probably one of my most favorite quick meals. The only change I make is I sautee onions and peppers to add in with the chicken.
Made this last night with stir fry vegetables added in, and it was amazing! We added the sriracha to taste at the table because my 16 month old son was eating it too, and we all loved it! thanks!
Just did this with extra firm tofu and half almond and half peanut butter, added some onion and a green pepper, two more tablespoons of sriracha sauce and it was OUT OF THIS WORLD. Thank you!
I made this tonight and added in some onion and spinach to try to get a bit more veggies with my dinner. This is amazing and tastes like it took a lot more work than it did!
My kids LOVED it…..I’ve made it about 5 more times. It’s become a staple. And its a cinch to make! I love it myself! I did add some Thai fish sauce to it….it takes care of my Thai fix!
Very Good. My hubby went back for 3rds and my kids had seconds before declaring it was very filling.
I made this with mock duck instead of chicken. So good! I will add some veggies next time.
Just wanted to let you know that this was fantastic and my whole family appreciated it’s deliciousness. It was great with steamed broccoli! Thanks for this great recipe! :)
Hey Beth! This recipe sounds fabulous and I can’t wait to try it.
Just a thought for some of the folks who found the peanut butter overwhelming or oily – check out PB2 from Bell Plantation (usually sold in health food stores). It’s a powdered peanut butter that has had 85% of the fat removed as they have essentially pressed out the oil. So you get alllll the peanutty tasted but with less fat and less oily texture.
I love using it in cookingc baking and in smoothies.
That is funny, was at the store today getting the ingredients for this recipe and saw that PB2 stuff and bought it. This was my peanut butter base for the sauce. It worked really well.
My boyfriend and I made this recipe a few weeks ago. It was so delicious! I have to admit, I probably would have found the peanut butter overwhelming had we not doctored the recipe a bit…we love spicy, so we added a ton of sriracha! We actually added some broccoli to it to balance it a bit, as it is a very heavy dish, and it was just spectacular. Will make it again! Thanks Beth!
Hi. I normally * love* all of your recipes, but I did not like this one at all, unfortunately. It was just way too “Americanized” for me with the peanut butter. It was so heavy and thick and not as flavorful as I would have liked. However, my two year old loved the “pee nee buttah chicka” and just licked the sauce off without eating the chicken!
I loved this and my husband did too. My only complaint would be the taste of the peanut butter. Kind of overwhelming, but I did cheat and used regular peanut butter since I didn’t have any natural peanut butter in my pantry… Next time I’ll try with natural!!
Jithu – Oh no! I can’t think of what may have made that happen… I’ll keep researching it and let you know if I find anything :(
The peanut butter separated into a layer of oil that would not mix back into the rest of the sauce… Any tips on how to mix it back together or prevent this from happening?
Yummy and easy recipe! Thank you so much for posting all your awesome recipes! =)