Excited to share the recipe for 20 Minute Chicken Satay Lettuce Wraps with you today – the perfect busy weeknight meal!
Satay is a skewered and grilled meat dish, and Chicken Satay is marinated chicken threaded onto skewers then grilled and served with a peanut sauce. Translation: ain’t nobody got time for that. Not if you’re wanting to enjoy the flavors of Chicken Satay in under 20 minutes, anyway!
I’ve wanted to share a recipe for Chicken Satay on the blog for years now, but the fact that there’s exactly ONE recipe for skewered and cooked food here on IGE (oh hey, Sausage and Shrimp Skewers!) tells you that I have zero patience when it comes to gingerly threading food onto sticks for dinner. Especially when there’s a whole marinating step before it.
Chicken Satay Lettuce Wraps to the rescue! Ground chicken is cooked then sizzled with a delicious peanut sauce laced with coconut milk, curry, fresh lime juice, ginger, garlic, and a little bit of chili then scooped onto lettuce wraps and eaten taco style. NO marinating, 20 minutes, 1 skillet, fresh, healthy, and AB-solutely delicious.
I really, really loved the slightly exotic taste of this dish and while the ingredient list might look a little long, all I had to buy was ground chicken, a can of coconut milk, and lettuce. You could absolutely serve the chicken over a bowl of rice if you want to skip the lettuce step too!
Start by heating 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil in a very large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 2lbs ground chicken, 1 large chopped shallot, salt, and pepper then break the chicken up as it cooks.
I used this Smart Chicken ground chicken breast. Super easy! If you can’t find ground chicken in your grocery store, ask the butcher to grind up 2lbs chicken breasts for you.
Meanwhile make the tasty peanut sauce. First microwave 1/4 cup lite coconut milk and 1/4 cup peanut butter in a bowl for 25 seconds then stir until smooth.
Next add fridge and pantry staples including 1/4 cup chicken broth, 2 Tablespoons gluten-free Tamari (or soy sauce, but dish will not be GF,) 1 Tablespoon each fresh lime juice and sugar, 2 teaspoons chili garlic sauce, 1-1/2 teaspoons sesame oil, 1 teaspoon curry powder, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, and 1/4 teaspoon red chili pepper flakes (optional, but I loved the tiny kick of heat!) Stir everything together until smooth. Don’t you love that vibrant curry powder color??
Once the chicken is cooked through, add the sauce then cook until thickened and nearly absorbed by the chicken – 2-3 minutes.
Take the skillet off the heat then stir in 1/4 cup chopped cilantro. That’s it!
Let the chicken cool slightly then scoop onto lettuce leave (I love butter lettuce for lettuce wraps,) then sprinkle with chopped peanuts and fresh cilantro, and dig in!
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Chicken Satay Lettuce Wraps
Description
20 Minute Chicken Satay Lettuce Wraps have all the flavor of Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce but are ready in just 20 minutes!
Ingredients
- 2lbs ground chicken breasts
- 1 Tablespoon grapeseed or other neutral-tasting oil
- 1 large shallot, chopped
- salt and pepper
- 1/4 cup lite coconut milk
- 1/4 cup peanut butter
- 1/4 cup chicken broth
- 2 Tablespoons gluten-free tamari or soy sauce (dish will not be GF if using soy sauce)
- 1 Tablespoon fresh lime juice
- 1 Tablespoon sugar
- 2 teaspoons chili garlic sauce
- 1-1/2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon curry powder
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon red chili pepper flakes (optional)
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, plus more for serving
- chopped peanuts, for serving
- 1-2 heads lettuce leaves
Directions
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken, shallots, salt, and pepper then saute, breaking meat up as it cooks, until cooked through.
- Combine coconut milk and peanut butter in a bowl then microwave for 25 seconds and stir until smooth. Add next 9 ingredients - chicken broth through red chili pepper flakes - then stir until smooth. Add sauce to skillet with cooked chicken then cook until sauce is thickened and nearly all absorbed by the chicken. Take skillet off the heat then stir in chopped cilantro. Let cool slightly then scoop onto lettuce leaves and top with chopped peanuts and fresh cilantro.
Notes
Adapted from My Recipes
This recipe is courtesy of Iowa Girl Eats, http://iowagirleats.com.
To recap – cook chicken, make sauce, add chicken to sauce, and serve! 20 minutes (or less) and you’ve got a fresh and healthy dish on the table. Enjoy!!
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janmaus 11.26.2015
Wonderful recipe, but since I can’t ever leave anything alone, I subbed 1 Tb of Maesri brand green curry paste for the curry powder, ginger, and pepper flakes. According to the ingredients, this is still gluten-free, although the cans bear warnings about manufacture in the same factory that processes peanuts and sesame–not really significant in this context as the recipe already includes peanut butter. It really was delicious and is going to be in our family rotation for a while!
Emily 10.29.2015
Just made these for lunch yesterday, and WOW! They were so delicious and flavorful, and really did come together in 20 minutes. Being able to cook the chicken and shallots while I made the sauce was a huge time-saver. This will definitely be a part of my weeknight meal routine from now on, thanks for sharing!
Kristin 10.29.2015
So glad to hear, Emily! Glad you liked them!
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Jen 10.07.2015
Made this last night with a couple tweaks – was at the grocery store too late to get ground chicken (I guess they stop grinding meat at 4pm – lesson learned!) so I just chopped the chicken breast into small pieces, and then we ate it over rice instead of as wraps. So delicious!
Kristin 10.07.2015
Great improvising, and so glad you enjoyed!
Pauline 10.06.2015
What would you suggest serving along with these wraps? Thanks, Kristin!
Kristin 10.07.2015
Hi Pauline! I think my coconut rice would be awesome, plus it will use up the extra coconut milk you’ll have leftover! You could easily omit the beans, too. https://iowagirleats.com/2012/04/17/jamaican-jerk-chicken-the-best-rice-ever/#end-post
Kelly 10.06.2015
So excited to see this. I have a lot of ground up chicken in my freezer and I usually just make meatballs but that was getting boring! I’m obsessed with curry.
Fiona @ Get Fit Fiona 10.05.2015
These look delicious! I have a feeling I’ll be making them sometime soon.
Sherri 10.05.2015
I have ground turkey that needs to be used (read: bought like 5lbs at Costco)…can I substitute?
Thanks!
Kristin 10.05.2015
I think that’d be ok! I personally think ground chicken tastes more mild than ground turkey, so the turkey version might be a bit more “in your face” turkey than chicken, but it should still do the trick! :)
Brie @ A Slice of Brie 10.19.2015
I made these with ground pork the other night and they were delicious! Even my 19 month old ate it and he usually hates any kind of ground meat ;)
Chicago Jogger 10.05.2015
Ohh I love this recipe. Chicken Satay is by far my favorite appetizer to order. Pinning!
Staci 10.05.2015
These look amazing. The boyfriend would love them!!! Can’t wait to put them on the upcoming grocery list.
gail yanek 10.05.2015
I’m not allergic but also not a fan of peanuts, but I love almond butter and cashew butter. Any experiencing with substituting?
Kristin 10.05.2015
I think almond butter would work just fine!
Sissy 10.05.2015
You always come through with quick easy recipes that are full of flavor but are also healthy! Can’t wait to try this one out TONIGHT!
Leigh Anne 10.05.2015
I did NOT know that peanut butter isn’t usually gluten free. One more thing to check when I get home tonight!
Kristin 10.05.2015
It’s a tricky one. Peanuts are gluten-free but nuts are notorious for being processed on shared lines so there is a risk of cross contamination!
Kealey 10.05.2015
I’m always hesitant to make something like this because I feel like it’s going to be super complicated with a thousand different ingredients, so I was shocked to see how simple your recipe is! Thank you for posting – definitely adding this to my list of meals to try!!
-kealey
http://www.wakingupwatkins.com
Becki 10.05.2015
Your pumpkin patch pictures are so cute. Some of my favorite pics of our family are in the fall visiting pumpkin patches. It has been so wet here we haven’t been yet! These chicken wraps look delicious and I love that they have curry in them – yum! This is a good low carb/whole30 type recipe – thanks!
Britt@MyOwnBalance 10.05.2015
These lettuce wraps looks amazing! The pumpkin patch looks like so much fun. I love going apple and pumpkin picking every fall.