Air fryer peanut chicken
- Prepare
- 30 mins to 1 hour
- Cook
- less than 10 mins
- Serve
- Serves 2
Super-simple satay-style chicken skewers. Great as a light supper for two served with rice and a crunchy salad, or stir-fried vegetables.
This recipe is part of an air fryer meal plan for two.
Each serving (minus the optional serving suggestion) provides 573 kcal, 68.8g protein, 8.4g carbohydrate (of which 6.6g sugars), 28.8g fat (of which 6.6g saturates), 2.9g fibre and 2.29g salt.
Ingredients
- 350g/12oz chicken mini fillets
- sunflower oil, for greasing
- lime wedges, for squeezing
For the marinade
- 15g/½oz crunchy peanut butter
- 1 tbsp runny honey
- 1 tbsp rich dark soy sauce
- 2 tsp lime juice
- 1 tsp sesame oil
For the sauce
- 70g/2½oz crunchy peanut butter
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 1 tsp finely grated fresh root ginger
- 1½ tsp rich dark soy sauce
- 1 tsp runny honey
- 1 tsp lime juice
- small pinch chilli flakes
To serve
- rice
- spring onions, sliced
- red chilli (optional)
Method
For the marinade, whisk all the ingredients together in a medium bowl until well combined. Add the chicken, stir well and leave to marinate in the fridge for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, soak 8 short bamboo skewers in cold water.
While the chicken is marinating, put all the ingredients for the sauce in a small saucepan with 100ml/3½fl oz cold water. Bring to a simmer, stirring constantly until well combined and the peanut butter has fully dissolved. As soon as the sauce begins to thicken, remove from the heat.
If necessary, preheat your air fryer at 200C for 3 minutes, or until it reaches temperature. Thread the marinated chicken onto the skewers (not too tightly) and reserve any leftover marinade.
Brush the crisper plate generously with sunflower oil to help prevent the chicken from sticking. Arrange the chicken skewers on the crisper plate, leaving space between each one for the air to flow. Cook at 200C for 3 minutes.
Turn the chicken pieces over, brush with a little of the reserved marinade and return to the air fryer. Cook at 200C for a further 3 minutes, or until the chicken is nicely browned and cooked through. Return the chicken to the air fryer and cook for a little longer, if you need to.
Serve the chicken skewers with freshly cooked rice tossed with sliced spring onions, the peanut sauce and lime wedges for squeezing over. Add a sprinkling of red chilli, if you like.
Recipe tips
Chicken mini fillets are perfect for this recipe. They come in different sized packs, but 350g/12oz is enough to serve two people and should give you four skewers per person.
If you can’t get hold of mini fillets, try using two boneless, skinless chicken breasts instead and cut into long strips. Don’t thread onto the skewers too tightly as the heat needs to penetrate.
The ideal soy sauce for this dish is one that’s labelled ‘rich and dark’. It will be a little thicker than the ordinary kind and will impart a richer flavour. You can still use the classic soy sauce instead, but the results won’t be the same.
This recipe is best made with ordinary peanut butter. If the sauce thickens too much when you make it, you can add a small splash of water to loosen. For a spicier sauce, add extra chilli.
Check your garlic is as fresh as possible before you add it to the sauce. If it smells at all musty, either swap for a different clove, or leave out altogether.
Soaking the bamboo skewers before use helps prevent them from burning in the air fryer. The skewers will need to be around 12cm/4½in long.
This recipe was tested using a 4–litre capacity air fryer. If yours has a much larger or smaller capacity, you will need to adjust the cooking times.
