Gordon Ramsay’s chicken satay is chicken thigh strips in a lemongrass and galangal marinade, grilled on skewers with a warm Malaysian peanut sauce. The recipe comes from Gordon’s Great Escape Southeast Asia and takes 45 minutes, plus an overnight marinade.
He found it at a street stall in Penang, where chicken sizzled over coals next to a tub of peanut sauce. He says he “was left with little choice but to tuck in”. The stall ladies told him satay was once special-occasion food.
Timing makes or breaks it, and I don’t mean at the hob. The chicken goes into the marinade the night before, so plan this one a day ahead. The grilling itself is the quick part, seven minutes at most.
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Gordon Ramsay Chicken Satay
Course: AppetizersCuisine: MalaysianDifficulty: Easy4
servings30
minutes15
minutes560
kcal12 hr 45 min
12 hours
Fourteen to sixteen chicken satay skewers from the Malaysia chapter of Gordon’s Great Escape, marinated overnight and dipped in the only satay sauce Ramsay actually cooks in a pan.
Ingredients
- For the Satay:
500g (1.1 lb) chicken thighs, skinned and deboned
3 shallots, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and coarsely chopped
3cm (1¼ inch) knob of galangal, peeled and grated
2 lemongrass stalks, trimmed, white part finely chopped
1cm (½ inch) knob of turmeric root, peeled, or 1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tbsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp palm sugar or dark brown sugar
Pinch of freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp fish sauce
1 red chilli, deseeded and chopped
4 tbsp (¼ cup) peanut oil
Vegetable oil, for brushing
- For the Malaysian Peanut Sauce:
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 shallot, peeled and finely diced
1 red chilli, deseeded if you prefer
1 tbsp crushed garlic
1 tbsp crushed ginger
4 tbsp (¼ cup) crunchy peanut butter
1 tsp tamarind paste
1 tsp dark sweet soy sauce
100ml (3½ fl oz) coconut cream
50ml (3½ tbsp) water
Directions
- Make the paste: Grind the shallots, garlic, galangal, lemongrass, turmeric, coriander, cumin, salt, sugar and pepper to a rough paste in a food processor or pestle and mortar. Add the fish sauce and chilli and combine.
- Marinate overnight: Slice the chicken into thin strips. Mix the paste with the peanut oil, toss the chicken to coat well, cover with cling film and refrigerate overnight.
- Soak the skewers: Soak 16 bamboo skewers (15cm/6 inch) in warm water for 30 minutes so they do not scorch on the pan.
- Thread the chicken: Thread the marinated strips until each skewer is three-quarters full, without overcrowding.
- Grill: Brush a griddle pan with oil and get it very hot. Grill the skewers for 5-7 minutes, turning frequently and basting with oil, until cooked through with crispy brown-black spots.
- Make the sauce: Sauté the shallot, chilli, garlic and ginger in the oil for 2-3 minutes until softened. Stir in the peanut butter, then the tamarind and soy. Add the coconut cream and water, stir for 3-4 minutes, simmer briefly and serve warm with the skewers.
Notes
- Ramsay’s rule from the book headnote: only use meat off the bone, and marinate for at least 12 hours. He recommends the barbecue for smoke, but a grill or griddle pan works.
FAQs
Is chicken satay Thai or Malaysian?
Satay started in Indonesia, though Ramsay writes that every Southeast Asian country now cooks its own version. For him, “the Malay version is one of the best”, which is why this marinade uses galangal and fresh turmeric rather than Thai curry paste.
The whole book came out of that one trip through Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia and Vietnam. His beef pad thai is the Thai chapter’s answer, and tamarind turns up in both sauces.
How long do you marinate chicken satay?
Twelve hours minimum, and Ramsay is firm about that number. He writes the meat needs a full night “for a more developed flavour”, because the rough paste takes that long to work into the strips.
He is just as strict about using meat off the bone only, though the protein itself is flexible. He suggests pork, beef or prawns as swaps, and if prawns tempt you, his garlic prawns need no marinade at all, just ten minutes and a hot pan.
What is Gordon Ramsay’s satay sauce made of?
This one is crunchy peanut butter, tamarind, dark sweet soy and coconut cream, cooked in a pan until the peanut melts into the chilli oil. The tamarind is what separates it from jarred sauces, cutting the richness with sourness.
He has a second satay sauce hiding in Healthy, Lean and Fit, inside his rice paper rolls. That one never sees heat: sugar-free peanut butter fork-mixed with soy, honey, rice vinegar and ginger. It looks split at first, then comes together as you keep stirring.
What do you serve with chicken satay?
At the Penang stall it was eaten straight off the stick, so it works best as finger food or a barbecue starter. To turn it into dinner, his egg fried rice uses day-old jasmine rice and takes under ten minutes, so it cooks while the skewers grill.
Something cold and sharp balances the peanut sauce. His cucumber salad, ribbons tossed in a hoisin and ginger dressing, does what the pickles do at a Malaysian stall.
Does chicken satay contain nuts or gluten?
Peanuts appear twice, so there is no way around them here. The sauce is built on peanut butter, and even the marinade gets mixed with peanut oil before it touches the chicken.
The gluten hides in the dark sweet soy sauce, which is usually brewed with wheat. Tamari swaps in cleanly, and vegetable oil can replace the peanut oil in the marinade, but the sauce itself has no nut-free fix.
Can you freeze chicken satay?
Raw, yes, and the marinade actually helps. I bag half the coated strips before skewering and they keep for about a month, marinating slowly as they thaw. That overnight rest from the recipe still counts.
Cooked skewers are the honest no, because thin thigh strips turn dry and chewy when reheated. The sauce keeps two or three days in the fridge and thickens as it cools, so loosen it with warm water over low heat.
