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These Asian Chicken Skewers with Peanut Dipping Sauce are an all-around winner! Tender chicken marinated with fragrant, Asian-inspired flavor, served with an irresistibly delicious dipping sauce. A fabulous, shareable appetizer for parties, potlucks, or family gatherings!
Asian Chicken Skewers with Peanut Dipping Sauce – Perfect for Sharing
Looking for a make-ahead, shareable appetizer to bring to neighborhood potlucks or family gatherings that tastes and looks amazing?
My Asian Chicken Skewers with Peanut Dipping Sauce ticks off all the boxes! The delectable, gorgeous looking, and tasting skewers transport well and can be made the day before.
With no utensils required, they’re a fabulous party food; easy to eat while holding a conversation and a glass of wine. Plus, let’s be honest, eating stuff on sticks is just kind of fun!
Recently, I brought a platter of these delectable Asian-inspired appetizers to a neighborhood gathering. My plate was one of the very first dishes to empty out of a very crowded buffet table. You never have to worry about leftovers with this one.
And while Asian Chicken Skewers with Peanut Dipping Sauce make terrific appetizers, they’re also good for a main course. Plate two or three of these yummy skewers with a green salad and some seasoned rice and dinner is served.
How to Make Asian Chicken Skewers
One of the things I love about these skewers is that they’re easy to make and to make ahead.
Don’t be put off by the relatively long list of ingredients for this recipe. Most of what’s required for this dish gets mixed up into a marinade, so it really is very simple.
You simply stir up the marinade, toss in the chicken tenderloins, and let them sit. My preference is to make the marinade the night before, but the marinade time can be as short as four hours. So keep that in mind and plan ahead before making these. This isn’t a recipe that you can make at the last minute.
Once the chicken has finished marinating, you’ll just thread the tenderloins onto skewers and pop them onto the grill. (Be sure you soak the skewers in water for an hour or so before grilling). If you don’t have a grill, you could cook them under the broiler, flipping them over halfway through.
These Asian Chicken Skewers can be served hot or cold.
If I’m serving them cold, I like to pull them out of the refrigerator while I’m stirring together the peanut dipping sauce. The flavors will come forward a little more if the chicken is a bit closer to room temperature.
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Asian Chicken Skewers with Peanut Dipping Sauce
- Yield: Serves 12 as an appetizer, 4 to 6 as an entree 1x
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs chicken tenderloins (can sub chicken thighs cut into strips)
- 12 skewers (bamboo or metal)
For marinade:
- ¼ cup Mirin
- 2 T rice vinegar
- 1 T vegetable oil
- 1 T sesame oil
- 2 tsp lemongrass paste
- 2 tsp ginger paste (or fresh grated ginger)
- 1 tsp tumeric
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 shallot, chopped
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
For Peanut Dipping Sauce:
- ½ cup creamy peanut butter
- ½ cup hoisin sauce
- 3 T lime juice
- 2 T rice vinegar
Instructions
- Mix all the ingredients for the marinade together in a medium sized bowl. Place the chicken tenderloins in the marinade and stir to coat, submersing chicken in marinade as much as possible. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight. (You can also place chicken and marinade a plastic zipper bag instead of bowl.)
- If using wooden skewers, soak for at least on hour prior to grilling.
- Preheat grill. Remove chicken from marinade and thread onto skewers.
- Place skewers on preheated grill. Cook for 10-12 minutes, until cooked through, turning skewers halfway through grilling (about 5-6 minutes per side.)
- Mix peanut sauce together in a small bowl. Serve skewers hot or cold, alongside the sauce.
