This simple savory recipe for Thai Peanut Chicken Thighs is a flavorful way to satisfy cravings for Thai food without ordering takeout. It is a recipe that tastes fantastic as leftovers and works well in salads and wraps, too! The photos in this post recently got a little update so I’m sharing it again with the hope that those who haven’t had the chance it try it yet enjoy it, too.
I know I’ve talked at length on this blog about my love for Kristin’s Thai Crunch Salad but if you haven’t made it yet, please add it to your must-try list ASAP. I have my whole family hooked and even found her recipe worthy of sending to my girlfriends in a group text. Yes, it was worth being the annoying friend blowing up everyone’s phones saying “you have to make this immediately.” Sometimes you just feel like you have to share the love when you discover something so delicious, especially when it’s healthy and veggie-packed!
In addition to Kristin’s Thai Crunch Salad, I’ve found myself gravitating toward Thai recipes lately and cannot stop bookmarking any recipe that calls for some combination of ginger, coconut, peanut butter and soy sauce (or coconut aminos). If the recipe calls for tossing a garnish of fresh cilantro on top of everything, that’s all the better because I’m Team Cilantro over here forever and ever.
Inspired by the savory peanut flavor of the dressing used in my beloved Thai Crunch Salad, I set out to create a marinade for chicken thighs that incorporated some of my current favorite flavor obsessions. I combined a mix of coconut milk, sesame oil, peanut butter, rice vinegar, garlic, honey and coconut aminos for a simple marinade that gave the baked chicken thighs the perfect amount of flavor.
The Thai Peanut Chicken Thighs were fantastic on their own but I also loved eating the leftovers cold and chopped up in a giant chopped salad the next day, too. I baked my chicken thighs because it’s freezing outside right now, but I think they would be even more delicious tossed on the grill with a little bit of a char on them in the summertime!
Thai Peanut Chicken Thighs
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Thai Peanut Chicken Thighs
- Prep Time: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 35 mins
- Total Time: 2 hours 35 mins
- Yield: 8 chicken thighs 1x
- Category: chicken, dinner
Description
This simple savory recipe for Thai Peanut Chicken Thighs is a flavorful way to satisfy cravings for Thai food without ordering takeout. It is a recipe that tastes fantastic as leftovers and works well in salads and wraps, too!
Ingredients
- 1 14-ounce can light coconut milk
- 1 tablespoon natural peanut butter (the runnier the better)
- 1/4 cup coconut aminos (or soy sauce)
- 1/4 cup rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoons sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs (approximately 8 thighs)
Instructions
- Combine everything but the chicken in a large zip-top storage bag. Seal bag and squeeze ingredients a few times to mix everything together. Add the chicken to the bag, turning the thighs over a few times to coat them in the marinade.
- Place the marinating chicken into the refrigerator for at least two hours (or until you’re ready to cook)! Feel free to flip the bag over a few times as the chicken continues to marinate.
- Heat oven to 425-degrees and remove chicken from marinade, placing it into a baking dish in a single layer. Pour marinade over chicken and bake for approximately 35 minutes or until chicken reaches an internal temperature of at least 165°F.
- Allow chicken to briefly rest for a couple of minutes before digging in!
Additional Chicken Recipes To Try
- Easy Orange Juice Chicken Marinade
- One Pot Chicken Cabbage Bowl with Sesame Ginger Broth
- Paleo Chicken Thighs
- Easy Cheesy Crockpot Chicken Corn Chili
- Instant Pot Honey Garlic Chicken and Broccoli
- Chicken Sausage and Sweet Potato Bake
- Crock Pot Coconut Chicken and Cauliflower Rice Stew
- Greek Yogurt Rotisserie Chicken Salad
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When it’s too cold to grill outside I love finding all the simple and healthy baked chicken recipes. This sounds delicious! And would be so good on the thai salad!
I really love Thai food. This is easy asian food to eat.
I love this post. Thanks u for this sharing,.
Oh yum! I can’t wait to try this one!
This looks delicious! I love these flavors!
Do you think this would work in a crockpot?
Love Thai recipes! And on a unrelated note, I just finished reading The Final Girls and really enjoyed it, loved the twist ending, thanks for the recommendation!
When I look at ingredients I’m sure that I’d like it. Thai food is tasty.
This looks so good! I love that Thai peanut flavor so I’m definitely going to have to try this recipe. It’s on my list to make for next week.
Thanks for the great idea!! I have been seeing you rave about the chopped salad as well, so I think I better try it this week.
I can’t believe that you can come up with these recipes out of thin air like the chicken marinade in this recipe. It has to be a gift! Thank you so much for the recipe and the great description. This looks absolutely fantastic!
Ha! This one was definitely inspired by the flavors in the Thai salad I linked to above so I owe Kristin a lot of the credit! 🙂 I also feel like marinades are a lot more forgiving than certain recipes (baking, especially) so that helps a ton! Hope you enjoy the chicken thighs if you give them a try!!
As an advocate for Thai food, I fully approve this recipe!
This sounds amazing! I love this flavor combo.
This recipe sounds so yummy. I’m team cilantro too!! Also anything with soy sauce and peanut butter is so delicious. I will have to add this to my meal prep for next week maybe.
Hey Julie,
Looks delicious! Do you pour the extra marinade into the baking dish? Thanks!
This looks so good!
Apparently I need to look into more Thai foods recipes. I wasn’t sure how I felt about this. I’ve honestly never seen a peanut and chicken combo before. I gotta step my recipe game up and try this out
Hi I tried this and I inadvertently bought breasts so did it with that. I think I made a mistake and didn’t put any of the marinade in the baking dish. I noticed that someone else posted a question about whether you put it in. I found that without adding any to the baking pan, I could barely taste the marinade on the chicken when I was done. Any suggestions?
This was really good. We used breasts, I skipped the marinate-several-hours-ahead step because I didn’t read the directions until it was crunch time, and I threw the marinade in with the chicken to cook. It turned out delicious. We made brown rice, steamed carrots, and lemon garlic sautéed baby bok choy on the side. I may or may not have hid the leftovers so I could have them. 😉 Thanks!!
So easy and yummy, and bonus points, my two-year-old loved it! I threw everything into the instant pot instead of the oven and it worked perfectly.
Ohh! I will have to try making it in the Instant Pot! I’m so glad you liked it — thanks for trusting my recipes and taking the time to leave a review!
The marinade itself is so good but I couldn’t taste it on the chicken at all! Did I do something wrong?! So bummed