Coconut milk makes a fantastic marinade, tenderising and infusing the chicken with rich flavour. The added bonus is that the marinade makes a fabulous sauce! Try grilling this Coconut Marinated Chicken – or cook it on the stove, your choice!
This is based on a recipe by Bobby Flay, one of my grilling idols. His shows started airing in Australia a few years ago and I was hooked.
Though I have to say…gosh, this could get me in trouble…Does anyone else think he really should consider wearing sunglasses? Because he always seems to be squinting!! 😉
I think he is incredibly talented at bringing together unique flavours with familiar ingredients. I have a killer of a 3 ingredient glazed pork chop recipe of his that I regularly use which I plan to share soon.
But as for this coconut marinated chicken – I am not actually sure whether he had it on his show. I got it from his book, Bobby Flay’s Barbecue Addiction. He makes this with pork tenderloin and has a relish to accompany it. I tried it with pork tenderloin but found that it was difficult to cook to make it moist and tender on the grill.
But the flavour was so awesome that I decided to give it a go with chicken – and scored! It’s sensational!
I like to make a coconut based sauce to serve with the chicken, just to really drive home the coconut flavour. It’s made using the excess marinade – but don’t worry, it’s simmered rapidly to make it safe for consumption.
The chicken is sensational as it is, but honestly, the sauce “makes” this. I do hope you consider giving this a go! – Nagi x
If you love coconut milk sauces, you’ll love these!
-
An amazing easy Thai Coconut Noodle Soup
And more of my favourite Asian Chicken recipes
All these are ideal for grilling but can also be cooked on the stove
-
Yakitori Chicken – Japanese chicken skewers on my mother’s Japanese recipe website, RecipeTin Japan
-
Thai Grilled Chicken (Gai Yang) – marinated in a fragrant Thai marinade
-
Vietnamese Lemongrass Chicken – infused with beautiful Vietnamese lemongrass flavours
-
Asian Chicken – marinated in a great Asian marinade that’s sweet sand savoury
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Coconut Marinated Chicken (Grill or Stove)
Ingredients
Marinade
- 1 can coconut milk (preferably full fat, but light is ok) (14oz/400g)
- 2 limes - all the zest + 3 tbsp of juice
- 1 tbsp mild curry powder
- 2 tsp paprika
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger , finely grated
- 3 garlic cloves , crushed
- 2 tbsp Frank's classic hot sauce , or other hot sauce of choice (adjust to taste) (Note 2)
- 3/4 tsp salt
- Black pepper
Chicken
- 1.5 lb / 750g chicken thigh fillets , skinless and boneless
- 1 tbsp oil (for cooking)
- 3/4 cup water
Garnish (optional)
- Fresh coriander leaves
Instructions
- Combine the Marinade ingredients in a ziplock bag. Add the chicken and set aside to marinate for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight.
- Remove the chicken from the Marinade, shaking off the excess. Keep the Marinade for the Sauce (below).
- Brush the BBQ with oil and heat to medium high, or heat the oil in a skillet over medium high heat.
- Cook the chicken for around 7 minutes on the first side and 5 minutes on the second side, or until cooked through.
- Transfer the chicken to a plate, cover loosely with foil and rest for 5 minutes.
- Serve with Sauce and garnished with fresh cilantro leaves, if using.
Sauce
- Pour the marinade into a small saucepan over medium heat.
- Add the water and bring to a simmer. Cook for at least 10 minutes, or until thickened to desired consistency. (Note 1) Transfer to a sauce bowl.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Can I use boneless skinless chicken breasts?
Easy and flavour packed. For the people saying their sauce didn’t thicken I recommend using a larger saucepan than you might think to get max surface area. I didn’t need to add cornflour to get a nice consistency on the sauce.
Absolutely delicious, tastes like Chinese Satay chicken. Sauce didn’t thicken enough after 10 mins, so i did a Cornflour slurry and that Thickened it up straight away pretty much. So stirred it for 5 mins and it was a nice thick sauce. Seriously loved this dish. Thanks Nagi
Very flavoursome, and perfectly tender chicken! Was worried it might all end up too hot with the 2 tbsp of Franks Hot Sauce in there but it was just right. My sauce did not reduce/thicken sufficiently in >1o minutes, so I added a few tsp of cornflour slurry – it was then perfect! I cooked the chicken thighs on the induction stovetop in a cast iron ridged pan to give some great charred bits! Served with your baked coconut jasmine rice (with Makrut leaves rather than Pandam) and a leafy salad with ginger sesame vinaigrette. Would be perfect accompanied by the smashed cucumber salad too!
Love following your recipes…….. about to cook the cocoanut milk marinated chicken……….. with rice
Wowsers! Just made this for dinner on our new BBQ. What a flavour explosion! The little charred bits on the edges with the sauce were so good! Such an easy recipe and would be good for cooking for lots of people. Thank you!
How would I save this recipe?? So I pretty much doubled everything, however my Coconut milk from costco tasted very water down, but I tried to use it anyways. I made the marinade and all I really taste is tang/acid from the lime and franks hot sauce. I’m not sure what to do, I added some fish sauce and that made it better and less tangy tasting, but still tastes sort of like a vinaigrette.
Just btw- you said to keep the remaining sauce to use for later.. after it was already with raw chicken 😳
The marinade is perfectly safe to eat as long as you follow the instructions in the recipe and cook it for 10 minutes as directed. N x
Yup totally awesome as always! The sauce makes it, 10 mins or more on the boil kills any raw chicken nasties. I haven’t had one of your recipes go wrong and I’ve done about 30 so far 👍
Looking forward to trying this. Can you please let me know if it can be frozen at the marinading stage? Thanks
Sorry I froze it after it was cooked, not at the marinating stage.
I wouldn’t suggest freezing it, sorry. Coconut milk splits when frozen. N x
I’m a freezer, especially for easy mid week meals, I froze it no problems reheated beautifully have a go
So yummy! I took a pic to post here but don’t see any where to upload it! This is the third time I have made this and it never disappoints! Thank you!
Nagi!!!! I love you! Thanks for sharing this amazing recipe, I have made it 4 times now, and will be making it again later this week. It’s now a staple receipe in my kitchen for chicken wings. I followed the recipe exactly with the exception of grilling. I broiled in the oven instead, because it’s cold outside lol. It turned out so well, and taste even better after a couple of days. I don’t use Instagram, I would have shared a pix with you. Thanks so much.
Hi Nagi! Thanks for sharing this fabulous recipe. The grilled chicken turn out so juicy and tender. They are the best and so easy to cook. Definitely will make them again next time!
This is a fantastic marinade with
rich flavor and great taste.
After ten minutes the sauce was
still a little thin, so I added some
cornstarch and it turned out perfect. The Franks Hot Sauce
made my day. What a great idea. Nagi your a genius
Sounds perfect Ron!!
Hi Nagi – I read in one of your other posts for Vietnamese lemongrass chicken that I can freeze the chicken with the marinade (which worked out really well, btw). Could I do that with this recipe?
Hi Nagi, I made this and it turned out wonderfully, just as all of your recipes do. Just one thing with this recipe, when I combined the marinade ingredients, it seemed like the coconut milk curdled. Although it tasted perfect, I was wondering if you have seen this before.
Hi Mel, can I ask what type of coconut milk you were using? – N x
Has anyone tried this using Thai red or green curry paste?
This was delicious for my Easter BBQ. Thanks Nagi your recipes are my go to now 😊
I don’t have a grill so i just made it on the stove, but it sure tastes amazing! I used a non stick frying pan to cook it and it took me 10-15 minutes. Also think serving this with lime juice would add a bit more flavor. Nevertheless, another tasty and simple recipe.
Love hearing that Karin! So pleased you enjoyed this so much! N xx
Wow! This recipe is amazing! I made the marinade exactly as the recipe calls for and it was insanely delicious!! I used chicken drumsticks (I read a note on another one of your coconut chicken recipes regarding using drumsticks instead of thighs and I followed the cooking instructions which were perfect) and marinated them for 24 hours. They were so tender and flavorful through and through! I also used your recommendation on the leftover marinade; added water and boiled it down for a solid 20 mins or so. It thickened up and was delicious poured over the coconut rice I served it with. I have shared the recipe with all my colleagues and they are very excited to try it!
This recipe will definitely be added to my regular roster. Thank you! 🙂
That’s so great to hear Romina! So glad you enjoyed it! N x ❤️
NAGI, first off love all your recipes… but I can’t for the life of me figure out how to leave a comment.. so i’m replying to yours but its unrelated – lol . i was wondering… so i made this marinade yesterday and chicken breasts have been in it over night.. could i not throw all of this into a crock pot today and have it like a curry over rice? is it safe to do that if the chicken has been marinading in it all night?? i just feel like this marinade is similar to a curry sauce recipe to me. please let me know your thoughts!
Hi Julie! I haven’t tried that but would be interested to hear what you think! N xx
Yes. It was still very thin and it didn’t taste as you and all your commenters described. Just trying to figure out what I did wrong. The chicken, however, was great. I also made a killer basmati rice, cooked with a bit of onion, cinnamon stick, cumin seeds, cardomom pods and whole cloves to go with it, along with your salad of cukes, onions and tomatoes. Loved everything except that sauce. Regardless, thanks for a great recipe! I’m sure I’ll try it again and, hopefully, get that sauce right.
I made this as the recipe as described and the chicken was delicious, especially grilled. Leftovers tasted even better. The sauce was way too thin after adding 3/4 cup of water then it separated. Perhaps due to over cooking it?
Hi Marie! The sauce should thicken back down after simmering for 10 minutes, did you do that part? 🙂 N x
Hi Nagi, I think I mistakenly cooked it longer than 10 minutes. (Multitasking is difficult for me these days. 🙂 There was a layer of the coconut fat on top. Not supposed to be like that, right?
?? You mean the sauce?? Did you try whisking it back in to incorporate??