Thai Chicken Sliders with a Coconut Peanut Sauce and a Coconut Lime Slaw

Summers are for sandwiches. When I say sandwiches I mean anything you can stick between two pieces of bread – burgers, sliders, regular sandwiches, paninis – whatever the mood calls for. Last summer it called for these delicious Thai Chicken sliders more than once. I enjoy them so much that I may have made them a few times over the fall and winter as well – just to ‘test’ the recipe you know. Now it is with great excitement that I bring to you these flavorful Thai Chicken Sliders with a Coconut Peanut Sauce and a Coconut Lime Slaw. I simply adore the contrast between the flavorful mildly spicy coconutty chicken, the rich creamy peanut sauce and the bright fresh slaw. I enjoy it so much that if I don’t have any appropriate bread handy then I am happy to turn it into a big salad. And let’s be real – I am not one of those people who usually likes to eat salad for lunch and not feel like she’s been cheated.

The original recipe is from Olga at Ocean View Kitchen. She is an incredible food photographer and if this recipe is anything to go by then she is a helluva chef too! I made the recipe as written the first time and it was very good. In fact the marinade was so good that I felt that it was a crying shame to ‘waste’ it and transformed it by turning it into a coconut peanut sauce to top the sandwich. I also like to serve any extra on the side for dunking veggies in. If I were a more organized cook then I would be able to plan food so that extras of ingredients never go to waste. Since I am not I tweaked the recipe to make it work with just one can of coconut milk. Over time I have also stopped making my own slaw and buy the Asian style coleslaw from the store instead, frequently supplementing with the veggies in my fridge. Red peppers, shaved carrots, diced cilantro, sliced onions (white), julienned deseeded chillies, scallions (green onions) all have made an appearance in this slaw. Oh, and just in case you were wondering, the day I took these photos I, by some miracle, actually had red cabbage leftover from another recipe so I went ahead and used that.

Sambal Oelek  - that great hot sauce love of mine – makes an appearance in the sauce here, but you could just as easily substitute it with jalapenos, sriracha, or any other Asian style hot sauce. I would walk away from the Franks here if I were you. I really do dig Frank’s, but here it simply doesn’t work.

KID FRIENDLY NOTE: I have recently discovered that my kids will devour this chicken if I omit the hot sauce entirely and just increase the ginger for extra flavor! The leftover chicken is also great with veggies for school lunches!

Since I don’t have a grill I usually cook the chicken over the stovetop being careful to sear it so I get that delicious charred crust. If you have a grill then I imagine cooking this becomes even easier.

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5 from 7 votes

Thai Chicken Sliders with a Coconut Peanut Sauce and a Coconut Lime Slaw

A moist juicy thai inspired flavorful chicken sandwich

Servings: 4

Author: Sarah Mir

Ingredients

• 1 pound chicken

Marinade

• 1 cup coconut milk
• 3 tbsp soy sauce ¼ cup if you are using jalapenos instead of hot sauce
• ½ tsp ground turmeric
• 2 ½ tbsp sambal oelek/sriracha OR use 2 garlic cloves + 1 jalapeno
• 1 tbsp fresh ginger
• juice and zest of a lime
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• a pinch of pepper

Sauce

• 2 tbsp peanut butter
• juice of half a lime
• ¼ cup coconut milk

Slaw

• 3 cups store bought slaw
• additional veggies: green onions carrots, bell peppers, a little cilantro, chillies, etc
• ¼ cup coconut coconut milk
• juice of a lime
• salt

Instructions

Marinade

• • Blitz the marinade ingredients
• • Pour over chicken pieces
• • Let sit overnight or at least for a few hours.
• • Remove the chicken from the marinade with a slotted spoon, taking care to ensure that all the ‘extra’ marinade goes back in to the bowl with the rest of the chicken and marinade.
• • Sear on each side i.e. cook for 2 minutes on high heat, flip over cook another 2 minutes and then cook on low till done. I usually cook my chicken in batches to avoid overcrowding the pan. If you have a grill then grill for a few minutes on each side.

Sauce

• • Put all the cooked chicken aside, wipe the pan and then pour the marinade in.
• • Whisk in the peanut butter and bring it to a boil cooking it for 1-2 minutes – this will kill all the bacteria from the raw chicken. Add the coconut milk, stir.
• • Add in a squeeze of lime juice and adjust seasoning to taste. You can add more hot sauce if you want

For the slaw

• • Whisk the coconut milk, lime juice and salt in a bowl. Add your slaw, and whatever veggies you have on hand. Toss with the coconut milk, lime juice. Taste, adjust seasoning.

To Assemble

• • Pile your chicken onto the bottom part of the bun, generously drizzle with the coconut peanut sauce, and top with the slaw. If you have a hot sauce fiend in the house then you can always spread sambal oelek/sriracha on the top half of the bun. Serve with extra peanut coconut sauce on the side for dunking.

Notes

If you have a grill and want to serve this to a crowd while the chicken is hot then here is what you do. Drain the marinade from the chicken into a small pot and finish the sauce as directed, warm before serving. Set your chicken pieces aside for cooking later. Make the slaw and keep it in the fridge. Since slaw is hardy doing it a little before time is totally ok.

Adapted from Ocean View Kitchen