The simulated annealing algorithm for phase retrieval has been applied in image reconstruction from low-light level stellar speckle interferometry (SSI) data. A realistic computer simulation of photon-limited SSI has been performed, successfully obtaining a reconstructed image. The algorithm has been shown to be robust and able to give good reconstructions of complex astronomical objects with high dynamic range, even in the presence of large amounts of photon noise. Its performance seems so far limited by its considerable computing time requirements.