Thai Peanut Sauce
This Thai Peanut Sauce Recipe is incredibly versatile and can be used as a dip, a dressing, a marinade or a sauce! I love using it in so many ways, and it only takes 5 minutes to make!
I love a great peanut sauce. I’m talking, absolutely head over heels for one, and this my friends is a great peanut sauce. I’ve used it with Fresh Spring Rolls, an Asian Noodle Salad, my Tempeh Stir Fry and even with a Cashew Thai Quinoa Salad. It’s creamy, umami-packed, salty and high in protein and fat. Hello, flavour town. After realising that I was using it all the time and the feedback that it’s gotten, I decided that it needed its own blog post!
What is Thai Peanut sauce made of?
Thai Peanut Sauce is made up of peanut butter, soy sauce, ginger, a sweetener (I used maple syrup), rice wine vinegar, sesame seeds, a spice and water. In some more traditional versions, coconut milk is used instead of water, but I find this combination to be perfect. If you’re new to using peanut butter in dressings, you’re about to be blown away. Peanut butter brings all the ingredients together for a sweet spicy and salty sauce that works perfectly on salads, tofu, tempeh, noodles, as a dip for veggies and so much more.
How to make peanut sauce
Making the sauce is so easy. Blend all the ingredients together, and that’s it! You can mix them by hand with a whisk, in a jar with a lid, or in a food processor or blender. I’ve done all three and it’s really up to your preference. By hand will be the most natural consistency, and by blender will be the smoothest and creamiest.
What to eat with peanut sauce
Tips for making the peanut sauce
- Start with smooth peanut butter instead of chunky. If your peanut butter is very thick, I would microwave it for about 15 seconds before starting so that it’s smooth enough to blend with all the other ingredients.
- Adjust the sauce for your taste. You can more it saltier, sweeter, spicier – it’s up to you!
- You can double this sauce if you desire! I recommend making it before you need it, but it stores in your fridge for up to a week.
Peanut substitute
Peanut substituteIf you’re allergic to peanuts, you could easily swap it out. Almonds, tahini, sunflower seed butter – they’ll all work as a great base.
Enjoy friends! If you make this Thai Peanut Sauce, please snap a photo and tag #jessicainthekitchen on Instagram! We’d also love it if you would leave a comment below, and give the recipe a rating! Thanks so much!
Thai Peanut Sauce
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup natural peanut butter, if your peanut butter is thick, microwave is for about 15 seconds first
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger, or 1/2 teaspoon freshly minced ginger
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame seeds
- 2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup hot water
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional
Instructions
- Whisk all the ingredients (minus 2 tablespoons of the hot water) together in a bowl, a jar with a lid (shake vigorously) or a small blender or food processor until smooth.
- Add the extra water a little at a time depending on whether you need this for a sauce, dip or a dressing to your desired consistency.
- This can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge, or used immediately!
Notes
Disclaimer: Although jessicainthekitchen.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, kindly note that these are only estimates. Nutritional information may be affected based on the product type, the brand that was purchased, and in other unforeseeable ways. Jessicainthekitchen.com will not be held liable for any loss or damage resulting for your reliance on nutritional information. If you need to follow a specific caloric regimen, please consult your doctor first.
my sauce is way too thick. any suggestions? more water?
Hi Katy,
You should add more hot water! The recipe suggests starting with 2 tablespoons so you don’t make it too thin at first, but you can follow the instructions to keep adding 1 tablespoon at a time of hot water to thin it out. Hope this helps and enjoy!
Excellent, easy recipe. I added coconut milk in place of the water which made the sauce very smooth and flavorful.
Sounds like a great addition Steve! Thank so much for reading.
Absolutely delicious! Didn’t have rice wine vinegar so I used 1 T mirin and omitted the syrup. Will make this again. Thanks for sharing your recipes!
Good enough to eat by itself with a spoon.
Excellent sauce – I also added a little coconut milk to thin it and it’s just lovely 🙂
Tried this tonight and it was fantastic. Ended up adding extra red pepper flakes to give it more kick, a dash of extra soy, a smidge of salt and pepper. This is a definite keeper! Used it on homemade tie chicken wraps. Will put it on pasta next time!
I have started using this as a veggie dip! So good! Thank you!
Wonderful! Used to grill asparagus and it was exactly what I was going for!
Nice recipe to tweak with your own preferences!
Thanks!
Needed more kick for my taste. I doubled the soy and rice vinegar and added sambal along with the red pepper flakes.
I made this, it was good but I added a bunch of curry powder, tumeric, garlic /chili , and a little basil to it. The sauce went from pretty good to perfect. I’ll use it for grilled chicken and probably later on to mix with noodles. I also added more peanut butter because the water made it runny.