Easy Peanut Sauce Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is Chinese peanut sauce made of? ›

This sauce is made using peanut butter, sauces like hot sauce, vinegar and soy sauce (tamari for gluten-free), garlic and seasoning. It can be seasoned as you like.

Because hoisin sauce has many of the same ingredients I would use in a more involved peanut sauce, it works great here. Hoisin has hints of soy sauce, garlic, ginger, vinegar, and Chile peppers. Some version even have a peanut-esque taste to it, so it's the perfect way to shorten the ingredient list in a peanut sauce.

If the oil is separating from the sauce a bit (this can happen from the oil in the coconut milk and the peanut butter, but it's easy to fix!), add water a few drops at a time and whisk until it comes smoothly back together.

Although commonly associated with Thai cuisine, peanut sauce actually originated in Indonesia (source). What Americans know as peanut sauce is more commonly referred to as satay sauce (or bumbu kacang) in Indonesia, because it's most often served with the popular Indonesian dish, satay (skewered, grilled meats).

Also just called peanut sauce or satay sauce, this dipping sauce is a flavorful part of Southeast Asian cuisine, especially Indonesian cuisine, where it's called bumbu kacang or sambal kacang.

Broccoli: Thai peanut sauce can add spice to your favorite green vegetable, and broccoli could always use a bit of flavor. If you're a bigger fan of cauliflower, either veggie will taste just as good. Cucumbers: Slice a cucumber into spears or chips, and you'll have an excellent dipping vegetable for peanut sauce.

While most peanut sauces do contain nutrient-packed ingredients, they're also high in calories and fat, making them healthy choices -- but only in moderation. There are certainly more nutritious and lower-calorie alternatives to peanut sauce, but if you stick to small servings, the sauce won't harm any diet plans.

Sauces can break for any number of reasons including cooking at high heat, adding too much liquid to a hot pan, or even just waiting too long for everything to combine appropriately.

If your peanut butter is particularly thick, you may need to use the full 4 tablespoons of water to thin out the mixture (or more, if necessary). Feel free to adjust to taste here—for example, sometimes I want my sauce more savory and add another clove of garlic, or a little sweeter, so I add extra honey.

How to make peanut sauce less thick? ›

Adjust the thickness by adding water to thin the sauce out (a little vinegar helps too), heat the sauce longer if you're looking to cook off some of the liquid.

It's salty, sweet, acidic and bold — a sauce like no other. For the uninitiated, Asian peanut sauce is a puree of peanuts, soy sauce, ginger, sesame, spices and often garlic, lemongrass and lime.

It has an amazing creamy texture, with a nutty, bright, and spicy flavor from peanut butter, lime, and sriracha.

Peanut sauce can be a healthy addition to any diet. Since it is made from peanut butter, it naturally has some protein. Look for ones with not a lot of sodium or added sugar. Better yet, when making it at home, you have full control over the quality of the ingredients.