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I make this peanut sauce all the time! It is lick-the-bowl delicious, it can dress up any sad vegetables.
Anna Rae Goethe
I scream, you scream, we all scream for… easy delicious sauces for summer!
Let’s get real for a second. When it’s summer and you’re grilling more and going to the farmer’s market sometimes and getting gifted things from neighbors gardens or CSA boxes, sometimes “regular meal prep” doesn’t cut it. Sometimes what you really need is just a good sauce or two to get you through the week – be it for dipping, drizzling, salading, spreading, or dunking with all your freshly grilled, roasted, or chopped up summery stuff.
Enter: the very best peanut sauce!
This peanut sauce. Wow oh wow oh wow.
It * is * the * very * best. Did I already say that?
This peanut sauce has been around the block a few times here on Pinch of Yum – it started with these zoodles, re-purposed its way into these firecracker lettuce wraps, and resurfaced briefly for a dressing application in that quinoa crunch salad. My latest favorite is on these noodles with caramelized beef. Over the last few years it has become THE ESSENTIAL PEANUT SAUCE of this blog and/or my life.
What’s different about it from normal peanut sauce:
- It’s smooth and drizzle-able.
- No, but seriously. This is important. It’s NOT thick and gloppy. No peanut sauce glops allowed!
- It uses fresh garlic and ginger, yes, but most notably, it features a hefty pour of sesame oil! which makes the flavor, well, the very best.
Everybody goes in:
And the very best peanut sauce comes out:
Ways I love to use this sauce:
- Noodle bowls
- Rice Bowls
- Grilled Chicken
- Sauteed Tofu
- Salad Dressing
- Dipping Sauce
Just try throwing some in a skillet with some chicken or tofu for a little trick. The way it gets browned and crispy and beautiful (like what’s in the pictures here)?
YES. You are right to think that it’s life-changing.
Check Out Our Video For How To Make Peanut Sauce:
The Very Best Peanut Sauce
- Total Time: 5 mins
- Yield: 1 1/2 cups (6 servings – 1/4 cup each) 1x
Description
The Very Best Peanut Sauce! Smooth, drizzle-able, garlicky, and gingery with a good spicy sesame kick. Perfect for noodles, salads, protein, or as a dipping sauce!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil (toasted or dark)
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons sambal oelek or chili paste (this is where the “spicy” comes in, so add to taste)
- 2–3 tablespoons sugar, honey, or agave
- a small knob of fresh ginger, peeled
- a clove of fresh garlic, peeled
- 1/4 cup of water
Instructions
- Blend all the sauce ingredients together in a small blender or food processor until smooth and creamy.
- Find everything in your house that can be dunked in this ridiculously good sauce and then get to work.
Notes
VEGAN: No adaptations needed.
GLUTEN FREE: Use tamari or coconut aminos in place of soy sauce.
SUB FOR PB: You can use almond butter! It’s delicious.
FREEZABLE: Yes!
KEEPS IN THE FRIDGE: About 1 week.
CAN I SKIP THE SUGAR: Sure. I prefer it with sugar but you can skip it.
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Category: Sauce
- Method: Blend
- Cuisine: Thai-Inspired
Keywords: peanut sauce, thai peanut sauce, easy peanut sauce
Drizzle This Peanut Sauce On:
Spicy Sesame Zoodles
Firecracker Vegan Lettuce Wraps
Quinoa Crunch Salad
Crispy Tofu
Thai Summer Rolls
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our Sauces That Make Everything Better roundup. Check it out!
Fantastic peanut sauce! It had such beautiful layers of flavor. And so easy to make! This will be on repeat.
Another winner. I did a hybrid – used the packaged satay sauce (not trader joe’s, another one) for the marinade and cooking and made the recommended peanut sauce for drizzling. My kids didn’t love the tiny vermicelli; so I would do this with a fatter rice noodle next time, but otherwise, excellent!
I’m someone who has to have sauce on everything. My latest crush is this sauce on your Ridiculously good Air Fryer Chicken Breasts, what a combo! It has become a favorite lunch and/or dinner. Keep wanting to try on noodles so that will be next. Definitely the Very Best.
For anyone stumbling across this, make sure to use low sodium soy sauce or just use a TON less. I thought I’d be fine with “light” soy sauce but I found this to be extremely salty!
Hi Lindsay, your recipe looks like a nice sauce to add to my leftover turkey and mashed potatoes. I remember this taste over my Thai dinner in Orlando, Florida. I am making it tonight for company! Cudos to Pinch of Yum.
Wish I could have seen the video. Saw SEVEN ADS instead.
My go-to sauce for veggies – especially simple shredded cabbage.
Are you kidding me?? Soooo yum!
I wanted stir-fry like I had made last week, Thai House brand rice noodles, recipe on back. I started making the stir-fry, forgetting I didn’t have any sauce. I found this sauce. As I was cooking my version of stir-fry, 2 scrambled egg, (set aside til later) half of small head of cabbage, sliced thin. Medium carrot 2 inch long thin sticks. Half small yellow onion, sliced thin. Half bag frozen shelled Edamame. Leftover, from last week, half can bean sprouts, half can water chestnuts quartered. Cook in order of listing, Tbsp oil to start with cabbage, then follow with rest of ingredients. The way the sauce (your sauce) ended up being made was just tossing everything, in your recipe, with my stir-fry and mixing together. EXCEPT! I used powdered ginger and powdered garlic and powdered cayenne, I would guess a tsp of each, maybe tsp and 1/2. I was just winging it on measuring. And doubled the peanut butter. I only had about a tsp of rice vinegar so I added white vinegar for the rest. It turned out pretty good. It’s a brown sticky looking mess. But, it’s still good. I hope this makes sense.
Love love love this recipe! So tasty!
Wow! I made this with what I had on hand: I omitted sugar/honey because I was using natural honey roasted peanut butter as a base. Also used a shortcut of “jarlic” and ginger paste. For heat I added red chili powder. It was dinner for one so I eyeballed the amounts for what would be good on a hefty bowl of spiral pasta. Outstanding! Thank you 🙂
Absolutely DELICIOUS and I’m a peanut sauce snob. 🙂
You are right! Best peanut sauce ever. I could this on an old she and be happy! Thank you
I have to agree with a lot of the reviewers that this is not a good sauce. It’s way too runny and way too oily. I taste WAY too much sesame oil. POY is usually a go-to but this is a big miss. Unfortunately a lot of the highly rated reviews are simply “can’t wait to try it” reviews and the honest reviews are buried like I’m sure this one will be
We appreciate the feedback, Ana! Thanks for the comment.
Made this sauce & it’s every bit as good as Lindsey says it 8s. I’ve used it on meat, veggies, pasta & rice. The fact yhat it freezes is just icing on the cake for me! Will definitely be making a part of my meals from here on out!
What exactly is a “small knob of ginger” equivalent to? I’m a newbie and don’t want to fuss with ginger root, so I use minced ginger in a jar. How much of it should I use to equal “a small knob”? 1 teaspoon?
1 teaspoon of minced ginger will work!
I really enjoyed this peanut sauce. I made it to go with shrimp spring rolls. The only issue is that it was too salty. Any suggestions on what to change to decrease the amount of salt? I did use low sodium soy sauce.
Yummy! Needed something flavorful while on a soft diet after dental surgery. Easy to put this together, substituted small amount of yellow bell pepper & smoked paprika for chili sauce (spicy taboo) and poured over some green veggies noodles. That you from someone tired of applesauce and mashed potatoes!
Yo bro so like, this so delicous, warm peanut butter in my mouth yo, like this so tuff yea
Actually is one of the best peanut sauce recipes we’ve had so far! I substituted the chili paste for sriracha and also added juice from half a lime. It’s addicting!
I chose to reduce soy sauce to 1/4 cup, but to each their own. Very good and I liked that it was thin
I love your peanut sauce! When I put your yummy ingredients together and concocted the magic sauce, with one taste I thought I’d never have to go to a Thai restaurant again! The peanut sauce is so satisfying for spice, sweet, and ginger, smooth peanut butter taste and texture. I shared the zoodles recipe with my sister in law on a camping trip! And we were spiraling zucchini and having a tasty satisfying healthy salad amid all the camp food! I made the peanut sauce at home and kept it cold while camping. It’s great with carrot sticks and for dressing cabbage salads. Thank you thank you for these wondrously delicious and satisfying recipes!
I’ve made a few different peanut sauce recipes and this is the one I keep coming back to!!
This was soooo good! I admit I made a few adjustments based on what I had and a whim, but there is no denying this recipe as it stands is really good! My hubby asked me to double this so that he can have the extra sauce to use on other things!!!
I made this, I came up with a combination that just works for me, basically more garlic.
Then, I made another batch adding cocoa, cinnamon, and nutmeg. I’m not sure that’s a keeper, I’ll let it age a bit.