This Spicy Peanut Sauce is packed full of flavor! Made with just 8 simple ingredients, it's perfect for using as a dipping sauce, salad dressing, or on warm pasta. No cooking needed - whip up this sauce in under 10 minutes!
Jump to:
Why You'll Love This Spicy Peanut Sauce
- Easy to make! You can make this spicy peanut sauce in under 10 minutes with minimal prep work and no cooking time!
- Customizable! Adjust the level of spice in this sauce by using more or less sriracha, depending on your personal taste.
- So much flavor! This delicious sauce adds tons of flavor to boring chicken breasts, dry salads, or bland pasta dishes with very little effort.
Ingredients
A few notes about the ingredients:
- Peanut Butter: The base of the sauce. Use natural peanut butter for best results! (The only ingredient in the peanut butter should be peanuts or peanuts and salt.) This type of peanut butter ensures the sauce is a runnier consistency, which is best for dipping chicken, coating pasta salads, or as a salad dressing.
- Soy Sauce: I recommend low sodium soy sauce so you can control the salt levels.
- Brown Sugar: I like to use light brown sugar but dark brown sugar can work as well!
- Sriracha: This ingredient is what makes the sauce spicy. Add as little or as much as you'd like!
⭐️ See recipe card below for descriptions and quantities of each ingredient!
Instructions
- Step 1: In a small bowl, add all ingredients. Whisk to combine.
⭐️ Tip: Store unopened natural peanut butter upside down in your pantry until you're ready to open it. Once ready to open, turn it right-side up for 5 minutes to redistribute the oils. This will make stirring the separated oil into the peanut butter much easier!
Store stirred peanut butter in the refrigerator after opening to prevent further separation.
Substitutions and Alterations
- Natural Peanut Butter - I recommend natural peanut butter for best results. However, if you only have JIF or Skippy on hand, you can try adding additional water to thin out the sauce instead.
- Light Brown Sugar - Feel free to use pure maple syrup or honey instead of brown sugar.
- Lime Juice - Unseasoned rice vinegar would also work well instead of lime juice.
- Sriracha - Chili oil, hot sauce, or sweet chili sauce would all work too. Adjust the level of spiciness by adding as much or as little as you see fit.
How to Store Spicy Peanut Sauce
To store: Store spicy peanut sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 5 days.
To freeze: Freezing is not recommended.
To reheat: This sauce is great served cold, at room temperature, or can be reheated by adding to warm pasta or microwaved in 30 second intervals until warmed through, stirring in between each interval.
Top tip!
Natural peanut butter is best for this recipe since it's typically a much thinner consistency. The ingredients listed on natural peanut butter should only read "peanuts" or "peanuts, salt."
Stir in any oil residing at the top of the peanut butter until smooth before measuring ½ a cup.
Recipe FAQs
To make this peanut sauce gluten free, substitute the soy sauce for gluten free soy sauce or tamari.
Yes! This spicy peanut sauce is naturally dairy free.
Satay sauce is commonly made with coconut milk as an added ingredient and served primarily for dipping chicken satay.
On the other hand, peanut sauce can be used for many different applications, like dipping sauces and dressings, and may or may not contain coconut milk.
Related Recipes
Looking for other sauce recipes? Try these:
Share your cooking with me! If you make this recipe, I'd love to know. Leave a comment with a rating at the bottom of this page!
Spicy Peanut Sauce
Equipment
Ingredients
- ½ cup creamy natural peanut butter
- 3 tablespoons water
- 2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
- Juice from ½ a lime or 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
- 1 to 3 tablespoons sriracha optional, depending on spice preference
Instructions
- In a small bowl, add sauce ingredients. Whisk to combine.
Notes
- For a thinner sauce, add a small amount of additional water.
- I highly recommend using natural peanut butter for this recipe. It will provide the best flavor and consistency for the sauce.
Nutrition
Want more recipes like this delivered right to your inbox? Be sure to subscribe above and never miss a thing!
Comments
No Comments