A sweet and savory sauce similar to those served in restaurants can be made with this Thai peanut dressing recipe. Use it as a salad dressing or serve it as a dip with fresh Thai or Vietnamese spring rolls. It’s simple to prepare, and I typically have all the ingredients on hand.
| Prep Time: | 5 mins |
| Cook Time: | 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 15 mins |
| Servings: | 20 |
| Yield: | 2 1/2 cups |
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- ½ cup cold water
- 1 cup warm water
- ½ cup smooth peanut butter
- ¼ cup low-sodium soy sauce
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- ¼ cup chopped peanuts (Optional)
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint leaves (Optional)
Instructions
- Dissolve cornstarch in cold water.
- Whisk warm water, peanut butter, soy sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, and sesame oil together in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, then cook, whisking constantly, until sugar has dissolved, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the cornstarch mixture and simmer until thick, 1 to 2 minutes.
- Spoon sauce into a serving bowl and garnish with peanuts and mint. Serve warm.
Reviews
Delicious! This is a winner for all of my picky eaters! * I did add one tablespoon of honey for a little extra sweetness for my family.
This is a dip, not a dressing. The corn starch makes it gelatinous. I made as recipe stated and it tasted like watered down peanut butter. There was also not really any other flavor to spice it up to make it taste “Thai”. Disappointed- but will use it for my grand babies for their veggie sticks it was so bland. I just don’t understand the other five star reviews?
I cannot recommend this dressing for a salad. I made it exactly according to the recipe. This sauce has only 3 flavor notes – 1. salty from the excessive soy sauce. The soy sauce completely is overwhelming. 2. The peanut flavor would do if there were other flavors intermingled, but it is excessive too. 3. Sweetness from the sugar is cloying. this dressing needs other flavors such as lime, a hint of heat, some fresh ginger, and maybe garnished chopped cilantro. Mainly it needs the soy sauce, peanut butter and sugar dialed way down.
Best recipe!! Didn’t change a thing, next day my husband was asking for more !!!!!
I used Skippy natural peanut butter, added a tablespoon of sambal olek and a tablespoon of fresh grated ginger, and left out the cornstarch + water step.
Perfect balance and texture. This will be the first time that I will finalize a recipe here without any modifications. Thai cuisine has many choices with zip, bang, and zing. This sauce is the perfect counterpoint for those dishes.
Easy and delicious!
This was so, so good. I made it last night intending to use it on a salad. We changed plans so I put it in the fridge. Took it out tonight, warmed it up and put it on a salad made with a bed of mixed greens and beet greens, sliced cherry tomatoes, thinly sliced red onion, sliced red cabbage, quinoa on top of that and cooked chicken cubes on top of that. After the sauce was dolloped on top, we sprinkled on slightly crushed raw peanuts. The sauce made the meal ~ really amazing! My 16 yr old and husband loved it too.
This dressing was better than expected and really is like restaurant Thai peanut sauce. Before simmering the sauce, I was worried since it seemed very watery and separated. However the sauce will certainly thicken if you get the sauce to a boil, and the water cornstarch mixture is unnecessary. I also added about a teaspoon of ginger paste.
It was ok. I used it as a dressing on broccoli slaw with leftover chicken breast. Next time, I’ll try to spice up with a bit of Thai chili paste.
I left out the corn starch, cooked it a few minutes longer and then had to add water as it was too thick. Once adjusted the flavor was perfect . I used some of it on a salad and the next day on chicken, veggie wraps. A great basic receipt.
Quick and easy. Had all the ingredients on hand. Followed recipe exactly. Used as salad dressing, and was a little thin, but good. Allowed left overs to simmer and thickened nicely, but seemed to change the flavor a bit.
Easy, quick and tasty!
Made as directed but only put one teaspoon of the sesame oil since it has a strong flavor and I was making this for my kids who are leary of trying new foods. It turned out good and mild (I think I would have liked that other teaspoon of sesame oil though). It wasn’t really a hit with my dauhters but my husband and I liked it which makes it a keeper. Will make again for sure.
Very good sauce, i substituted a can of coconut milk for the water, turned out very good, i will make this again…
Due to all the rave reviews, I thought this would be really good. I made it as stated. It was just okay, didn’t really care for it. I was looking for a recipe similar to one that I eat at my local Thai restaurant.
This is our favorite Thai dressing.
Awesome! Made as a dip for salad rolls and it was perfect!
love this stuff! ready to make and it’s great with an Asian inspired salad, a dip for pork or chicken, veggies… sooo good!
Far too sweet for our taste, but overall, okay. Thanks for sharing.
At the end it was to think and I even added more water ant it still was to think. I also don’t know how I supposed to use it as a salad dressing because I made somethig alse a ground Thai turkey and I put some lettuce and combined everything togheter. I was not impressed at all especially the Thai turkey and the dressing by itself I don’t like si I don’t really know with what to eat it to taste good.