You'll love how this Spicy Thai-inspired Peanut Sauce hits your tastebuds in a whirlwind of flavours. First a salty, peanut-y bomb explodes, swiftly followed by a funky hit of black bean, then the kick of red curry, mellowed with a hint of orange (or if you prefer, the more traditional tang of lime).
You'll find so many uses for this spicy peanut sauce. Try it as a dipping sauce or a dressing, drizzle it over veggies, swirl it into thick noodles, or combine it with cooked spinach for a ready-in-minutes riff on "swimming rama."
You can make this peanut sauce in minutes, no cooking required, in one bowl with a fork. Granted, if you want it extra creamy, a blender works very well too.
Ingredients
Traditional Thai food contains a balance of sweet, salty, sour, spicy, and creamy. I kept this balance in this bold plant-based version of a Thai Peanut Sauce. It uses:
Visual Overview: Making Spicy Thai-Inspired Peanut Sauce
If you want the sauce to be extra creamy, use a blender.
Add ingredients together and blend or stir until well combined.
Making Spicy Thai-Inspired Peanut Sauce
Spicy Thai-Inspired Peanut Sauce
Taste and adjust ingredients. If it needs salt, add more soy sauce. To add more funky, unami flavour, add a pinch more black bean sauce. For sweetness add more sugar or orange juice. (If you're using lime juice and want it more tangy add more juice; to make it less tangy, try adding a bit more peanut butter and coconut water.)
Serving suggestions
Use this peanut sauce as a dressing or dip for your favourite vegetables - it would work well with raw carrots; raw, boiled or roasted broccoli; and with raw or cooked spinach and peppers. Use it as a dipping sauce for spring rolls or poured over a hearty bowl of brown rice and tofu, chicken, or other protein.
At my house, we eat this with roasted broccoli, peanuts, and brown rice - pictured below.
Serving suggestion
Another way we eat this is stirred up with rice and spinach, for an easy "swimming rama" style dish. We top it with crushed peanuts and slices of lime.
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Recipe Card
Spicy Thai-Inspired Peanut Sauce
Ingredients
- 3.5 to 7 ounces coconut water Use the lesser amount for a thicker sauce
- 1/2 cup natural peanut butter If using salted, add half the amount of soy sauce, taste and adjust as needed
- 4 tablespoons red curry paste Or use the amount the label on your curry package indicates
- 1-2 tablespoons coconut sugar Or substitute with other sugar of choice
- 2-4 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2-4 tablespoons orange juice Alternatively, use lime juice if you want a tangier sauce.
- 1 teaspoon black bean sauce
Instructions
- Start with the lesser amounts of each of the ingredients. Add them to a blender and blend until smooth. Alternatively add to a bowl and stir with a fork until blended.
- Taste and adjust seasoning. If it needs more salt, add more soy sauce. If it needs more sweetness, add more sugar or orange juice. If it needs more funky, unami flavour add a bit more black bean sauce. If you used lime instead of orange juice, and it's too tangy, add more peanut butter and coconut water.