The Best Thai Peanut Sauce

Is there anything better than a delicious peanut sauce for spring rolls at a Thai or Vietnamese restaurant?

How about being able to make your own peanut dipping sauce at home! This easy peanut sauce is both delicious and quick to put together. It’s the only Thai peanut sauce recipe you’ll ever need! 

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The Best Thai Peanut Sauce Recipe

When we were living back in Virginia, there was this Thai restaurant called Bangkok Bistro that brought out free salad with any entree.

That free salad had the most amazing Thai peanut sauce (and homemade wonton noodles, yum!!!) I’d ever tried. It was sweet but not too sweet. Thick but not too thick.

And it was perfect for dipping spring rolls, eating as a dressing on that salad (it’d be great on this chicken salad too!), and really with just about anything.

We came home and immediately tried to recreate the peanut sauce at home. We failed a few times but eventually got to this easy peanut sauce that’s just as delicious as that one at our favorite Thai restaurant!

The best thing about this peanut sauce is how versatile it is. Like that restaurant one, you can make it thick and have it as a sauce on pasta and veggies, make it regular thickness and use it as a dipping sauce for spring rolls, or thin it up a bit and use it as a dressing on an Asian salad.

All three ways are just as delicious.

I just made this again for my family for Memorial Day weekend (not quite the traditional red, white, and blue recipes) but it went perfectly with the homemade Vietnamese we had for lunch!

How to Make this Easy Peanut Sauce

Making this sauce is so easy. It takes a few more ingredients than the 3 or 4 ingredient peanut sauce recipes out there, but those additional ingredients is what gives it such a strong flavor.

Easy Peanut Sauce Ingredients

Here’s what you’ll need to make this Thai peanut sauce recipe. Make sure you have all of these things beforehand or you’ll miss out on the robustness of the flavor! Get the actual measurements and specifics for each of the ingredients at the bottom of this post!

• Creamy peanut butter
• Fish sauce (we love this brand)
• Soy sauce (coconut aminos would work as well)
• Lime juice
• Chicken/bone broth or water (chicken broth will have more flavor)
• Rice vinegar
• Sugar
• Garlic powder
• Ground ginger
• Fresh crushed peanuts (optional – for garnish)

Easy Thai Peanut Sauce Instructions

I don’t call this an easy Thai peanut sauce for nothing.

All you have to do to make this peanut sauce is combine all of the ingredients in a pot on the stove and cook. Okay, it’s a little more nuanced but really just about that simple.

1. Combine all ingredients with a whisk (I recommend this silicone one instead of using metal on metal!) in a medium sauce pot.
2. Put on the stove and cook on medium-heat until mixture begins to simmer.
3. Lower temperature and allow to simmer for 5-7 minutes or until you reach the desired thickness.

What Tastes Good with Peanut Sauce?

Ummm, everything. Literally everything tastes good with this peanut sauce. But if you really want a list, some of my favorite ways to use it are:

• Dressing on a salad, like this Chinese chicken salad
• As a spring roll dipping sauce
• With a Vietnamese noodle bowl
• Dipping sauce or drizzle for tempura veggies (or regular veggies if you want healthy snack ideas for work)
• As dressing on Thai lettuce wraps
• Drizzle for a breaded chicken like this almond chicken or these coconut chicken tenders
• Dipped into homemade wonton crisps
• With marinated chicken alongside this coconut jasmine rice

You can really can dip whatever you want in it. My brother actually pan-fried up some tofu this weekend and dipped it directly into the peanut sauce. I didn’t try it myself but he swore it was delicious and asked me for this Thai peanut sauce recipe to make at home!

Or use it for dessert as a topping for this cinnamon fried pineapple! YUM!

Easy Thai Peanut Sauce Tips

If you’re having issues making this easy peanut sauce, here are a few tips for troubleshooting those issues!

How Do You Thicken Peanut Sauce?

This recipe is written to be fairly thick as is. If you want it to be even thicker, you can cut the chicken broth from 1/2 cup to 1/4 cup. You can also let it simmer even longer than the 5-7 minutes, just make sure to stir regularly. The longer you simmer, the more liquid cooks out, and the thicker it gets.

How to Make Peanut Dipping Sauce?

So you want to make peanut sauce for spring rolls or to dip something else (tempura veggies would be great) in? If you want your dipping sauce a little thinner than this recipe calls for, simply take off the burner quicker (so it simmers for less time). Or if you forgot to take it off and it’s already a bit too thick, add one TBS of chicken broth and allow to combine with the other ingredients to thin out a bit.

I actually prefer this Thai peanut sauce recipe as written for a spring roll peanut dipping sauce but totally understand if you want something thinner!

Same if you want to use this as a dressing – just take it off the burner a bit earlier. The flavors will still all be combined, it’ll just be thinner and allow for dressing a salad a bit easier.

How Long Will Peanut Sauce Keep in the Fridge?

If you want to make a double (or triple batch) of this peanut sauce, go for it! Refrigerate any leftovers and keep them in the fridge for up to a week then toss.

To reheat, simply put the peanut dipping sauce back on the stove for a few minutes to heat up. If you’re worried about it getting too thick on the stove, add a bit more chicken broth while reheating.

Or you could also just enjoy it cold as well – perfect for adding to a salad for lunch!

Can You Freeze Peanut Sauce?

I’ve actually never tried freezing this peanut sauce. I personally wouldn’t, especially since it’s so easy to make fresh! It’d literally take you longer to thaw and reheat than to just make another batch.

What to Do with Leftover Peanut Butter?

Have a half bottle of peanut butter leftover after this recipe? Try making chocolate peanut butter bites, peanut butter and jelly smoothie, or adding it to an English muffin with sliced banana!

Don’t forget to pin this easy Thai peanut sauce recipe for later!