Whether you use it for noodle dishes, salads, a dipping sauce or spring rolls, this is THE BEST Spicy Peanut Sauce! A delicious blend of peanut butter and Asian flavors that is finger-licking good.
I’m revamping and creating a 2.0 version of my original Spicy Peanut Sauce recipe, which is posted here. Just like cars, TVs, cell phones, and even food, we are constantly striving to make them faster, bigger, easier to use, and tastier.
That’s where this recipe comes into play. I wanted to give it an overhaul and see if I could improve on something already delicious. I wanted it to be easier to make, with fewer ingredients, and give it an updated taste.
Ingredients needed to make Spicy Peanut Sauce
This recipe only requires seven ingredients. In today’s Foodie pantries, these ingredients are pretty standard.
However, if you don’t have something like rice wine vinegar, most grocery stores nowadays carry it.
This recipe only needs the following ingredients:
- Sriracha
- Rice Wine Vinegar
- Sesame Oil
- Low-Sodium Soy Sauce
- Creamy Peanut Butter
- Light Brown Sugar
- Fresh ginger
- warm water – *optional
Chef Lori’s Tips
- RICE WINE VINEGAR: You must use this. You cannot use red wine, apple cider or white distilled vinegar. Rice vinegar and Rice Wine Vinegar are the same thing; only the wording is different.
- SESAME OIL: You can’t substitute this either. Sesame oil has a distinctive nutty aroma and taste. It complements the peanut butter beautifully in this recipe. *You can use Toasted Sesame Oil
- SRIRACHA: You can be liberal here by how much or little you add. I’ve also played around and used Gochujang in its place and it’s equally as delicious!
- SOY SAUCE: This absolutely has to be low-sodium. To make it gluten-free, use amino acids.
- FRESH GINGER: It has to be fresh and not the powdered (trust me, I tried). The powder negatively impacts the texture and you don’t quite get that fresh ginger taste.
How to work with Fresh Ginger
How to Choose Fresh Ginger
Look for ginger with skin (the thinner the better) that’s smooth, unblemished, and almost translucent.
When you break off the piece you want, the interior should be firm, crisp, and not overly fibrous (making it easier to slice). It should have a fresh, spicy fragrance.
How to peel Fresh Ginger
You want to peel the ginger. Because of the twist, knobs, and turn, a vegetable peeler may be way too difficult to use.
Try using the edge of a metal spoon to scrape off the skin. It takes a bit more effort than a paring knife or a peeler, but it’s less wasteful—and it lets you maneuver around the knobs and gnarls.
How to use Fresh Ginger
Ginger can be sliced into planks or matchsticks, chopped, grated, puréed, and minced. Keep in mind that, like many spices, ginger’s flavor fades as it cooks. So for more gingery oomph, add some or all of the ginger at the end of cooking.
How to grate Fresh Ginger
Once the ginger is peeled, grate the ginger with a Microplane grater/zester. I absolutely LOVE my Deiss PRO Zester and Grater! It’s truly THE BEST I’ve ever used!
You’ll want to grate against the grain so the mush separates from the tough fibers. All of those little fibers that you’re left with, you can discard.
Storing Fresh Ginger
Probably the most important thing here is how to store it once you’ve peeled it. For me, the best way is to clean 1 whole fresh piece, cut into sections, peel and then store in a freezer bag in the freezer. Every time I need a piece or some, I’ll pull it out, grate it/slice it/ chop it and then put the remaining piece back into the bag.
How to make Spicy Peanut Sauce
Now you could add this all to a blender or bowl and use an immersion blender, but a whisk works quite nicely.
- To a bowl add in the creamy peanut butter.
- Next, add in the Low Sodium soy sauce.
- Follow that up with the Rice Wine Vinegar and Sesame oil.
- Drizzle in the Sriracha (per your heat preference).
- Add in the freshly grated ginger and light brown sugar.
- Whisk until creamy.
The mixture is thick. At this point, you can add in 2-4 tablespoons of warm water (while whisking) to thin it out to the desired consistency.
*Note: When I am adding this to warm noodles, I do not add the water, as the heat from the warm noodles naturally makes the sauce thinner. Plus, you want the sauce to cling to the noodles rather than form a pool at the bottom of your dish.
How to store homemade peanut sauce
Since it has fresh ginger in it, it needs to be stored in the fridge. It may become thick, but once it comes to room temperature, it will loosen. Or you can heat it for a few seconds at a time, but do not make it hot or warm.
How to make The Best Spicy Peanut Sauce Keto Friendly
- Go with an All-Natural Peanut butter as that is low carb such as Jif Natural Low Sodium Creamy Peanut Butter
- Soy sauce is not keto-friendly but you can go with a Natural Liquid Aminos but you must only use 1/2 the amount that the recipe calls for. So if a recipe calls for 1/4 cup of low-sodium soy sauce, you must only use 1/8 cup of liquid aminos!
- Brown Sugar – you can go with Truvia but know that you use only 1/2 the amount of Truvia that you would for regular brown sugar.
How to Use The Best Spicy Peanut Sauce
This is perfect for salads, noodles, spring/rice rolls, as a dipping sauce or in lettuce wraps!
or coming up next on the blog…
Chilled Shrimp Wrap with Spicy Peanut Sauce
The Best Spicy Peanut Sauce
Whether you use it for noodle dishes, salads, a dipping sauce or spring rolls, this is THE BEST Spicy Peanut Sauce! A delicious blend of peanut butter and Asian flavors that is finger-licking good.
- Prep Time: 10
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: almost a cup
- Category: sauces
- Method: no cook
- Cuisine: Asian
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 2 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- 4 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoon grated ginger
- 1–2 teaspoon Sriracha (go with your personal heat level)
- 3 tablespoon light brown sugar
- 2–4 tablespoon warm water *optional
Instructions
- In a bowl, add all of the ingredients, except the water, and whisk to combine.
- If the mixture needs to be thinned, add 2-4 tablespoons of warm water and stir to combine
- Store the mixture in an air-tight jar for up to 2 weeks in the fridge.
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