This all-purpose peanut sauce can be a life-saver when the last thing you want to do is cook an elaborate meal!
Tasty on Everything
This peanut sauce is great on almost anything. Tossed with noodles, drizzled over veggies, meats, or tofu, or served as a sauce for all your favorite dippables like summer rolls, chicken satay, or pan-fried dumplings.
If you saw my recent peanut noodle recipe, this all-purpose sauce goes hand in hand. It really is one of those things that’s deceptively simple, but it can be challenging to get right.
The key is not skipping out on the extra flavor TLC of fresh garlic and ginger.
This Sauce is Customizable (But Try the Fish Sauce!)
This peanut sauce is highly customizable. For example, I know that fish sauce is an ingredient that people love to hate, but it really adds a delicious umami edge that sets this recipe apart from others. I promise that any fishiness recedes to the background—it’s just like cooking with anchovies!
That said, it could easily be omitted if you’re looking to make this a fully plant-based recipe. Or you can sub in vegan fish sauce!
Other adjustments you can make are your choice of soy sauce, how much sesame oil you include, and whether you add in some choice additional flavor agents like lime juice, chili oil, and/or sriracha.
Experiment, and make it your own!
Peanut Sauce Recipe Instructions
Add all of the ingredients (garlic, ginger, peanut butter, soy sauce, fish sauce, sesame oil) and any optional add-ins into a small bowl.
Add the hot water, and stir to combine until you have a smooth sauce. Alternatively, you can make this in a food processor for a smoother texture.
Enjoy this sauce on noodles, veggie noodles, tofu, grilled meats, vegetables, wontons or dumplings, salads, summer rolls, and more!
All Purpose Peanut Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ginger (minced or grated)
- 1/3 cup peanut butter (creamy or chunky are both fine; 1/3 cup = 80g)
- 2 teaspoons soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons fish sauce (omit to make this vegan or substitute with vegan fish sauce)
- 1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil (or to taste)
- 2-3 tablespoons hot water (to your desired consistency)
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients into a small bowl. Add the hot water, and stir to combine until you have a smooth sauce. Alternatively, you can make this in a food processor for a smoother texture.
Hi, Kaitlin. Assuming I don’t eat it all immediately, how long does it safely keep in the refrigerator?
I’ve looked a long time for a peanut sauce that tastes as good as this one. A must try!!
I made this today. I think I used too dark a soy sauce because mine came out too salty for me. Next time, I’ll use light soy sauce. I used 4 teaspoons of soy sauce and omitted the fish sauce. I used all 3 Tablespoons of hot water.
To cut the salt I added 2 teaspoons of unseasoned rice vinegar and 1 Tablespoon of honey.
Thank you for posting. Love your website! I check it everyday for new recipes!
Hi Bobi, thanks for sharing your adjustments to the recipe! Your adds sound awesome! Definitely need to be careful when changing amounts of soy sauce and fish sauce. ;) Thanks for reading and cooking!
Light soy sauce is saltier than dark soy sauce, I believe.
HI Bobi and Litza, dark soy sauce actually has more sodium than light soy sauce! The differences between the two actually have little to nothing to do with their saltiness. Many mistake “light soy sauce” for “low sodium” soy sauce. It’s all explained in this article: https://thewoksoflife.com/soy-sauce/
thanks for sharing this recipe! when i made it, it was really salty so i added a tbsp of honey into the hot water, swirled it around and added it to the sauce to balance out the saltiness a bit. so good!
Thanks, Fae! That’s a great tip.
How long would this last in the fridge?
thanks!
Hi Joel, I would say it will be good for up to two weeks, but also use your discretion and a good old sniff test.
What would you use to make this super-spicy? I’ve played around with various peanut sauce recipes, and none hit the spot (I’m a serious hothead). Thanks for all your recipes. You guys are THE BEST!
Hi Jules, I would go for Thai bird’s eye chilies, minced, and if that’s not enough for you infuse them in some oil! That should get the heat going. If that’s not hot enough, you could experiment with doing the same with scotch bonnets. Be careful!!!! :P
Delicious and easy sauce. Added chopped peanuts for texture because I only had smooth peanut butter
Thanks, Carla! Nice addition!
Can fish sauce and oyster sauce, I know they are not same be used interchangeably?
No, they are very different.
Hi Daniel, they are quite different! I would not use them interchangeably. That said, if you want to experiment, you could see if you enjoy the flavor of oyster sauce in this recipe.
Cannot wait to try this, Kaitlin. Would it be ok to substitute oyster sauce for the fish sauce? Speaking of those two, if you could only have one, which one would it be?
I wouldn’t, they have very different flavor profiles..
Hi Robyn, they are very different! You can experiment to see if you enjoy oyster sauce as a substitution, however. That’s the beauty of cooking at home. Undoubtedly, I would go with fish sauce because of its versatility in Chinese, Vietnamese, and Thai dishes, but oyster sauce is a key ingredient in many of my dad’s stir-fries.
Go with both, I say! :) But if you had to choose, I hope that helps.
Amazing recipe Kaitlin, super versatile! Definitely adding this to noodles with chicken, we are drooling just thinking about it :) Sending you guys our love!
Mirella and Panos
xoxoxo
Thank you, Mirella and Panos! :)