The BEST Chinese Peanut Sauce - Recipe Diaries (2024)

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Chinese peanut sauce is a delicious sauce made of peanut butter and soy sauce. You can use it as a marinade or even make a pan sauce with it for cooking chicken.

The BEST Chinese Peanut Sauce - Recipe Diaries (1)

For other Asian-inspired respires please try Asian Marinated Pork Tenderloin, Hibachi Yum Yum Sauce, Blackstone Hibachi Chicken and Vegetables, or Beef Stir Fry.

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  • Why You Will Love This Recipe
  • Ingredients Needed
  • How to make Peanut Sauce
  • Tips for Chinese Peanut Sauce
  • Recipe FAQs
  • Other recipes you might like
  • Chinese Peanut Sauce

Why You Will Love This Recipe

This recipe only uses 4 ingredients and it can be used in many different dishes. See some options below!

Peanut Sauce with chicken only takes less than 20 minutes to make!

I usually cook up some rice or noodles to serve with the peanut chicken.

Ingredients Needed

The BEST Chinese Peanut Sauce - Recipe Diaries (2)

Peanut butter - Use good peanut butter that is just ground-up peanuts and no other ingredients added to it. Costco’s Kirland’s brand is really good for this.Can always sub PB2 to make it lower points.

For the peanut butter, I prefer brands like Jiff or Skippy and it can be crunchy or creamy. If you have a peanut allergy, almond butter is ok to use as well. You might need to adjust the amount of water you add into the sauce first to ¼ cup.Use real peanut butter too, please. It tastes better than PB2 for this dish.

Water - already in your house!

Soy sauce - Use a Low Sodium or if you don’t have that on hand go for Tamari or Coconut Amino Acids. To make this sauce gluten-free sub Coconut Aminos or tamari instead of soy sauce.

Sugar - Regular granulated sugar, I do not use sugar substitutes in any of my recipes but if you know the conversions feel free to do so

See the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.

How to make Peanut Sauce

Step 1: Whisk the peanut butter, water, soy sauce, and sugar, in a small bowl or measuring cup until well combined. Set aside.

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Step 2: In a nonstick skillet over medium heat add the olive oil. Add the onions and garlic to the pan and cook until heated through or soft; 3 to 5 minutes. Season with crushed red pepper flakes (optional).

The BEST Chinese Peanut Sauce - Recipe Diaries (4)

Step 3: Add diced chicken to the pan and cook until the chicken is heated through. 3 to 5 minutes. The chicken is done when it is no longer pink in the middle. I usually take one chicken piece out and cut it to see if it is cooked.

Step 4: Add the peanut sauce to the pan and continue cooking for another 2 to 3 minutes until everything is heated through.

Recipe Tip: If the sauce is too thick add small amounts of water until you like the consistency.

Serve with cooked noodles.

Tips for Chinese Peanut Sauce

What can you do with peanut sauce?

This peanut sauce is a classic dipping sauce for grilled chicken skewers.

Use peanut sauce for Asian Stir Fries or for dipping.

Air fry up some chicken wings and when they're done toss them in a bowl so that they're completely covered in this peanut sauce.

You can use it for dipping those yummy spring rolls, chicken satay, stir-fry, lettuce wraps, or make thai peanut noodle salad. I made a delicious peanut chicken stir fry with noodles for this recipe.

Make these salads like Thai Quinoa Salad with Fresh Herbs, Spicy Thai Noodles, or Chopped Thai Chicken Salad.

Peanut sauce is also great for dipping with Air Fryer Frozen Chicken Nuggets.

To make the sauce smooth and creamy use a food processor, instead of whisking the sauce in a bowl.

The BEST Chinese Peanut Sauce - Recipe Diaries (6)

Recipe FAQs

What is Chinese peanut sauce made of?

This peanut sauce recipe consists of peanut butter, soy sauce, water, and sugar. That's it! No other ingredients are needed.

How long does peanut sauce last?

Peanut sauce will last in air tight container for 3 to 5 days or until it's all used up. Just make sure the lid is sealed tight so no air gets in.

Other recipes you might like

  • Weight Watchers Meatloaf Muffins
  • Weight Watchers Slow Cooker Taco Soup (Low Sodium)
  • Banana Bread Weight Watchers (Low Point)
  • WW Instant Pot White Chicken Chili

If you tried this Chinese Peanut Sauce or any other recipe on my website, please please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how you go in the 📝 comments below. I love hearing from you! Follow along on Tiktok @jennarecipediaries

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The BEST Chinese Peanut Sauce - Recipe Diaries (11)

Chinese Peanut Sauce

5 Stars4 Stars3 Stars2 Stars1 Star

5 from 7 reviews

  • Author: Jenna
  • Total Time: 20 min
  • Yield: 4 to 6 1x
Print Recipe

Description

Chinese peanut sauce is a delicious sauce made of peanut butter and soy sauce. You can use it as a marinade or even make a pan sauce with it for cooking chicken.

Ingredients

Scale

Peanut Sauce:

½ cup peanut butter

½ cup water

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons sugar

Chinese Peanut Sauce Stir Fry

2 large chicken breasts, diced into cubes

2 teaspoon of olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

¼ cup onion, diced

pinch of red pepper flakes

Cooked Spaghetti Noodles for serving

2 scallions, diced (0ptional)

Instructions

Peanut Sauce: Whisk the peanut butter, water, soy sauce, and sugar, in a small bowl until well combined. Set aside.

Peanut Sauce Stir Fry: In a nonstick skillet over medium heat add the olive oil. Add the onions and garlic to the pan and cook until heated through or soft; 2 to 3 minutes. Season with crushed red pepper flakes.

Add diced chicken to the pan and cook until the chicken is heated through. 4 to 6 minutes. The chicken is done when it is no longer pink in the middle. I usually take one chicken piece out and cut it to see if it is cooked.

Add the peanut sauce to the pan and continue cooking for another 2 to 3 minutes until everything is heated through.

If the sauce is too thick add small amounts of water until you like the consistency.

Serve with cooked noodles.

Serving Size: ¾ cup of chicken with sauce

Notes

My WW Personal Points: 5 Click here to see in recipe builder (will have to log in)

If the sauce is too thick add small amounts of water until you like the consistency.

  • Prep Time: 5 min
  • Cook Time: 10 min
  • Category: Easy
  • Method: Stovetop
  • Cuisine: Asian

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: ¾ cup
  • Calories: 212
  • Sugar: 9g
  • Sodium: 590mg
  • Fat: 13g
  • Saturated Fat: 2g
  • Unsaturated Fat: 2g
  • Carbohydrates: 16g
  • Fiber: 1g
  • Protein: 10g
The BEST Chinese Peanut Sauce - Recipe Diaries (2024)

FAQs

What is Chinese peanut sauce made of? ›

In a small bowl, stir together peanut butter, soy sauce, sugar, hot pepper sauce and garlic until well mixed. Gradually stir in water until texture is smooth and creamy.

What is peanut sauce for spring rolls made of? ›

To a medium mixing bowl add (starting with the amount at the lower end of the measurement range where applicable) peanut butter, tamari (or soy sauce or coconut aminos), maple syrup, lime juice, chili sauce (or chili or red pepper), and whisk to combine.

Why is my peanut sauce breaking? ›

Sauces can break for any number of reasons including cooking at high heat, adding too much liquid to a hot pan, or even just waiting too long for everything to combine appropriately.

How do you keep peanut sauce from separating? ›

1 Answer. You need to 1) increase the emulsification, and 2) reduce the amount of time the sauce is very hot. You can try adding honey or mustard to the sauce, that will improve emulsification. You can also hit it with a stick blender which will do a much better job of breaking it up than can be done by hand.

What do you eat peanut sauce with? ›

Dip your veggies

Carrots, broccoli, cucumbers, red peppers, and snow peas are just some of the vegetables that taste great when paired with Thai Peanut Sauce. Try a unique twist with your veggies and dip Summer Rolls into the rich, peanut flavor!

What culture is peanut sauce from? ›

Also just called peanut sauce or satay sauce, this dipping sauce is a flavorful part of Southeast Asian cuisine, especially Indonesian cuisine, where it's called bumbu kacang or sambal kacang.

What is peanut sauce called? ›

Satay sauce, also known as Peanut Sauce, Bumbu Kacang or Sambal Kacang is an Indonesian sauce made from ground roasted or fried peanuts, widely used in cuisines worldwide.

How long does peanut sauce last? ›

Peanut sauce will keep for up to a week in a refrigerated airtight container. But remember to take the sauce out of the fridge about 30 minutes before serving to let it come to room temperature — you know how stubborn peanut butter can be.

How do you thicken peanut sauce? ›

Corn starch – Helps to thicken up the sauce! Substitute corn starch with tapioca starch. Peanuts – This is optional, but it is traditional to top the sauce with some peanuts before serving.

Why is my peanut sauce not smooth? ›

If the oil is separating from the sauce a bit (this can happen from the oil in the coconut milk and the peanut butter, but it's easy to fix!), add water a few drops at a time and whisk until it comes smoothly back together.

Why is my peanut sauce too thick? ›

If your peanut butter is particularly thick, you may need to use the full 4 tablespoons of water to thin out the mixture (or more, if necessary). Feel free to adjust to taste here—for example, sometimes I want my sauce more savory and add another clove of garlic, or a little sweeter, so I add extra honey.

How do you thicken sauce? ›

Use two tablespoons flour mixed with ¼ cup cold water for each cup of medium-thick sauce. Thoroughly mix in the water to prevent lumps. After stirring the combined flour and water into the sauce, cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly. Heat one minute more to cook the flour thoroughly.

How do you fix broken peanut sauce? ›

How do you fix broken peanut sauce? If your sauce has broken (or separated), simply vigorously whisk or blend again until it's well combined again.

What is the peanut butter trick? ›

The Trick for Smooth Peanut Butter

By storing it upside down, you're essentially moving the oil from the top of the jar to the bottom and back every time you grab the jar. This is like a slow shaking of the jar that requires no shaking and the peanut butter will stay smooth.

Can you freeze homemade peanut sauce? ›

If serving as a dip, sprinkle with crushed peanuts. The sauce also goes well with cooked vegetables, noodles, buddha bowls, fresh spring rolls, tofu and salads. Store in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. It can also be frozen in a freezer safe container.

What does peanut sauce taste like? ›

It's salty, sweet, acidic and bold — a sauce like no other. For the uninitiated, Asian peanut sauce is a puree of peanuts, soy sauce, ginger, sesame, spices and often garlic, lemongrass and lime.

Does peanut sauce taste like peanuts? ›

Best made with toasted peanuts

(under different names) It is also used in some European cuisine. The key ingredient is peanuts which together with kecap (soy sauce) gives it a salty and mildly spicy taste. Many different recipes for making peanut sauces exist, which means that all these satay sauces taste differently.

Do Chinese restaurants still use peanut oil? ›

Originally Answered: what cooking oils do Chinese restaurants use? Chinese wok cooking calls for oil that can withstand extremely high temperatures without burning or smoking. Usually, this would be peanut oil but lard is also common.

Why is peanut sauce healthy? ›

Peanut sauce can be a healthy addition to any diet. Since it is made from peanut butter, it naturally has some protein. Look for ones with not a lot of sodium or added sugar. Better yet, when making it at home, you have full control over the quality of the ingredients.

References

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