Spring is here!
Over here in California, it has been sunny and 70 degrees the past few days. Whenever it starts to get warm outside, I start craving cold, crunchy salads. And a salad is nothing without a good dressing. I created this peanut sauce dressing when I was making a Thai salad that had an ingredient list that was 15 items long. 15! Most of the ingredients I didn’t have, and if I bought them I wouldn’t use them very often. Enter my two ingredient peanut sauce I whipped up with items I already had in my kitchen. It tastes great, and it saved me a trip to the store. Double win!
This is now of my favorite Asian peanut salad dressing. It uses peanut butter and sweet chili sauce, which you can easily find everywhere now. Even Trader Joe’s has it. It also doubles as a great peanut dipping sauce for things like crab rangoon, or to dress on cold soba noodles with veggies. The possibilities are endless. My favorite way to use it is coming up on Thursday. Oh the suspense!
Print
Asian Peanut Sauce and Salad Dressing
Prep Time: 2 mins- Cook Time: 3 mins
- Total Time: 5 mins
Yield: 6 1x
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeIngredients
- 1 cup sweet chili sauce
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon peanut butter (can use creamy or crunchy)
Instructions
- In a small mixing bowl, mix the ingredients until combined. The measurements depend on the thickness of your peanut butter. Feel free to add a little more sweet chili sauce or more peanut butter if necessary.
- Will keep in an airtight container for 2 weeks.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 3 tbs
- Calories: 86
- Sugar: 16.3g
- Fat: 1.6g
- Carbohydrates: 18g
- Fiber: <1g
- Protein: <1
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Kelly - LEFT SIDE Of THE TABLE says
March 18, 2014 at 5:47 amHi Natalie! Cold Asian salad sounds perfect! Agree with you cold salads and warmth go well together! Isn’t it funny when the weather changes and it changes your food cravings?! Peanuts is the best with Asian food too. Pinning this! Thanks for sharing ;)
Natalie says
March 18, 2014 at 8:41 amThanks Kelly! I’ve used it with soba noodles and a bunch a veggies and oh my was it good. My cravings totally change with the season. As soon as it’s cold I can’t wait to start eating soups and now that it’s warm out I’m all about salads. Thanks for stopping by friend!
Sarah@WholeAndHeavenlyOven says
March 18, 2014 at 5:48 amI find it really funny that you posted a salad dressing today, and I just posted a SALAD recipe. haha, weird. This dressing looks unbelievably good and your photos are stunning as always! pinned.
Natalie says
March 18, 2014 at 8:42 amWe are total salad twins! Already craving your BLT salad Sarah. Thanks for your compliments!
cheri says
March 18, 2014 at 6:55 amI love peanut sauce, can’t wait till Thursday….
Natalie says
March 18, 2014 at 8:45 amI use this peanut sauce all the time. It’s so great Cheri. Bet you’re gonna love what’s coming up Thursday : )
Julie @ Table for Two says
March 18, 2014 at 6:56 amSo utterly jealous of your warm weather…we got dumped with 9 inches of snow yesterday. I cannot wait for warm weather and salads! This dressing sounds awesome – I LOVE peanut dressings!
Natalie says
March 18, 2014 at 8:43 am9 inches of snow? Oh dear! We are so lucky here in California. Almost warm enough to go swimming, just need the sun to start warming up the freezing cold water. Thanks for your kind words Julie!
Meg says
March 18, 2014 at 6:59 amTwo ingredients versus 15?! Count me in. This sounds great!
Natalie says
March 18, 2014 at 8:45 amWhenever a recipe has more than 10 ingredients I start glazing over and thinking, whoa this is complicated! I like my cooking nice and simple. Thanks Meg!
Kelly @ The Pretty Bee: Cooking + Creating says
March 18, 2014 at 7:08 amYum! This looks amazing! I love chicken satay, and can’t wait until we have warm enough weather to make it on the grill! This sauce will be amazing with it. Pinning this now!
Natalie says
March 18, 2014 at 8:47 amOooh, chicken satay, yes! Forgot about that. This sauce would be great for that. It’s so universal, and easy too. Thanks for pinning it Kelly : )
Cate @ Chez CateyLou says
March 18, 2014 at 8:41 amonly TWO ingredients?! I love that! I’m a huge fan of Asian sauces, but I hate how many ingredients are usually required! This is perfect! Can’t wait to try it – Pinning!
Natalie says
March 18, 2014 at 8:50 amI know, me too! The sweet chili sauce has so many great flavors in it that it replaces a lot of the other common ingredients you need for asian sauces. Thanks for you nice words Cate, and thanks for pinning!
Christine @ Cooking with Cakes says
March 18, 2014 at 9:53 amtwo ingredient asian peanut sauce?!? I knew we were meant to be friends :)
Jess @ Flying on Jess Fuel says
March 18, 2014 at 10:18 amUhm… would it be inappropriate to drink this sauce? Cuz, I kinda want to. And it’s SO EASY! Love.
Natalie says
March 19, 2014 at 9:21 amIf it’s inappropriate, then I’m in trouble because I was for real licking my fingers like a crazy person after making this. Thanks Jess!
whatjessicabakednext says
March 18, 2014 at 10:20 amThis looks divine! I love Thai food and flavours- definitely a recipe to give a go!
Kelly says
March 18, 2014 at 11:25 amThis dressing sounds amazing Natalie! I love Asian salads and peanut dressings and can’t wait to try this one. It looks delicious and yay for only 2 ingredients. Pinning :)
Helen @ Scrummy Lane says
March 18, 2014 at 1:42 pmThis is one of those ideas that makes you think ‘Why didn’t I think of this?’ I can imagine how delicious this tastes … sort of like Thai peanut butter and jelly … very sort of. Anyway, looks and sounds delicious and such an easy idea to remember for the future. Thanks, Natalie! Definitely pinning this!
Judit + Corina says
March 18, 2014 at 2:29 pmOh la la what a fabulous sauce Natalie! Looks super delicious and love that you made this with only 2 ingredients :)
Cheers,
J+C
★★★★★
Norma | Allspice and Nutmeg says
March 18, 2014 at 3:17 pmOne of my favorite Asian condiments is peanut sauce. Love this.
Natalie says
March 19, 2014 at 9:25 amThanks Norma! Peanut sauce is one of my favorites too. I want to put it on everything!
Kathy @ Olives & Garlic says
March 18, 2014 at 6:11 pmI can’t wait to try this peanut sauce. I love that it only has two ingredients and I’m so jealous of your 70 degree days. Wow. Our temps are improving, although it snowed a little on Monday.
★★★★★
Alyssa @ My Sequined Life says
March 18, 2014 at 9:58 pmCan I just drink this straight up please? I totally hear you on super long ingredients lists. Why would you need more if this can be whipped up with only two!? Sweet chili sauce and a jar of PB just happen to be sitting next to one another on my fridge shelf. I think I know what I’m making tomorrow! :)
Taylor @ Food Faith Fitness says
March 19, 2014 at 4:19 amAsian peanut sauce/dressing is my fav! But, I always but it ’cause this girl be lazy. But, I will have to try your homemade version….I am definitely craving a cold crunchy salad with this Florida heat! Pinned
Melanie @ Carmel Moments says
March 19, 2014 at 5:24 amOh my. This looks fabulous! Can’t wait to try it something. Anything. Maybe even just my fingers. :)
Have a wonderful day Natalie!
Ashley @ My Midwest Table says
March 19, 2014 at 7:30 amI’m pretty sure I would drizzle this sauce on anything and everything. I just love how easy this recipe is! So glad you didn’t have to make a trip to the store.
I hear you on the cold, crunchy salad cravings. It reached 62F degrees in SD last Thursday. Running outside, I could smell so many people grilling. I wished we had fired up our grill. A thick steak and a yummy salad would have been perfect.
Can’t wait until tomorrow! :)
Natalie says
March 19, 2014 at 9:44 amUmmm, I put this sauce on so many things it’s crazy…crazy GOOD!
You would be so jealous of our weather. It’s been in the mid 70’s all week, and all the hills are bright green. Everything is so pretty! We grilled chicken burgers on Monday, first day grilling of the year. You should fire up your grill this weekend!
Kathi @ Deliciously Yum! says
March 19, 2014 at 8:54 amOhhhh, this sauce is right up my alley! A crunchy and colorful salad drizzled with this goodness will definitely have to be made to celebrate the first day of Spring tomorrow. Love, love, love this!!
Natalie says
March 19, 2014 at 9:47 amThanks Kathi! I always start craving it when spring comes around. So excited it “officially” starts tomorrow!
Erin | The Law Student's Wife says
March 19, 2014 at 11:40 amI could almost SWIM in that dressing it’s so beautiful. Send some sun my way? :-)
Rachel @the dessert chronicles says
March 19, 2014 at 6:44 pmI love how simple this is! I actually just tried to make an asian dressing last week that required me to buy six new oils and vinegars etc and I decided against it. This is so much better and cheaper!!
Natalie says
March 19, 2014 at 8:29 pmAh, I had the exact same experience! Asian cooking can call for so many ingredients I don’t already have. I’ll buy them and it costs a ton, and then they just sit in the pantry taking up space. That’s what I love about this one! You should definitely give it a try next time. So good! Thanks for your sweet comment Rachel : )
Cindy @ Pick Fresh Foods says
March 19, 2014 at 7:41 pmThis looks delicious!! I would love to have some of this on a salad or with some grilled chicken.
Natalie says
March 19, 2014 at 8:30 pmI’ve done it on grilled chicken before! Actually, it was chicken kabobs I grilled and this made a fantastic dipping sauce. So good! Thanks for your sweet comment Cindy : )
aj says
September 3, 2014 at 7:02 pmSo i made this tonight. It was good. I had to added about twice as much peanut butter, but the recipe is a good ratio because you can always add more if you need and different sauces / peanut butters offer different sweetness’s. I squeezed a half lime in to mine and it REALLY lightened it up a bunch and brought out some of the other flavors. So i’d definitely recommend that, as well as refrigerating before serving as it seems to bring it all together. Lots of stirring involved. Onions in the salad + thai peanut sauce = a good time. Great simple recipe! Thanks for the idea!!!
★★★★★
domain says
October 22, 2014 at 5:52 amGreat info. Lucky me I ran across your website by accident (stumbleupon).
I have book-marked it for later!
David Petersen says
January 30, 2019 at 5:54 pmok how long does this last…I have some havent used…bought it in november…now january…
Natalie says
February 4, 2019 at 1:20 pmYou mean the sweet chili sauce? I would check the date on the bottle.
Exotic Fruit says
July 16, 2019 at 2:46 amThis is a delicious dressing with bold flavors. Thank you for sharing this recipe. It changed up my salad routine and the umami in it is incredible!
★★★★★
Natalie says
July 16, 2019 at 10:07 amI’m so happy to hear that! Thank you!