Thai Peanut Sauce – The Ultimate Bold, Creamy, Spicy All-Rounder
Dip it. Drizzle it. Spoon it straight from the bowl. Thai peanut sauce is how you take your meals to the next level.
There are sauces you make once, and then there are sauces you start putting on everything and Thai peanut sauce is definitely in the latter group.
It’s creamy, spicy, tangy and sweet. It hits every taste bud and then some. And once you’ve made it from scratch, you’ll never want to settle for the shop-bought stuff again.
About this Thai peanut sauce recipe.
I’ve been making Thai food at home for years—big curries, smoky grilled meats, quick noodle dishes—and a killer peanut sauce is a must. It’s why this recipe simply had to feature in my book The Curry Guy Thai.
The best part? It’s ridiculously easy to make. You don’t need a wok, you don’t need fancy ingredients, and you can throw it together in less than 10 minutes.
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Why Thai Peanut Sauce Deserves a Spot in Your Fridge
In Thailand, peanut sauce (called satay sauce locally) is often served with skewered meats, especially grilled chicken satay. But it’s so much more than a dipping sauce. You can:
- Drizzle it over grilled meats or roasted veg
- Stir it through noodles for an instant meal
- Use it as a salad dressing
- Serve it with spring rolls or lettuce wraps
- Spread it on sandwiches or wraps (trust me on this)
It’s the kind of sauce that makes everything better. And once you master the basic version, you can tweak it to suit whatever you’re cooking.
What makes Thai peanut sauce so good?
Like most Southeast Asian dishes, Thai peanut sauce is all about balance. Here’s what you’re aiming for:
- Creamy & nutty – from roasted peanuts or peanut butter
- Spicy – usually from red chili or Thai curry paste
- Sweet – a touch of palm sugar or brown sugar or even white sugar
- Sour – lime juice or tamarind
- Salty & umami – fish sauce or soy sauce
It’s a flavour bomb, and it all comes together in one pan.
Ingredients
There aren’t a lot of ingredients needed to make an amazing Thai peanut sauce. Get them all ready before you start. It will save you time looking for things as you cook.
- rapeseed (canola) oil
- Thai red curry paste
- thick coconut milk
- smooth or chunky peanut butter
- Thai fish sauce
- sugar
- Juice of 1 lime
- tamarind water or lime juice
See recipe card for quantities.
Step by step photos
There aren’t a lot of steps to take before you finish your amazing Thai peanut sauce. Check out the photos below.
- Step 1: Fry the red curry paste in the oil for about 30 seconds over a medium-high heat.
- Step 2: Stir in the peanut butter and coconut milk.
- Step 3: Stir well to combine and then add the sugar.
- Step 4: Continue simmering to dissolve the sugar into the sauce for about a minutes and then add the tamarind water and lime juice.
- Step 5: Let it all simmer for another minutes or so.
- Step 6: Serve hot. This is so good!
Substitutions
Following you will find ingredients you can substitute for different diets or for what you have in.
- Vegetarian: You can substitute a vegetarian fish sauce for the fish sauce or just add salt to taste.
- Spicy: Feel free to experiment with other Thai curry paste. Thai peanut sauce is traditionally made with red curry paste.
- Sweet and sour: It is important to get the right balance of sweet and sour. The sourness comes from the lime juice and tamarind water. You can use one or the other or both. Traditionally, Thai peanut sauce is made with palm sugar. As you will see in the photos above, I used white sugar because I had that in. I just added it to taste.
Variations
With a few tweaks, you can give this Thai peanut sauce a completely different but equally delicious flavour.
- Honey-Sesame peanut sauce: Swap lime juice for rice vinegar, add a teaspoon of sesame oil and a touch of honey. This version makes an amazing dressing for crunchy slaw or noodle salad.
- Satay dip for vegetables: Make a thicker version by reducing the coconut milk and stirring in some finely chopped coriander and chilli. Great as a dip for raw veg or grilled tofu.
- Delicious and bold marinade: Thin the sauce with extra lime juice and use it to marinate beef or chicken before grilling. The sugars caramelise and give you amazing char. Watch in closely as it cooks though as the sugars can also burn.
Equipment
You don’t need any special equipment to make Thai peanut sauce. Find yourself a pan and get started!
Storage
Your Thai peanut sauce will last for up to a week in an airtight container in the fridge. It will thicken in the fridge. To thin it, add a splash of water and microwave it for about 20 seconds.
Final Thoughts
Thai peanut sauce might just be one of the greatest sauces on the planet. It’s fast, flexible, and packed with flavour. Whether you’re grilling, dipping, or drizzling, this stuff transforms any dish into something special.
Make a batch. Taste it. Tweak it. And most importantly, don’t hold back—because when you’re cooking bold, every spoonful should bring a punch.
Give it a go and let me know how you use yours—over noodles, on wings, or straight off the spoon.
Top Tip
Taste as you cook! Thai peanut sauce needs to be a perfect balance of spicy, sweet, savoury and sour. You can adjust these flavours to taste so that the flavour balance is perfect for you.
FAQ
Traditionally yes but when you make it yourself, you can make it as spicy or mild as you like. Use more or less Thai red curry paste to adjust the spiciness.
No. I use my own homemade Thai red curry paste but you can purchase it too for this recipe.
Both. The crunchiness of the sauce is down to the peanut butter you want to use. Use crunchy peanut butter if you like it crunchy. You can also add chopped peanuts for even more crunch.
Looking for more Thai sauces and pastes? Try these:
Yield: 1 1/2 cups
Thai Peanut Sauce
Thai peanut sauce is incredibly easy to prepare and homemade tastes so much better than any you can purchase. You can and should adjust the savoury, sweet, spicy and sour flavours to taste.
Prep Time
5 minutes
Cook Time
10 minutes
Total Time
5 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp rapeseed (canola) oil
- 2 tbsp Thai red curry paste
- 400ml (1 1/2 cups) thick coconut milk
- 200ml (generous 3⁄4 cup) smooth or chunky peanut butter
- 2 tbsp Thai fish sauce
- 1 tbsp palm sugar, light brown sugar or white sugar
- Juice of 1 lime
- 2 tbsp tamarind water or use more lime juice
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large pan over a medium heat and add the red curry paste.
- Stir it around in the oil for about 30 seconds. Add the coconut milk followed by the peanut butter and stir to combine until the peanut butter melts into the coconut milk.
- Stir in the fish sauce and sugar and check for seasoning, adding more fish sauce and/or sugar if you prefer a saltier/sweeter flavour.
- Finish the sauce by adding the lime juice and tamarind water. It will thicken as it cools; to thin it out again, just heat it up.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6
Serving Size:
1
Amount Per Serving:
Calories: 135Total Fat: 11gSaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 622mgCarbohydrates: 10gFiber: 1gSugar: 5gProtein: 3g
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