Homemade peanut sauce is delicious and easy to make with my quick recipe. This Thai peanut sauce recipe creates a spicy and flavorful dressing, marinade or dipping sauce.

This Spicy Grilled Chicken Salad with Thai Peanut Sauce dressing is an easy recipe to make and loaded with flavor. It is a no fuss hot and spicy peanut lovers dream and also boasts a bright tanginess from ample fresh lime juice.
Peanut Sauce
This easy peanut sauce is a favorite condiment of mine, and I especially like it with Thai flair. The sauce is fabulous for marinating meats and vegetables for grilling, drizzling on salads or noodles and as a dipping sauce for spring rolls and other appetizers.
How to Make Thai Peanut Sauce
The condiment only takes a few short minutes to prepare. Print recipe below.
Ingredients
- peanut butter
- lime juice
- apple cider vinegar
- soy sauce
- light brown sugar
- ginger
- cayenne
- sesame oil
Preparation
Simply whisk all the ingredients together, then seal in a jar or use immediately.
Cooking with Thai Peanut Sauce
I make many similar dishes to this Spicy Grilled Chicken Salad with Thai Peanut Sauce dressing a lot in the summer. Especially since, chicken and peanut butter are two of the few higher protein foods my daughter will eat. She has been on a chicken kick lately, and selected chicken on her "talker" (tablet used as a communication device), along with several exclamations of "eat", which is huge for her as she struggles with both autism and apraxia.
I had a small batch of this chicken marinating in peanut sauce already, so I popped them on the grill while she played on her swing set. The chicken was ready soon, which was a good thing because I was serenaded by another cluster of "eat"s from my daughter. I'm guessing, she didn't eat much at school that day, and was extra hungry.
We sat down to an early dinner. As Little Foodie started eating her peanut chicken she made a face and was obviously unhappy. That is when I realized, I had made this marinate intending to eat it for lunch while she was at school and add the rest to noodles for her. It was at full spiciness... which with me can be pretty spicy. Boy, did I feel like a heel.
I took her chicken scraped off most of the thai peanut sauce and quickly popped it in a pan with some sweet Asian dressing, simmered it a minute, then re-plated. She deemed this acceptable and ate one of the tenders. All was well, or so I thought. After putting a couple items away, I went back to the dining table. I was greeted by a giggling child, and a chickenless salad at my setting... while the remainder of the reworked chicken sat neglected. She had eaten up the spicy grilled chicken on me.
Apparently, the little stinker handles the heat just fine when the chicken comes off mommy's plate.
Here is how to use the sauce to make peanut chicken and dress the salad it is served on.
Spicy Grilled Chicken Salad
- 1 lb. chicken tenders or sliced chicken breast
- salad greens of choice arugula shown
- salad vegetables of choice tomatoes, cucumber, red onion & carrots all go nicely with this dressing
- a batch of the Thai Peanut sauce/dressing (divided in half)
Thai Peanut Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
Thai Peanut Sauce Dressing
- ½ cup fresh ground peanut butter or unsalted natural style jarred - only ingredient should be peanuts
- ¼ cup fresh lime juice
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 2 tbs light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger you will need more if using fresh
- ½ teaspoon cayenne* omit or reduce for children and those who can't take the heat
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
Instructions
- Whisk together the sauce ingredients until thee texture is even.
- Place in a sealed bottle or jar and refrigerate or use immediately
Notes
*if dressing has been refrigerated, you will need to bring it back up to room temperature for serving.
Tammy says
I made this sauce for my Mom and Dad - they love spicy food!
HilLesha says
This dressing was really good!
Crystal says
I love this peanut butter sauce on grilled chicken. So delicious!
anne says
This peanut dressing was so delicious! My son loved it too. He likes spicy foods though.
Leilani says
We just had this salad the other night for dinner. I grilled the chicken in the peanut marinade and used as a dressing too, like you did. So Yummy!