Learn how to make the best peanut sauce with coconut milk, then adjust the seasonings to make it as mild or as spicy as you like. Follow these simple directions to make your own homemade Thai peanut sauce for spring rolls, satay sauce, noodles, power bowls, and more!
There are many peanut sauce recipes and they're all a little different! After experimenting and testing different versions several times, this recipe for peanut sauce with coconut milk is the one I like best. Today I'm here to explain how to make the best peanut sauce and why you should!
Once you've tasted homemade, you'll never go back to store-bought!
❤️ Why you'll love this recipe
- Best flavor: Peanut butter and coconut milk give this sauce a creamy texture, tamari adds a rich, deep salty flavor, rice vinegar, and lime juice make it tangy, and Thai chili sauce adds lots of spicy sweetness. Add ginger and garlic to this mix and you have an incredibly tasty sauce to add lots of interest to your meals!
- Great for dipping, drizzling, and tossing!
- So many ways to use it: This recipe can easily be doubled or tripled so you can always have some on hand, ready to use in SO many ways! It's delicious as a veggie dip, over noodles, with spring rolls, on chicken wings, or drizzled over roasted vegetables. Jazz up a salad, a power bowl, or a simple stir-fry with a drizzle of peanut sauce.
- Homemade is best: Making homemade sauce from scratch means you can avoid additives, adjust the ingredients to suit your tastes, and save money!
It's also amazing in these recipes:
After having an incredible peanut sauce in a Thai restaurant while vacationing in Indonesia, I played with my old recipe a little to make it lighter and creamier. This recipe for peanut sauce with coconut milk is a delicious result!
🛒 Ingredients
Before we get to the full recipe, here are a few notes about the ingredients. You'll find a complete list with amounts in the recipe card at the end of this post.
- creamy natural peanut butter: This recipe will not taste the same if you use peanut butter with sugar added, so be sure to use natural peanut butter.
- canned coconut milk: Canned, full-fat coconut milk will give this sauce that sought-after creamy texture.
- tamari (soy sauce): Choose gluten-free tamari, if necessary. For a paleo diet, substitute coconut aminos.
- rice vinegar
- garlic: Fresh cloves are always best!
- fresh ginger: Start with a little. You can always add more.
- sweet Thai chili sauce: There is no added sugar in this recipe as you'll use this sweet chili sauce instead.
- fresh lime juice: Freshly squeezed lime juice adds an extra burst of fresh flavor.
Adjust the seasonings to suit your family's tastes! This version is quite mild, so you can easily increase the amount of ginger and sweet chili sauce if you want a spicier result.
🥄 Easy instructions!
Combine all the ingredients in a food processor or blender and process until smooth and creamy. Use in your favorite recipe or store covered in the fridge.
❓Questions readers ask
Peanut sauce will last for up to a week when kept refrigerated in a covered container. If it thickens up, you can thin it out with a little water or coconut milk.
Peanut sauce freezes well. It will last for several months. Take it out of the freezer and let it thaw in the fridge overnight.
Yes! You can make almond sauce or almond dressing instead. Simply substitute the same amount of almond butter for the peanut butter.
🍽 Ways to use peanut sauce
This recipe as written below makes approximately 1 ½ cups of sauce.
I store it in ½ or 1 cup containers in the fridge or freezer so it's ready to use for my favorite recipes, like the following:
- Simple Singapore Chicken Satay: street food you can make at home!
- Thai Noodle Salad: crisp and crunchy salad, loaded with fresh veggies and tossed with a peanut sauce dressing.
- Try this Asian sauce on Udon noodles or zucchini noodles, or with Thai lettuce wraps.
- Brighten up a power bowl or a Buddha bowl with a couple of tablespoons of this sauce. Sprinkle with finely chopped peanuts for extra crunch!
- It's amazing on a Thai-style pizza. Top your favorite gluten-free pizza crust with shredded chicken, shredded red cabbage and carrots, cilantro, and peanut sauce!
- They'll be asking for seconds of broccoli salad when you toss it with peanut sauce!
- Air fry chicken wings until crispy, then toss with peanut sauce, like these Air Fryer Thai Peanut Chicken Wings.
- It makes a great dip for fresh veggies, too.
👍🏼Time-Saving Tip!
Double or triple the recipe and freeze what you won't be using right away. One 14-ounce (400 ml) can of coconut milk has about 1 ½ cups of milk, enough for a triple batch of the recipe below.
Enjoy every lick-your-fingers spoonful!
When you make this recipe, please leave a comment and a rating below. I love hearing from you! Thanks in advance. Subscribe to my newsletter and receive new recipes and tips straight to your inbox once a week.
🗒 More easy recipes for sauces and seasonings
- Quick Pickled Shallots with Apple Cider Vinegar
- Easy Nuoc Cham (Vietnamese Dipping Sauce)
- Spiced Cranberry Orange Sauce with Triple Sec
- Easiest Hot Honey Recipe with Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
📖 Recipe
Peanut Sauce with Coconut Milk
Equipment
Ingredients
- ½ cup creamy natural peanut butter
- ½ cup canned coconut milk
- 2 tablespoon coconut aminos (for paleo diet) or tamari soy sauce
- 2 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 clove garlic,
- ¼ inch knob of fresh ginger (or more)
- 1 tablespoon sweet chili sauce (or more)
- 1 teaspoon lime juice
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender and process until very smooth and creamy.
- Store in small glass jars in the refrigerator or freezer. This recipe makes about 1.5 cups.
Gordon
This recipe freezes so well! Thanks for the note about making a triple batch to use the full can of coconut milk. I've loved having jars in the freezer to take out for a weekday meal.
Elaine
Thanks for commenting, Gordon--and thanks for the five-star rating. Happy to hear this time-saving tip works for you, too!
Liz
Thanks for the note on how to triple the batch using 1 can of coconut milk! Just made a triple batch for the freezer.
Elaine
Thank for the 5 stars, Liz! That's a great idea. Envious of how organized you are!
Laura Nessman
There are so many variations out there -- but this one is THE BEST.
Sean@Diversivore
I adore a good peanut sauce. It goes with so many things! And you've laid this out so nicely too, with the options and the basic ingredients. I've tried my hand at a few peanut sauces in the past and been unimpressed, and I think it's because too many of them basically just try to make peanut butter into a thin sauce without the added flavours (ginger, garlic, lime, etc.). So hooray for this! Thanks!
Nicoletta @sugarlovespices
Loreto is the sauce connoisseurs between us and he makes them all the time. I wasn't used to having any kind of sauces (other than tomato sauce 😉 ) until I came to Canada and now I am already addicted to some of them. Like a good, and homemade, peanut sauce! Yours look and sounds amazing, with the coconut milk (which I love!).
Nicole | What She Ate
I made some peanut sauce yesterday too and it's nearly gone already. How addictive is that stuff?! Even when you make a double batch, it doesn't last. Haha. Love your recipe. Travelling always seems to inspire the taste buds.
Flavour & Savour
So true, Nicole. It's hard to stop devouring it. And yes--we don't go on vacation to lose weight 🙂