the best easy vegan peanut sauce.
it’s here. the moment you’ve been waiting for. i’ve been promising for YEARS to post my vegan peanut sauce recipe, and today is the day. this recipe is easy, takes a whole 5 minutes, and is begged for by my family at least once a week.
if you don’t know me in real life (or don’t follow me on instagram, which you should be) you need to know one thing: my #1 priority in life is peanut sauce. as my friend alysha says, “peanut sauce is my only god”. she right.
the vegan peanut sauce experience
i first ran into peanut sauce the first time i went to a pho restaurant and got summer rolls. savory peanut items were still a mystery to me, and that day changed my whole damn life.
i started making spring rolls (or summer rolls, whatever you call the wet rice paper wraps) in college right when i went vegan. contrary to popular belief, they’re super easy to make!
i’ve made a wide variety of variations from vegan buffalo chicken rolls to fruity desert rolls, but i always come back too the standard greens, avocado, tofu, cilantro and basil. and of course peanut sauce for dipping!
over the course of 3 years, i have perfected my recipe. i’ve tried a million different variations, and it turns out simple it best. it’s only 5 ingredients, and is easily made with a blender.
what can you use peanut sauce for?
i wouldn’t say this is a traditional indonesian or thai peanut sauce by any means, but it captures the creamy, spicy, salty vibe without any hard to get or nonvegan ingredients.
you can use this peanut sauce for most anything, from dipping rolls to salad dressing to warm peanut noodle dishes. the recipe is written to be a dipping sauce, but the consistency is easily adjusted by adding more or less hot water.
peanut sauce adjustments and substitutions
if you make this peanut sauce and you don’t like it, we can’t be friends.
just kidding, of course! over my years of making this sauce, i’ve used a million different ingredients to make slightly different sauces. here are some of my favorite adjustments or substitutions.
hoisin sauce: i put this vietnamese condiment on everything, so it inevitably made it’s way into the sauce. hosin lends some salty and sweet. it’s a good replacement for agave, just use a bit less soy.
sambal: if you want a bit of chunky spice, replace sriracha with sambal! it will give the sauce a bit of texture. be warned, sambal is considerably spicier than sriracha, so be cautious!
almond butter: if you don’t like peanuts or have an allergy, this sauce can be made with almond butter or another nut butter. i don’t like it as much, but to each their own!
lime juice: cut the fat in the peanut butter with a little acidity. i prefer to garnish a peanut sauce dish with lime wedges to people can adjust as they wish, but if you’re using it as a dipping sauce you may want to squeeze a bit of lime in before blending. you can also add more rice vinegar, but i’m not a fan of the taste.