Chinese peanut sauce is a delicious sauce made of peanut butter and soy sauce. You can use it as a marinade or even make a pan sauce with it for cooking chicken.
For other Asian-inspired respires please try Asian Marinated Pork Tenderloin, Hibachi Yum Yum Sauce, Blackstone Hibachi Chicken and Vegetables, or Beef Stir Fry.
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Why You Will Love This Recipe
This recipe only uses 4 ingredients and it can be used in many different dishes. See some options below!
Easy to Make at Home: Peanut sauce is simple to prepare at home with just a few ingredients. This means you can easily customize it to suit your taste preferences, adjusting the sweetness, spiciness, or acidity to create your perfect sauce.
Peanut sauce is incredibly versatile and can be used in a variety of dishes, from salads and noodles to grilled meats and vegetables. Its adaptability makes it a staple in many cuisines, particularly in Southeast Asian dishes.
Peanut Sauce with chicken only takes less than 20 minutes to make! Serve it with some Chinese noodles or rice!
I usually cook up some rice or noodles to serve with the peanut chicken.
Ingredients Needed
- Peanut butter - Use good peanut butter that is just ground-up peanuts and no other ingredients added to it. Costco’s Kirland’s brand is really good for this. Can always sub PB2 to make it lower points.
- For the peanut butter, I prefer brands like Jiff or Skippy and it can be crunchy or creamy. If you have a peanut allergy, almond butter is ok to use as well. You might need to adjust the amount of water you add into the sauce first to ¼ cup. Use real peanut butter too, please. It tastes better than PB2 for this dish.
- Water - already in your house!
- Soy sauce - Use a Low Sodium or if you don’t have that on hand go for Tamari or Coconut Amino Acids. To make this sauce gluten-free sub Coconut Aminos or tamari instead of soy sauce.
- Sugar - Regular granulated sugar, I do not use sugar substitutes in any of my recipes but if you know the conversions feel free to do so
- See the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
How to make Peanut Sauce
Step 1: Whisk the peanut butter, water, soy sauce, and sugar, in a small bowl or measuring cup until well combined. Set aside.
Step 2: In a nonstick skillet over medium heat add the olive oil. Add the onions and garlic to the pan and cook until heated through or soft; 3 to 5 minutes. Season with crushed red pepper flakes (optional).
Step 3: Add diced chicken to the pan and cook until the chicken is heated through. 3 to 5 minutes. The chicken is done when it is no longer pink in the middle. I usually take one chicken piece out and cut it to see if it is cooked.
Step 4: Add the peanut sauce to the pan and continue cooking for another 2 to 3 minutes until everything is heated through.
Recipe Tip: If the sauce is too thick add small amounts of water until you like the consistency.
Serve with cooked noodles.
Tips for Chinese Peanut Sauce
What can you do with peanut sauce?
This peanut sauce is a classic dipping sauce for grilled chicken skewers.
Use peanut sauce for Asian Stir Fries or for dipping.
Air fry up some chicken wings and when they're done toss them in a bowl so that they're completely covered in this peanut sauce.
You can use it for dipping those yummy spring rolls, chicken satay, stir-fry, lettuce wraps, or make thai peanut noodle salad. I made a delicious peanut chicken stir fry with noodles for this recipe.
Make these salads like Thai Quinoa Salad with Fresh Herbs, Spicy Thai Noodles, or Chopped Thai Chicken Salad.
Peanut sauce is also great for dipping with Air Fryer Frozen Chicken Nuggets.
To make the sauce smooth and creamy use a food processor, instead of whisking the sauce in a bowl.
Recipe FAQs
This peanut sauce recipe consists of peanut butter, soy sauce, water, and sugar. That's it! No other ingredients are needed.
Peanut sauce will last in air tight container for 3 to 5 days or until it's all used up. Just make sure the lid is sealed tight so no air gets in.
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Chinese Peanut Sauce
- Prep Time: 5 min
- Cook Time: 10 min
- Total Time: 20 min
- Yield: 4 to 6 1x
- Category: Easy
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Asian
Description
Chinese peanut sauce is a delicious sauce made of peanut butter and soy sauce. You can use it as a marinade or even make a pan sauce with it for cooking chicken.
Ingredients
Peanut Sauce:
½ cup peanut butter
½ cup water
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
Chinese Peanut Sauce Stir Fry
2 large chicken breasts, diced into cubes
2 teaspoon of olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup onion, diced
pinch of red pepper flakes
Cooked Spaghetti Noodles for serving
2 scallions, diced (0ptional)
Instructions
Peanut Sauce: Whisk the peanut butter, water, soy sauce, and sugar, in a small bowl until well combined. Set aside.
Peanut Sauce Stir Fry: In a nonstick skillet over medium heat add the olive oil. Add the onions and garlic to the pan and cook until heated through or soft; 2 to 3 minutes. Season with crushed red pepper flakes.
Add diced chicken to the pan and cook until the chicken is heated through. 4 to 6 minutes. The chicken is done when it is no longer pink in the middle. I usually take one chicken piece out and cut it to see if it is cooked.
Add the peanut sauce to the pan and continue cooking for another 2 to 3 minutes until everything is heated through.
If the sauce is too thick add small amounts of water until you like the consistency.
Serve with cooked noodles.
Serving Size: ¾ cup of chicken with sauce
Notes
My WW Personal Points: 5 Click here to see in recipe builder (will have to log in)
If the sauce is too thick add small amounts of water until you like the consistency.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: ¾ cup
- Calories: 212
- Sugar: 9g
- Sodium: 590mg
- Fat: 13g
- Saturated Fat: 2g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2g
- Carbohydrates: 16g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 10g
Suzette says
Easy recipe I loved it and thank you
Jenna says
Oh that's awesome to hear they both liked it! I love that sauce! Thanks!
Denise says
I made this last night with major anxiety because my oldest son, who has exquisite taste buds, and my husband who is fussy, I wasn't sure they would like it!! This recipe is going to be used frequently it was everything I hoped for and more! plus, they both loved it!!
Rhiannon says
so addicted to this recipe
Jenna says
Try it and find out. There are other ingredients to it other than just peanut butter.
Pat says
does this sauce actually taste like peanut butter or does it taste like peanut sauce?there is a big difference
Jenna says
That sounds great. Will definitely have to try that!