If you’re not already in love with eating salads, this Peanut Dressing is here to help. It’s creamy, easy to make, and will make you want to lick your plate clean!
Ingredients You’ll Need
What’s in peanut dressing? All you need is a handful of ingredients, that you probably already have in your pantry.
- Peanut butter
- Rice vinegar
- Maple syrup
- Tamari (gluten-free soy sauce)
- Toasted sesame oil
This recipe is inspired by my favorite peanut sauce, but it gets more of a tangy flavor by using rice vinegar instead of lime juice. You can use a apple cider vinegar, too, but you might want to add a little more sweetness to mimic the flavor of the rice vinegar in that case.
How to Make Peanut Salad Dressing
How do you make peanut dressing from scratch? Just add all of the ingredients to a bowl or mason jar, and use a whisk to stir everything together until smooth.
Use a microplane to finely mince both the fresh ginger and garlic into the dressing. This keeps the pieces very small, so you won’t get any huge chunks in your salad dressing later.
Tip: Mixing the dressing directly in your storage jar keeps the mess in your kitchen minimal, with no extra dishes to clean up later!
This peanut dressing tastes delicious right away, but I think the flavor gets even better as it sits in the fridge.
Note: Salad dressings tend to thicken when you chill them in the fridge. Don’t be surprised if you need to add a tablespoon of water later to thin it out later. Use a whisk to mix in the water, and then the dressing should be nice and pour-able again!
Substitutions
Need to use a different ingredient? Here’s my best guess on what might work in this recipe.
Peanut Butter. This gives the dressing its signature flavor, but you can use almond butter, cashew butter, or sunflower butter in its place for a similar creamy texture. Just keep in mind that the flavor will change depending on which option you choose.
Maple Syrup. You can use honey instead of maple syrup, if you don’t need this recipe to be vegan. I’m not sure how other sweeteners will work here, but you can taste as you go with this one, so it’s hard to mess it up.
Toasted Sesame Oil. If you want this recipe to be oil free, or don’t care for the taste of sesame oil, just leave it out and replace it with water to help thin-out the dressing.
Rice Wine Vinegar. You can replace this with apple cider vinegar, and most likely other vinegar varieties, too (esides balsamic, which might be weird). Rice wine vinegar is slightly sweeter than other vinegar options, so adjust the sweetness, as needed.
Garlic & Ginger. You can use dried instead of fresh if you need to! I usually start with 1/4 teaspoon dry for both of these, and then add more to taste.
How to Serve It
Try this peanut salad dressing over shredded cabbage, romaine, shredded carrots, green onions, and fresh cilantro. (Similar to my Asian Slaw recipe!)
Top your salad with Crispy Baked Tofu or Air Fryer Salmon for extra protein, too.
Peanut Dressing
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons all-natural peanut butter (40 grams)
- 2 tablespoons tamari (27 grams; gluten-free soy sauce)
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar (25 grams)
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup (40 grams)
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil (13 grams)
- 1 tablespoon sriracha (16 grams; optional for spice)
- 1 garlic clove , minced (3 grams)
- 1 inch fresh ginger , minced (3 grams)
Instructions
- In a bowl or mason jar, add in all of the ingredients. I use a microplane to finely mince the garlic and ginger directly into the bowl.
- Use a whisk to mix everything together until smooth. Taste, and adjust any seasoning as needed.
- Serve right away over your favorite greens, or place a lid on the mason jar and store it in the fridge until ready to use. It may thicken up when chilled, but you can add 1 tablespoon of water to help thin it out again. This will last in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
If you try this peanut salad dressing, please leave a comment below letting me know how you like it. And if you make any modifications, I’d love to hear about those, too. Your feedback makes my day!
your site is awesome! I have learned so much!!! Thanks u so much
Delicious and used over a baked cauliflower and rice bowl😋
I love that this turned out very tasty dressing and that i did not even have to blend it.
Paired with your baked tofu over couscous and was DELICIOUS! Definitely saving this one for later.
I made this dressing tonight with noodles. It was a family hit. I will definitely make it again! Thank you Megan for all the amazing recipes you share weekly!
I am going to make your peanut dressing for a dinner party tomorrow. The salad you use it on in your post looks amazing. I can tell it has red and green cabbage, carrots, cilantro, and grn. onion in it. Does it also have tomatoes in it? And is there anything else I might have missed?
Thank you,
It has red bell peppers and sugar snap peas, too! (No tomato, but that could work if you want to add it.)
I don’t like spicy foods, so made this without the sriracha and ginger, and just put a whole garlic clove in the jar. It was fantastic over shredded red cabbage. Just what I was looking for. Thanks!
this is really a good sauce. i used it on the Chinese brocelli serve with the salmon. your recipes are so easy to use. thanks.
I loved this dressing! It is good on absolutely everything, my daughter and I have been using it nonstop!!
This recipe is excellent- put it over roasted veggies with chicken breast and noodles- so good!!
I used sweet chili sauce in place of the sriracha since my granddaughter doesn’t like things too spicy. It was delicious with salad and as a dipping sauce for chicken.