How much do you like peanut butter? If you’re as much of a fan of it as we are, chances are you have more than one jar sitting around the house. As often happens with peanut butter, we end up half-finishing a jar which then gets buried in the back of the pantry or the fridge and before we know it, we already have several more. The result is a lot of wasted peanut butter that we don’t know what to do with. Fortunately, we have a perfect solution for your half-eaten jars.
Instead of getting rid of old peanut butter, why not use it to make a delicious Thai stir fry? For anyone who is a fan of Thai food, peanut sauce is very commonly used in these dishes. In general, Thai cooking is pretty complex and needs some insider knowledge to pull off. Fortunately, this recipe is easy enough for anyone to do right at home.
Here’s what you need:
- 1 cup of peanut butter (which is generally half a jar)
- 1/4 cup of soy sauce (or 1/4 cup of tamari)
- 1/4 cup of sesame oil
- 3 tablespoons of rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons of chopped ginger
- 2 tablespoons of chopped garlic
- 1 teaspoon of hot sauce
- 1 tablespoon of hoisin sauce
- 1 tablespoon of fresh lime juice
- 3/4 cups of water
- food processor
Here’s what you do:
1. First, prepare your ginger and garlic by peeling them and mincing them finely. Throw them in a food processor.
2. With those ingredients ready to go, add in your soy sauce, sesame oil, hot sauce, hoisin sauce, lime juice, water and peanut butter. Stir everything up until it’s well combined or use a food processor to blend it all together.
3. After you’ve blended it, check the taste and the consistency. If the soy flavor is overpowering, feel free to add more of the other ingredients or more water to balance it out. Similarly, if the mixture is too thick, add more water and process again until it hits the right consistency. And that’s all there is to it!
Ultimately, this recipe makes several cups of this tangy, spicy peanut sauce—and you may be wondering what to do it with now that it’s made.
Fortunately, we have three easy ways you can use your peanut sauce throughout the week as well.
Spicy Thai Noodles
- 12 ounces linguine noodles
- sesame oil
- 1/2 cup of green onions
- 2 cups of stir fry vegetables
- ground peanuts
For this recipe, simply boil the noodles in a pot according to the directions on the box. After they’re ready, rinse and drain them and then toss them with sesame oil—because the flavor of this oil is so strong, err on the side of caution here. We suggest two tablespoons! In the meantime, slice up your green onions and make sure you have some stir fry vegetables ready to go (these can be thawed out frozen vegetables).
With everything done, transfer the noodles and veggies to a bowl and pour in your desired amount of peanut sauce. Top it with chopped green onions and ground peanuts and you’re ready to eat!
Thai Peanut Salad
- 1 package of stir fry noodles
- cornstarch
- vegetable oil
- green cabbage
- purple cabbage
- green onions
- shredded carrots
First, get a deep skillet and fill it with about a half inch of vegetable oil. Open your package of stir fry noodles and toss it in a strainer with a few tablespoons of cornstarch. Once the noodles are coated, fry them in the oil for a few minutes until they’re nice and crispy. Transfer them out with a slotted spoon or a strainer onto paper towels.
After that, finely shred however much you want of green and purple cabbage, along with your carrots. Throw them in a bowl along with your diced green onions before adding in your fried noodles when they’re cool. Finally, pour in your peanut sauce and enjoy!
Thai Peanut Dipping Sauce
- baby carrots
- celery
This one is the simplest option of all. For any extra sauce you have, simply grab some baby carrots or celery stalks and go to town!
Above all, this peanut sauce is delicious, savory and has many different uses. Be sure to look up other Thai recipes for inspiration, but this should be more than enough to get you started. Happy cooking!
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