Thai Peanut Salad Dressing

by Karen M
(NH)

My closest Thai restaurant makes a great peanut salad dressing. It is thin like a vingrette. Do you have a recipe to share?

Deer’s Reply:

Thank you Karen for your message. The peanut vinaigrette you described sounds delicious!

Peanut is a versatile and key ingredient to Thai cooking. I personally love adding peanuts into many of my dishes. It adds exotic flavor and crunchy texture.

Before we get started, I’d like to recommend a little secret to making a good crunchy full flavored peanut before adding into your dish.

Briefly rinse the peanuts off in water and then thoroughly dry. Then dry fry or dry roast on a frying pan without oil over low heat. You may add a small pinch of salt. Remove when the peanut is evenly golden. Place in a bowl and cover with a lid for a few minutes. This will help the dry fried peanut become crunchier and more full flavored.


Thai peanut salad dressings can be made in varied recipes and it can be used as a salad dressing or a dip with different dishes. I have 2 additional Thai peanut salad dressing recipes for you to try.

These two peanut dressings can be created and refrigerated in sealed containers for up to one week. Once again for optimal taste with a crunchy texture it is better to enjoy the dressing at the time of creation.

#1 – Four Flavored Peanut Dressing (Spicy, Sour, Sweet and Salty)

Ingredients:
Dried red chili pepper (de-seed and soak in warm water until soft, 2 pieces, optional)
Tamarind paste – (soak a handful of tamarind in one cup of warm water for 10 minutes.)
Palm sugar 2 blocks
Water 1 cup
Salt 1 tsp
Apple Cider Vinegar 3 tbsp
Peanut, dry fried and crushed ½ cup

How to make:

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• Finely pound dried chili peppers that have been soaked in water with mortar and pestle or alternatively you can finely chop. Set aside.
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• Bring 1 cup of water to rapidly boil and add 2 blocks of palm sugar and 1 cup of tamarind extracted juice. Simmer until the mixture starts to thicken (approximately 20 minutes).
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• Stir a few times.
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• Add salt and apple cider vinegar. Remove from the heat.
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• Wait until dressing is cool. Then add the crushed peanut in.
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Mix this peanut dressing with meat or seafood dishes.

#2 - Two Flavored Peanut Dressing (Sweet and Salty)

Ingredients:
Peanuts – (dry fried and finely pounded 1 cup)
White sesame seeds – (dry fried 1 tbsp)
Salt 1 tsp
Palm sugar 1 block
Water 1 ½ cup

How to make:

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• Bring 1 cup of water to rapidly boil and add a block of palm sugar until dissolved roughly about 5-7 minutes.
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• Lower the heat. Add finely pounded peanut, white sesame and salt. Continue stirring for a few minutes.
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• Remove from the heat and use when it is cool.
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• Serve with your choice of salad.
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Karen, I hope you enjoy the recipes above. Don’t forget to look at my Satay Recipe for another great way to combine peanuts into Thai food. This recipe provides a simple by super effective way to create authentic Thai satays with a full flavored peanut sauce and traditional sweet chili dipping sauce.

Thanks again for visiting my site and feel free to share any recipes that you think other thai-recipe-today visitors may like to try.