When I cook Asian-inspired meals, I usually take a major shortcut: store-bought sauce. One night when I was waiting for the noodles for beef and broccoli to boil, I sat down and took a look at the nutrition facts label of my favorite sauce and immediately decided it was time to ditch that shortcut. The sodium level was a little high for my liking, and there were a few ingredients I thought we could do without. After researching various peanut-based sauces from Martha Stewart, Ellie Krieger, and Pinterest (standard), I came up with this creation. It’s now our go-to for warm or cold noodle dishes!
Spicy Peanut Sauce
Ingredients:
- 3 tablespoons of creamy peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons of rice wine vinegar
- 3 tablespoons of soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons of light brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes (we use a whole teaspoon- beware!)
- 4 cloves of garlic, minced (you could use ginger instead of garlic, or both!)
- 2/3 cup hot water (use pasta water if you are serving the sauce on noodles)
Directions:
- Mix all of the ingredients in a saucepan on medium-high heat.
- Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer for 5 minutes. Serve immediately (with one of my suggestions below).
- You could also add all of the ingredients to a microwaveable safe bowl and microwave on medium-high for 30 seconds, stir, then heat for an additional 30 seconds.
Serving Suggestions:
- Sauce for noodles mixed with veggies + protein
- Sauce for sautéed vegetables
- Sauce for Thai pizza
