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This Thai-inspired Peanut Dressing is nutty and citrusy with a hint of sweetness, and a whisper of heat. Toss it with your favorite slaw mix, crunchy veggies, or leafy greens for a burst of sunny flavor.
When things change inside you, things change around you. —Unknown
This Peanut Dressing has been on the blog for quite a while- first introduced in the Thai Crunch Salad, many years ago now. Several people have requested the peanut dressing recipe on its own, with independent nutritional values, so this one is for you!
It is fairly similar in flavor to the Peanut Sauce we have on the blog, but its consistency is better suited to be tossed with salad greens or crunchy slaws.
Why make homemade Salad Dressing?
All too often, store-bought dressings are made with low-quality, inflammation-causing seed oils (canola, soy oil, sunflower, corn, grapeseed, rice bran, or safflower) because these are much less expensive to produce than high-quality olive oil.
The process by which these oils are made (heated to very high temps, then treated with chemicals to remove bad smells and dark color) is what is harmful to the body. Research shows that consuming too much of these seed oils creates inflammation in the body, damages our immune system, creates metabolic disease, type 2 diabetes, and the list goes on. Type 2 Diabetes did not exist until we introduced these “new” seed oils into our diets in the 1970s. A healthy diet consists of 2-4% of polyunsaturated fats, but now we are seeing an average of 10-20% of these oils in western diets, because of all the processed foods were consuming.
Store-bought salad dressing- even seemingly “good” brands that tout “Organic” and “non-GMO” are guilty of including these less expensive, harmful seed oils. Always check the labels. For more info on seed oils – read this and scroll all the way to the bottom.
The thought of people taking the time to create a beautiful, nourishing salad, then dousing it with seed oils makes me shudder! So please friends, check the labels or make your own.
Ingredients in Peanut Dressing:
- 1 orange
- 1 lime
- garlic cloves
- ginger
- all-natural peanut butter (unsweetened)
- olive oil
- toasted sesame oil
- soy sauce or Braggs Liquid Amino Acids (GF)
- rice vinegar
- sambal (red chile paste) or sriracha sauce
- salt
- Sweetener: honey, maple syrup, agave or brown sugar
How to make Peanut Dressing:
Peanut Dressing requires 5 minutes of hands-on time. Simply place the ingredients- peanut butter, olive and sesame oil, orange juice, lime juice, rice vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, and seasonings, in a blender and blend until smooth.
Pour the Peanut Dressing in a sealed jar or salad dressing bottle. How easy is that?
Store the Peanut Dressing in the fridge for up to 7 days- a nice thing to have on hand!
My favorite way to enjoy this Thai Peanut dressing is tossed with slaw– utilizing all the beautiful fall cabbages in season right now! Or pick up a bag of shredded broccoli or shredded carrots and create your own mix. The peanut slaw keeps in the fridge for a few days and is great in tacos, on burgers or as a side to what you are already serving.
Have a beautiful fall weekend friends,
More dressings you may like:
- Creamy Avocado Dressing
- Creamy Cashew Basil Dressing
- Mustard Seed Maple Dressing
- Miso Dressing
- Creamy Pesto Dressing
- Greek Salad Dressing
- Italian Dressing
- Creamy Herby Hemp Dressing

Peanut Dressing
- Prep Time: 5
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 1 ⅛ cups 1x
- Category: dressings,
- Method: blended
- Cuisine: thai
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This Thai-inspired Peanut Dressing is delicious tossed with slaws and salad greens. It’s nutty, citrusy, subtly sweet with a tiny bit of heat that you can kick up a notch to taste. It’s delicious tossed with crunchy slaws!
Ingredients
- 1 orange, both zest and juice (1 tablespoon zest, 1/3 cup-1/2 cup juice)
- 1 lime, juice (1/4 cup)
- 3 tablespoons honey, maple, agave or brown sugar
- 2 garlic cloves
- 3 thin sliced disks of ginger (about 1 1/2 tablespoon)
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce or Braggs Liquid Amino Acids (GF)
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1/2– 1 teaspoon sambal (red chile paste) or sriracha sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, more to taste.
- 1/4 cup peanut butter
Instructions
Place the orange juice, orange zest, lime juice, sweetener, garlic, ginger, olive oil, sesame oil, soy sauce, vinegar, optional chili paste, salt, and peanut butter in a blender, and blend until smooth.
Store in a sealed jar or salad dressing bottle in the fridge.
Notes
Peanut Dressing will keep up to 7 days in the fridge.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 tablespoons
- Calories: 124
- Sugar: 5.6 g
- Sodium: 166.6 mg
- Fat: 10.3 g
- Saturated Fat: 1.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 7.8 g
- Fiber: 0.4 g
- Protein: 1.7 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Keywords: peanut dressing, thai peanut dressing, peanut dressing. recipe
This dressing is delicious! People always ask me for the recipe. I can’t tell you how many people I have referred to your website and newsletter. Loads! I often add matchstick apple to a slaw and reduce the maple syrup on the recipe. It’s a nice sweet/sour addition to your standard veggies.
Great to hear! Appreciate you sharing Sharah!!!
Yummy!!!!
★★★★★
Yay!
I’m wondering why type of blender people use for these smaller quantity dressings.
I’m not finding a processor or bender has the ability to mix the small amounts.
I know it is challenging. A lot of scraping down or the sides. That is why I double it. Oh! An immersion blender works great here.
Dear Admin, I have been following your recipes for several days now. You have beautifully described each recipe and loved it. Thank you very much.
Well thanks!
Looks Yummy and so easy
Hello, it’s Nisha here. This is really very useful salad dressing recipe I had ever seen. Thanks a lot.
Thanks Nisha!