When I go to a Thai restaurant, I am excited to have the pad thai, to go into sugar coma from a thai iced tea, all the usual things… But if it’s a GOOD place, then the thing I am most excited about is the salad. And not because of the leaves (it’s usually iceburg…) but because of the AMAZINGLY SCRUMPTIOUS peanut dressing that comes on top. Not all places do this, but I’m tellin ya, the good ones do. I’ve been on a quest to make a similar salad dressing at home, and I have finally perfected my recipe. It tastes very close to what a lot of Thai-styled (I say ‘styled’ because I realize it’s not exactly authentic Thai cuisine most of the time) restaurants serve. If you love peanut butter (and who doesn’t?), you will love this dressing. It makes me want to have salad all the time.

Thai-Style Peanut Dressing

• 1 c. water
• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 c. chunky peanut butter (or use smooth peanut butter and add 1/4 c. chopped peanuts)
• 1/3 c. low-sodium soy sauce (more or less to taste)
• 2 T. apple cider vinegar
• 2 t. toasted sesame oil (regular sesame oil is fine)
• 1 t. Thai fish sauce
• chopped peanuts for topping (optional)

-In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, pour in the water. Allow it to heat, about 2 minutes, and then add the remaining ingredients.

-Whisk together until it comes to a slow boil (about 5 minutes).

-Lower the heat to low and continue to simmer the sauce for another 10 minutes, whisking frequently. Turn the heat off and allow the dressing to cool on the burner, whisking ocassionaly. It will thicken up as it cools.

-Serve the dressing warm (how the restaurants often do it) or allow it to cool to room temperature and refrigerate to use cold as desired. It will last in the refrigerator for at least a week. Makes 12 oz. of dressing.

I love this dressing so much that it gets its own labeled bottle in our fridge.

YUUUMMMM!!!! Oh yeah, I got a label maker! Yes, I’m 23 and buying a label maker is my idea of fun.

My favorite way to serve this is on a salad that’s 1 c. shredded cabbage, 1 c. mixed lettuce, and a thinly sliced carrot.

For this salad I used darker greens, but it’s REALLY good on romaine. I think it would also be great as a dip for grilled chicken or shrimp! This stuff is seriously good.

P.S.- I should mention that I created my recipe by tweaking this one that I found on allrecipes.com.

Thanks for reading! Happy eating!