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    Home » Hunger

    Low-Calorie Spicy Thai Peanut Dressing

    By Lauren on January 18, 2019, Updated April 27, 2021 28 Comments

    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe
    overhead photo of thai peanut dressing and a salad dressed

    Low Calorie Thai Peanut Dressing is bringing you all the taste of creamy peanut butter, toasted sesame, savory green onions, and a little peanut crunch with the subtlest spicy heat but with 85% less fat, calories. Your veggies are gonna be SO happy!

    overhead photo of thai peanut dressing and a salad dressed

    Not just your veggies either, your taste buds are going to be saying, "you know what, you alright." And the rest of you is going to be happy because the prep for this Low Calorie Thai Peanut Dressing is just a few pulses in the food processor.

    This post first appeared on Hunger Thirst Play in March 2017. The recipe remains the same delicious goodness, but content and affiliate links for this post have been updated.

    spoonful of low calorie thai peanut dressing

    low calorie thai peanut dressing being spooned on top of a salad

    Three simple reasons you are going to want to make this dressing and put it ON ALL THE THINGS:

    1. Tasty
    2. Easy
    3. Less calories with full peanut buttery goodness

    Where do we sign up? Right here. ⬇️

    how to make low calorie Thai peanut dressing

    To start, you'll need powdered peanut butter. That's the magic ingredient that takes regular peanuts, presses them to remove the oils and grinds them into a fine powder giving us powdered peanut butter.

    Now, you don't have to use powdered peanut butter. You can go the traditional creamy peanut butter route and still have delicious Thai peanut dressing. If you're looking to cut some calories and fat from your diet, without giving up that creamy nutty goodness, this might be just the thing.

    overhead photo of thai peanut dressing ingredients in the food processor

    Combine the powdered peanut butter with the wet ingredients (water, sesame oil and rice wine vinegar) in a food processor until smooth. Then add everything else except the peanuts and blend for about 30 seconds. You'll want to chop the scallions beforehand so they blend up easier.

    Lastly, and this step is totally optional, add a few whole peanuts and pulse just a few times to break them into smaller pieces for some peanutty crunch.

    Now just try not to dip all your vegetables in it, I dare you.

    close up of thai peanut dressing on top of an easy green salad

    How to eat low-calorie thai peanut dressing

    This sauce and veggies are going to be BFFs. Like the kind that always get along and can sit in comfortable silence together but also make fun of each others poor dating choices (what are friends for, right?)

    My favorite way to eat this is on a quick salad. Baby spinach or mixed greens, some pre-shelled edamame and sliced cucumbers. Red peppers and carrots are a great crunchy add in.

    To add a peanut sauce twist to dinner time, try topping these Instant Pot Pad Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps. The slightly sweet Pad Thai sauce cooked into the chicken is a match made in heaven with this savory peanut sauce.

    For your next get together, dinner party, or casual hang out serve your Thai peanut dressing alongside chopped veggies for dipping for a lighter, unexpected option rather than regular ranch or typical sour cream based dips.

    Or you can do what I do and cut stand at the counter cutting up pieces of cucumber (this easy, inexpensive hand mandoline is my go to and stores easily in the kitchen drawer!) dipping them into the jar until the entire cucumber *mysteriously* disappears. 

    Huh, how'd that happen? Shhh, no one needs to know....

     
    spoonful of low calorie thai peanut dressing

    Low-Calorie Spicy Thai Peanut Dressing

    Full of creamy peanut butter flavor, toasted sesame, savory scallions and a hint of spice this low calorie Thai peanut dressing is easy to make and perfect for salads or as a dip!
    5 from 7 votes
    Print Pin SaveSaved! Rate
    Course: Salad
    Cuisine: Thai
    Keyword: healthy peanut sauce, low calorie peanut sauce, pb2 recipes, powdered peanut butter recipes
    Prep Time: 15 mins
    Total Time: 15 mins
    Servings: 4 servings
    Calories: 132kcal
    Author: Lauren
    Prevent your screen from going dark

    Ingredients

    Low-Calorie Spicy Thai Peanut Dressing

    • 4 tablespoon powdered peanut butter
    • 2 tablespoon water
    • 2 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
    • 2 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
    • 2 ea scallions (chopped)
    • 1 teaspoon fresh ginger (paste or fresh grated)
    • 2 teaspoon Sriracha
    • ¼ teaspoon fish sauce (optional)
    • 2 tablespoon whole unsalted peanuts

    Instructions

    Low-Calorie Spicy Thai Peanut Dressing

    • In a food processor, combine powdered peanut butter, water, sesame oil and rice wine vinegar.  Blend for 10 to 15 seconds until combined.
    • Add scallions, ginger, sriracha and fish sauce.  Blend for an addition 20 to 30 seconds until scallions and ginger are finely minced and incorporated.
    • Add peanuts and pulse 4 to 5 times so the pieces are broken but not blended.  It should resemble the same size as 'chunky peanut butter' pieces or larger.

    Notes

    • I really like the PB2 or Just Great Stuff brands for Powdered Peanut Butter options.
    • Ginger paste is a huge time saver and delivers the same great taste without peeling and grinding.  You can find it in the produce section where the herbs will be.
    • Sriracha is totally optional.  If you are sensitive to spicy foods, try adding just a little at a time and adding more depending on what you like.  The spicy kick will hit your palate at the end of the taste.
    • Fish sauce adds really great salty flavor.  The fish taste isn't noticeable, but if it freaks you out just substitute a pinch of salt.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 132kcal | Carbohydrates: 5g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 1mg | Sodium: 131mg | Potassium: 71mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 88IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 14mg | Iron: 1mg
    « How to Make Quick Pickled Cabbage
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    Comments

    1. Lesley says

      February 20, 2021 at 5:53 pm

      5 stars
      Made this today and it was amazing! Just made another batch and quadrupled the recipe so that we’d have enough for the week. Fabulous with rice paper rolls and on salad.

      Reply
      • Lauren says

        February 23, 2021 at 6:10 am

        Thank you Lesley!

        Reply
    2. Erin says

      October 29, 2020 at 10:43 am

      5 stars
      Do you think this would be good over cooked chicken (and veggies)? Trying to find a low-cal healthy way to make my favorite dish from the Thai place I used to frequent.

      Reply
      • Lauren says

        October 29, 2020 at 10:45 am

        Would the veggies be cooked or raw? I'm not sure if the sauce would be great warm, it might need a little more sesame oil to add a bit more weight to it as a warm sauce. If the veggies are raw then I would definitely recommend it! That's usually how I eat it.

        Reply
    3. Nicole says

      April 23, 2020 at 7:14 pm

      5 stars
      Perfect! I tried to convert a sauce recipe using "real" peanut butter into one using PB2 and failed miserably. This one was great! Thanks! I didn't have rice vinegar so substituted white vinegar and added a little sugar (though after reading online maybe I should have used apple cider instead). Didn't have scallions and used ground ginger instead of paste (half tsp instead of full). Pinch of salt instead of fish sauce. No sriracha for me because I'm a wimp. Came out great with the perfect consistency! Planning to scale this up to make larger batches to keep on hand in the fridge because it's so good it will go with anything!

      Reply
      • Lauren says

        April 25, 2020 at 6:34 am

        So happy you loved it! This is a favorite for dressing, dipping sauce and dumplings around here!

        Reply
    4. Suzy says

      February 29, 2020 at 6:35 pm

      I made this and it is awesome!!!!!

      Reply
      • Lauren says

        March 02, 2020 at 9:52 pm

        Thank you!!

        Reply
    5. David says

      November 01, 2019 at 12:46 am

      How long does this last in the fridge once made?

      Reply
      • Lauren says

        November 01, 2019 at 7:20 am

        3 days

        Reply
    6. Melissa says

      August 07, 2019 at 10:46 pm

      What is the serving size and how many calories? I cannot find the nutritional info you said you posted.

      Reply
      • Lauren says

        August 10, 2019 at 8:55 am

        Four servings per recipe. The nutritional information is right below the recipe.

        Reply
    7. Melissa says

      May 28, 2019 at 9:06 am

      I made this last night, but I left out the scallions since I didn't have any. Instead, I added 1 tsp minced garlic. I also left out the whole peanuts, again since I didn't have any. I ended up adding all the ingredients to a mason jar and just using a fork to stir it. I doubled the recipe. I wanted a spicy, salty, AND slightly sweet dressing, so I added four scoops of Stevia powder (I get a brand called "Now Better Stevia Organic Sweetener" from Amazon. Each scoop that comes with the bottle is 1/32 tsp, so I ended up using 1/8 tsp total for the double recipe. It turned out excellent! The dressing isn't as low calorie as I would like, but I may have to cut back on the sesame oil to get a lower calorie dressing. Thanks for the recipe!

      Reply
      • Lauren says

        May 28, 2019 at 9:21 pm

        So glad you enjoyed it! The garlic substitution would definitely work!

        Reply
      • Cyndy says

        February 17, 2021 at 4:36 pm

        I love this recipe. I just use a teaspoon or so of sesame oil, and I use the PB&Me brand of peanut powder because it has no sugar. I don't use the chopped peanuts because I never have any in the house (they would all get eaten immediately 🙂 )

        Reply
        • Lauren says

          February 20, 2021 at 3:50 pm

          Thank you so much for your comment Cyndy! This is a particular favorite of mine too!

          Reply
    8. Erin says

      March 13, 2019 at 7:47 pm

      How many calories per serve?

      Reply
      • Lauren says

        March 13, 2019 at 10:57 pm

        Hi Erin - I've just added nutrition labels to some of my recipes, including this one!

        Reply
    9. Angela W Broyles says

      November 28, 2017 at 6:42 am

      5 stars
      Really good! I added a little lime

      Reply
      • Lauren says

        November 28, 2017 at 8:20 am

        So glad to hear you enjoyed this! We make it all the time. I love your idea of adding a little lime!

        Reply
    10. Mar says

      April 17, 2017 at 7:14 pm

      Oh wow, that is my dream dinner! I love making my own dressings. So much tastier!

      Reply
    11. Jessica says

      April 17, 2017 at 9:36 am

      This looks so delicious and nutritious!
      xo Jessica
      http://www.whatsfordinneresq.com

      Reply
    12. Carly @caffeinatedcarly.com says

      April 17, 2017 at 9:08 am

      Oh my gosh! I have been looking for a peanut dressing like this. I am so excited to try it!! My mouth is already watering!

      Reply
    13. Joscelyn says

      March 15, 2017 at 2:32 pm

      Mmm, looks so good! I think I even have all of these ingredients to try it soon!

      Reply
    14. Cheryl says

      March 11, 2017 at 2:26 pm

      I've never tried powdered peanut butter, but I love peanut dressing. This sounds great.

      Reply
    15. Jasmine Hewitt says

      March 11, 2017 at 8:57 am

      5 stars
      this looks really good! I'll have to try it sometime.

      Reply
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    Hi, I'm Lauren! This is my slice of the internet to share seasonally-inspired recipes. I live in the heart of New England with my husband, two kiddos, English bulldog and our two local restaurants. Life is busy AND delicious!

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