Sauces are the power tools in your kitchen. They are transformative, turning a basic recipe into something different and delicious. Sauces transport you around the world in just a spoonful. Here’s my latest sauce recipe made with creamy almond butter - Asian Almond Butter Sauce. It's a quick, no-cook sauce good for a variety of uses.
Asian Almond Butter Sauce
Using creamy almond butter, I created this quick Asian-style sauce with ginger, garlic, sesame oil, rice vinegar, tamari (wheat-free soy sauce) and a little honey. It’s thick and creamy. If you want it thinner add a little warm water and stir until smooth.
Ingredients for Almond Butter Sauce
- Natural almond butter (cashew or tahini)
- Unseasoned rice vinegar
- Neutral oil, sesame, melted coconut oil or MCT oil
- Low sodium tamari or soy sauce
- Honey
- Finely grated ginger or pureed ginger from jar
- Garlic chopped very fine or garlic powder
What to do With It
Use Asian almond butter sauce as a dipping sauce for:
- Grilled chicken or shrimp kabobs
- Make an Asian noodle salad. Thin and toss with cooked, chilled brown rice noodles adding chopped raw vegetables to complete the salad.
- Drizzle over seared Ahi tuna.
- Spread onto a freshly grilled burger.
- Use as the dressing for this Asian Cabbage Salad recipe.
- Use as a dip for a raw veggie platter.
Thick or thin, it is versatile and will keep in the refrigerator for a week.
A Better Nut Butter
Creamy almond butter. Give me a spoon and I could eat an entire jar. With a mellow flavor and rich texture, it beats peanut butter in my book every time (ok, I am an almond addict).
If you are new to real nut butters, be prepared for sticker shock. They are more expensive than peanut butter. And if you are used to super sweet commercial peanut butter with added sugars or corn syrup, almond butter won’t taste as sweet.
Almond Butter versus Peanut Butter
Peanut butter is a little controversial these days, but what isn't? For most of us growing up it was a household staple. Who never had a peanut and butter jelly sandwich? Peanut butter is hard to beat in popularity and price but many people are allergic to peanuts.
Another concern is possible contamination by a toxic fungus called aflatoxin. Aflatoxin is not supposedly not a problem with most peanuts or peanut butter sold in the US today, but it still gives me pause.
Peanuts are not nuts but legumes, plants that have pods with their seeds inside. Think of beans and peas. Almonds are called nuts but are really the seeds of the almond fruit. The good news is there are wonderful "nut" butters available today.
Peanut butter and almond butter are similar nutritionally and both have a place in a healthy diet (unless you are allergic). Almond butter has more monounsaturated fat and about half the amount of saturated fat of peanut butter and offers more minerals and fiber and both offer healthy fat and protein.
Buying Almond Butter
Buy almond butter where the label reads nothing but almonds. Skip added sugar, salt, corn syrup, and unwanted additives or preservatives. My two favorite brands of almond butter are made by Artisana and Maranatha. Artisana does not need refrigeration and Maranatha recommends refrigeration for theirs.
FAQ's
Absolutely.
Try it with tahini butter, made with sesame seeds.
Grilled shrimp or chicken, cold noodle salads, burgers, as a dip for raw veggies (snack)
Use coconut amino instead of tamari or soy sauce. This makes it vegan too.
Yes if you prefer.
Easy Asian Almond Butter Sauce
Ingredients
- ¼ cup natural almond butter sub cashew butter
- 2 tablespoon unseasoned rice vinegar sub white vinegar
- 1 ½ tablespoons neutral flavored oil or sesame, cocout
- 1 ½ tablespoons low sodium tamari or soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons honey
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 2 teaspoons finely grated ginger or pureed ginger from jar
- 1 clove garlic chopped very fine or garlic powder
Instructions
- Place everything in a small bowl and stir together until smooth. Use thick or thin with a little warm water.
Daneille Miller says
Love this recipe! I made it several times, once with cashew butter and it was just as good.
Sally Cameron says
Love to hear that Danielle, thanks.
Joe says
Made this sauce and put it over rice udon noodles and tofu, sprinkled with sliced scallions and a squeeze of lime. Delish! Easy to make. Thanks for the recipe!
Sally Cameron says
Oooo sounds delicious!
Mark Tibbetts says
Absolutely delucious! Better than peanut butter for satay. Thanks for the recipe.
Sally Cameron says
Love to hear that Mark! I agree!
Kathleen says
Going to try it tonight! Thanks for sharing
Aleah says
I tried this recipe out today. DELICIOUS!!! ??
I was lazy to chop up a garlic clove, so I used some garlic powder instead, and I added another half tsp. of soy sauce. Overall, it was AWESOME!!! I'll so make this again. Thank you so much for posting up the recipe! ?
Sally Cameron says
Love to hear that Aleah! Thanks for commenting 😉
Kristina @ Fit To Savor says
Wow this sounds fantastic! Definite;ly need to try this recipe out soon!
Elizabeth says
I made this this afternoon with virgin coconut oil in place of sesame, and it was great. I added a bit of sea salt and some lime juice, which made it divine. The coconut oil made it pretty rich, though, and I forgot to cut it with some water, but it's still a great sauce!
Hari Chandana says
Wonderful recipe.. thanks for sharing 🙂
Linda says
Thanks for this Sally I can't wait to try it! As I have recently developed a peanut allergy I have been missing peanut sauces especially in some Asian dishes. I think this recipe should substitute nicely.
Kathy says
This sounds wonderful, but I'm wondering if you've tried it with other nuts. I recently found out I am highly sensitive to almonds, peanuts and hazelnuts. (Too bad, I love almond butter!) I am wondering if cashew or macadamia nut butter would be acceptable alternatives in this recipe?
Sally says
HI Kathy. I'm sure it would work with macs or cashews. You will just have to adjust the flavors. Make it, taste and add what you need for your tasetbuds. Please comment back and let me know what you do. I eat almonds every day and would just die it I could not eat them! That's a tough one. But cashews and macs are terrific too.