Delicious doesn’t have to be overly complicated and this tasty salad dressing is proof! I’ve been trying to duplicate this peanut dressing for a very long time and during my last visit to my favorite local Thai restaurant I was able to score a small container of their dressing to take home with me. After some tinkering, tasting, and more tinkering, I was finally able to reproduce their dressing at home. It was super helpful when our waitress told us the two main ingredients were peanut butter and mayonnaise. Mayonnaise? I know, I had the same thought, mayonnaise? Armed with this information and a sample to bring home I set out to recreate one of my favorite salad dressings, and I’m happy to report I finally nailed it!
How To Make A Thai Salad with Peanut Dressing
Start by preparing the lettuce:
Chop a head of iceberg lettuce into bite sized chunks. Place chopped lettuce in a bowl of cold water and let it sit in the water for 20 minutes. This rehydrates the lettuce and makes it crispier and juicier. Don’t believe me? Taste a piece of lettuce before soaking it in cold water and taste a piece after it’s been soaked in water. There truly is a big difference! Go ahead and try it, you’ll see I was right. Soaking the lettuce isn’t required, but in my humble opinion it’s definitely worth doing. There are so few ingredients in this salad I think it’s well worth the extra effort of rehydrating the lettuce for the best tasting salad.
After 20 minutes, drain off the water and use a salad spinner to remove the excess water.
Place the chilled lettuce on salad plates and top each plate with a few celery slices if desired.
Make the dressing:
I was able to bring home a little container of the salad dressing that’s served up at my favorite Thai restaurant. This allowed me to tinker around with the ingredients until I had an exact flavor match. My girlfriend Iesha suggested using sweetened condensed milk (a common ingredient used in many Thai dishes) and it turned out to be the perfect addition! It added the sweetness I was looking for and made for a super rich and creamy dressing.
I used my Magic Bullet Blender to make the dressing. It’s the perfect size to whip up a batch of dressing. Use a larger blender if you decide to double the recipe. What I love about this workhorse of a blender is that it’s mighty but small. It’s perfect for blending small batches of dressing like this one, or for whipping up a smoothie. It sure is handy to store any leftover dressing right in the container I made it in. I can remove the blades and use a screw on cap to store any leftover dressing in the fridge.
Place peanut butter, mayonnaise, sweetened condensed milk, rice vinegar, and sugar in a blender.
Process on high speed until smooth and well combined.
Spoon peanut dressing over the celery and lettuce on each plate to serve. Best served when lettuce is chilled and crisp.
The salad served at my favorite Thai restaurant is just a small plate of lettuce topped with peanut dressing like the picture above. Nothing wrong with that, it’s utterly delicious. I had some celery in the fridge that needed using up and I decided to add some slices to the salad. Peanut butter and celery are a classic combo almost as iconic and PB&J. I love the crunch the celery slices add to the party! They are a delicious addition but if you don’t have it to add, not to worry. This salad is still delicious without them.
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Thai Peanut Salad Dressing
Equipment
- Blender
Ingredients
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 4 tbsp creamy peanut butter
- 4 tbsp sweetened condensed milk
- 4 tbsp rice wine vinegar
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 head iceberg lettuce, chopped
- 2 stalks celery, thinly sliced
Instructions
Prepare lettuce:
- Place chopped lettuce in a bowl of cold water and let it sit in the water for 20 minutes.
- After 20 minutes, drain off the water and use a salad spinner to remove all the excess water.
- Place the chilled lettuce on salad plates and top with celery slices.
Make the dressing:
- Place peanut butter, mayonnaise, sweetened condensed milk, rice vinegar, and sugar in a blender.
- Process on high speed until smooth and well combined.
- Spoon peanut dressing over the celery and lettuce on each plate and serve immediately.
Did You Make This?
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