I don’t know if anyone else was ever addicted to spicy peanut sauce, but I can assure you I certainly was. I make a killer asian chicken salad with it. I make pasta with it. I have been doing without for a long time, which led me to the question of how I might make a version that was nut, fish, and gluten free.

This is an intimidating list of ingredients but the instructions are pretty much to measure and then put into a bowl and stir. It is even better the next day. If you are planning to store it for more than a day or two, do not add the green onions until just before serving or they get kind of mushy. Well in theory they get mushy. I haven’t actually had the sauce last in my home that long.

The hot sesame oil is sold in tiny bottles at asian markets or sushi stores. It is also sold on Amazon.com. If you like it hotter then you can easily double or quadruple the amount of hot oil.

Ingredients
1/3 cup sunflower seed butter
1/3 cup pickled shredded ginger
1/3 cup chopped green onions
1/3 cup tamari (gluten-free soy sauce)
1 large clove garlic, crushed
3 TB coconut or rice wine vinegar
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
1/2 tsp to 2 tsp of hot sesame oil

Equipment
Measuring cups and spoons
Garlic press
Fork for mixing
Medium sized bowl for mixing and storing sauce

Instructions
Mix all ingredients in a large bowl until sauce is smooth. I start with the sunbutter as it acts as an emulsifier, but the remaining ingredients can be added in almost any order, just make sure you incorporate each one before adding the next one and stir with a fork to get it all really combined.

This sauce can be served hot or cold and is a key component to my killer asian chicken salad. Which I personally ate three bowls of last night, which is actually kind of disgusting, but when was the last time you really needed to just walk away from a salad.

You can also use it on either hot or cold noodles, I had two bowls of those today with the leftovers.

Seriously. Its that good.

This makes about 1 cup of sauce which should not separate in the refrigerator. If it does just mix it up again before using it in a recipe.