What can I make with peanut butter?
Peanut Butter is what makes a sauce feel finished, as long as it does not split. Recipes using peanut butter are below, followed by the temperature rules that keep it smooth.
5 recipes with peanut butter
Thai pork & peanut curry
step 1 Heat the oil in a large saucepan or flameproof casserole.
Thai4
Rocky Road Fudge
Line an 8-inch-square baking pan with wax paper or foil, and coat with non-stick spray.
United States4
Peanut Butter Cookies
Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC).
United States4
Apam balik
Mix milk, oil and egg together.
Malaysian4
Nutty Chicken Curry
Finely slice a quarter of the chilli, then put the rest in a food processor with the ginger, garlic, coriander stalks and one-third of the leaves.
India4
Cooking with peanut butter without splitting or clumping
- 1Bring peanut butter closer to room temperature before it meets heat; cold dairy in a hot pan is what curdles.
- 2Add it off the heat or on the lowest setting, stirring constantly.
- 3A teaspoon of flour or cornstarch stabilises a sauce and keeps it glossy.
- 4Salt and acid go in at the end - both encourage splitting when added early.
What goes well with peanut butter
Peanut Butter is at its best with garlic, herbs, lemon, flour, black pepper and nutmeg. Any two or three of those, plus peanut butter, is already a dinner rather than an ingredient list.
Storing peanut butter
Keep peanut butter in the main body of the fridge, not the door, where the temperature swings most. Wrap cheese in paper rather than plastic so it can breathe. Hard cheeses freeze acceptably for cooking; fresh dairy does not freeze well.
Substituting peanut butter
If you are out of peanut butter, look for something that behaves the same way in the pan rather than something that tastes the same. Match the moisture level, the cooking time, and the richness, and adjust the liquid slightly if your substitute releases more water. When in doubt, describe what you actually have in the chat and Mr. Chef will rewrite the recipe around it.
Peanut Butter recipes: common questions
- What can I make with peanut butter and not much else?
- Plenty. With peanut butter plus an onion, garlic, oil, and salt you already have the base of a skillet dinner, a soup, or a simple sauce. Add a starch - rice, pasta, bread, or potatoes - and it becomes a full meal. The recipes above are ordered so the ones needing the fewest extra items come first.
- What is the quickest peanut butter recipe?
- Look for the entries above marked 20 minutes or less. As a rule, anything cut small and cooked in a hot pan beats anything roasted whole, and one-pan recipes save more time in cleanup than in cooking.
- Can I substitute peanut butter?
- In most recipes yes, as long as the replacement plays a similar role - similar moisture, similar cooking time, similar richness. Swapping across roles (a watery vegetable for a starchy one, for instance) usually needs a change in liquid or cooking time too.
- How do I use up leftover peanut butter?
- Fried rice, a frittata, a grain bowl, a soup, or a quesadilla will absorb almost any leftover peanut butter without a recipe. If you want something specific, tell Mr. Chef exactly what is in the fridge and it will build a recipe around it.