Discover how to make authentic satay sauce in your pressure cooker! This instant pot satay peanut sauce is a quicker way to enjoy the rich flavours of this classic sauce at home.
This Instant Pot Satay Peanut Sauce is a gamechanger! Satay sauce is a deliciously rich and creamy peanut sauce that’s a staple in Southeast Asian cuisine. When I first started making satay peanut sauce (search and link authentic satay peanut sauce) from scratch, I realized it requires a fair amount of time over the stovetop, with constant stirring to prevent the peanuts from burning. It’s a (hot) labour of love, but I wondered if I could simplify the process without sacrificing flavour.
When I got my Instant Pot, I knew this was one of the first recipes I had to test out. Making satay sauce from scratch might seem daunting, but with the help of an Instant Pot, the process becomes easy and efficient. In this post, I’ll guide you through everything you need to know to make the perfect Instant Pot Satay Peanut Sauce that’s packed with authentic flavours.
The first time I attempted it, I followed my original stovetop recipe quite closely. Everything seemed to be going well until I saw an error message: the dreaded burn notice! What happened was that the amount of liquid was too little, so as the peanuts settled at the bottom of the pot, it triggered the burn warning.
I decided to double the amount of liquid on my second attempt. This time, it worked! The sauce came out beautifully, with all the rich flavours I love. To cook off the excess liquid, I simply turned the sauté mode on at the end and let it simmer down to my desired consistency, stirring occasionally to prevent burning. The result is a fully-flavoured satay peanut sauce that tasted like I spent hours and hours on it!
What is Satay Sauce?
Satay sauce, also known as peanut sauce, is a savoury, slightly sweet, and spicy sauce made primarily from crushed peanuts. It originates from Indonesia but has become popular across Southeast Asia, especially in Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore. The sauce is typically served alongside satay (search and link satay), which are skewers of grilled, marinated meat, making it a quintessential accompaniment at street food stalls and family gatherings.
Why You’ll Love This Instant Pot Satay Peanut Sauce Recipe
- Quick and Easy: Using the Instant Pot speeds up the cooking process and minimizes hands-on time.
- Minimal Cleanup: If you’ve made Satay Sauce from scratch you know how messy the oil splatters can get! This one pot version contains all of that splatter – hello to less mess!
- Rich in Flavour: The pressure cookers deepens the flavour in record time for a deliciously complex sauce that tastes like you spent hours over the stovetop.
- Perfect for Meal Prep: Make a big batch and store it for later use, making weeknight dinners a breeze.
The Pressure Cooker Advantage
The key to good satay sauce is complex, depth of flavour, achieved by slow cooking over a stovetop for hours. With the instant pot, and pressure cookers in general, the high-pressure environment intensifies the aromatics and spices, making the sauce rich and flavourful in a fraction of the time it would take on the stovetop.
This is the Instant Pot model I’m using by the way; it’s slimmer than the usual instant pots which is why I was drawn to it.
I love how the Instant Pot could further deepen the flavours of the dried chili paste with the peanut blend! However, I wouldn’t say it was entirely effortless. You still need to sauté and cook off the dried chili paste in oil at the beginning stage before adding all the other ingredients. After pressure cooking, you also need to cook off any excess liquid to achieve the perfect consistency.
Would I choose this method over the stovetop? Absolutely! Even though it’s not the completely hands-off cooking experience I initially hoped for, it significantly cut down the cooking time. There’s also less mess for me to deal with! The Instant Pot method brings together all the rich, authentic flavors with much less effort, making it a win in my book.
Key Ingredients for Instant Pot Satay Peanut Sauce Recipe
- Crushed Peanuts: The star of the sauce, providing a rich, nutty base. Roasting the peanuts before crushing them enhances their flavour – but not that necessary. Use a food processor or blender to crush the peanuts.
- Blended Paste: The base of the rich flavour of the peanut sauce! In this recipe, I kept it a simple basic blend of dried chilies, onion, garlic, ginger, and a bit of water to create a smooth paste. If you want to level it up, refer to the blend on the original Authentic Satay Peanut sauce recipe.
- Salt: To season the peanut sauce.
- Palm Sugar: Provides a natural sweetness that complements the savoury elements of the sauce, you can also just use regular or brown sugar.
- Tamarind Paste: Adds a tangy, slightly sour note that brightens the sauce and balances the richness of the peanuts and coconut milk.
- Coconut Milk: This adds creaminess and balances the heat from the chilies, creating a smooth, rich texture. This will also caramelise in the pressure cooker, for a deeper and caramelised finish.
Key Steps to Making Instant Pot Satay Sauce
1. Prepare the Blended Paste
- Soak dried chillies in hot water for 5 minutes, or until rehydrated.
- In a blender or food processor, combine the rehydrated chilies, chopped onion, garlic, ginger, and 1/4 cup water.
- Blend until you have a smooth paste.
TIP! See my post on how to make basic dried chilli paste if you need more information on this step!
2. Sauté the Paste
- Set your Instant Pot to the “Sauté” function, on “Low”.
- Add 1 cup (240ml) vegetable oil and heat it up.
- Once the oil is hot, add the blended paste and sauté for 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently, until the paste becomes fragrant and the oil starts to separate from the mixture. The paste should be slightly dried down, and the oil turns red.
3. Add the Crushed Peanuts
- Add the crushed peanuts.
- Add water, palm sugar, salt, coconut milk, and tamarind paste to the Instant Pot. Stir everything together until well combined.
4. Pressure Cook the Sauce
- Close the lid and set the Instant Pot to “Pressure Cook” for 15 minutes. Make sure the valve is set to the sealing position.
- Once the cooking time is up, let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes, then perform a quick release to vent any remaining pressure.
5. Adjust the Sauce
- After releasing the pressure, open the lid and give the sauce a stir. When the satay sauce has achieved a deeper shade, and oils are floating on the top, it’s cooked properly.
- Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning with more salt, palm sugar, or tamarind paste if necessary.
- Some liquid would have already been cooked off, but if it’s still to thin or liquid for your preference, turn on the “Sauté” mode again on “Low”. Let it simmer until it reaches your desired consistency, stirring occasionally to prevent burning. You can add more water if needed, or simmer longer to thicken the sauce.
6. Serve
- Your satay sauce is now ready to serve! Enjoy!
How to Serve
Satay Sauce can be served SO MANY WAYS! With grilled meats, as a dipping sauce, condiment, over noodles, over rice, and even in stir fries!
Here are some recipes and dishes on my blog on how to serve these:
Tips and Tricks
- Control the Spice: If you prefer a milder sauce, reduce the amount of dried chilies. You can totally omit the dried chillies if you want to keep this heat-free, but I recommend bumping up the onion, ginger and garlic amounts to make up the paste consistency.
- Consistency: Adjust the thickness of the sauce by adding more or less water during the cooking process.
- Prevent Burning: Make sure there more than enough water before pressure cooking to prevent burn notice. If the burn warning is set off, no worries, your sauce is still salvagable. Carefully open the lid, and stir the peanut sauce, making sure to scrape the bottom of the pot. Then top up with more water. Pressure cook again.
Storing and Reheating Instructions
Storing
Store the satay sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to one week. For longer storage, freeze it in small portions for up to three months.
Reheating
Reheat the sauce gently in a saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally. If the sauce is too thick after refrigeration, add a splash of water or coconut milk to bring it back to your desired consistency.
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