15-Minute Beef with Thai Peanut Sauce
Try this 15-Minute Beef with Thai Peanut Sauce recipe, or contribute your own.
Try this 15-Minute Beef with Thai Peanut Sauce recipe, or contribute your own.
- 1 garlic clove minced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 lb / 453 gr organic grass-fed beef strips (i used fla
- 1/4 cup up/ 2.2 oz / 65 gr peanut butter (i used vermont p which is awesome!)
- 1 tablespoon organic wheat-free soy sauce (or coconut aminos)
- 1 tablespoon raw organic honey
- 2 teaspoons sriracha sauce (store bought or homemade)
- 1 - 2 tablespoons hot water
- 1 scallion, finely chopped (for garnishing)
- Carbohydrate 0.9918 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Fat 6.76500000289468 g
- Fiber 0.0629999971389771 g
- Protein 0.1908 g
- Saturated Fat 0.934710000399697 g
- Serving Size 1 1 (463g)
- Sodium 0.645000000057894 mg
- Sugar 0.928800002861023 g
- Trans Fat 0.187320000078389 g
- Calories 64 calories
Step-by-step
- In a small bowl whisk together peanut butter, soy sauce (or coconut aminos) honey, garlic and Sriracha. Add water, one tablespoon at a time, until reaching the desired thickness (I like mine to be pretty thin). Set aside.
- In a large frying pan (or using a wok if you own one) heat the olive oil over medium-high heat until hot. Add beef strips and saute 8 to 10 minutes, making sure the beef is evenly cooked.
- When the beef has browned stir in ½ of the peanut sauce and cook for a couple minutes. If it looks too dry add some water, one tablespoon at a time.
- Serve warm with remaining sauce on top and sprinkled with scallion
When operating with a single frying pan and a thirty-minute total allotment, thermal management dictates every physical action in the workspace. Thinly sliced beef strips demand a high-heat environment, specifically medium-high on a standard burner, to achieve browning within eight to ten minutes instead of steaming in their own released juices. Overcrowding the pan drops surface temperature drastically, which halts the Maillard reaction necessary for savory depth and leaves the meat gray and tough. Patting the protein dry with paper towels prior to contact with the hot olive oil prevents initial temperature shock and encourages proper searing.
While the meat cooks, the peanut butter emulsion requires careful dilution to achieve a coating consistency rather than a dense paste. Whisking raw honey, minced garlic, wheat-free soy sauce, and sriracha together first ensures the thicker components integrate uniformly before adding hot water one tablespoon at a time. This progressive hydration controls viscosity precisely, allowing the sauce to coat the back of a spoon without breaking or separating into oil droplets. Coconut aminos serve as a direct one-to-one volumetric substitute for soy sauce if dietary restrictions dictate, though they introduce slightly less sodium and more sweetness.
Introducing half of the prepared peanut sauce directly into the pan during the final two minutes of cooking allows the heat to drive moisture off and caramelize the sugars present in the honey and peanut butter. This short reduction phase thickens the glaze so it clings to the beef fibers rather than pooling at the bottom of the vessel. Should the mixture tighten too quickly, a single tablespoon of water restores fluidity instantly without diluting the pungent garlic and chili heat.
Pairing this protein-heavy dish with steamed jasmine rice or shredded cabbage provides a neutral starch or crisp crunch to balance the rich, fat-heavy sauce. Garnishing with finely chopped scallions adds a sharp, allium bite right at the end of plating, cutting through the dense density of the peanut emulsion.
