Thai peanut sauce. Oh how wonderful (and versatile) you are!
You know that delectable creamy and spicy peanut sauce that you find accompanying your favorite Thai/Asian dishes ? or the one you dip your favorite fresh spring roll in? or how about that big bowl of Spicy Peanut Noodles with Veggies? Ummm!
Now you can have all that creamy peanut , slightly spicy, slightly sweet taste you love about Thai peanut sauce, in a healthy snack form!
Let me introduce you to Thai peanut popcorn!
The secret to making this healthy snack is to pop the popcorn without oil. How you ask? With one of those fancy air popcorn machines? Oh NO! you just need a plain brown paper lunch bag, and a microwave.
If you haven’t made popcorn this way before, it’s super simple! and lower in calories and fat since we are not using oil. Also, the only ingredient to make this microwave popcorn is popcorn. (Have you ever looked at the ingredient list/sodim content of a package of regular microwave popcorn? Eeks!)
Add about 1/3 cup of popcorn to the bottom of the brown paper lunch bag. The kernels should just about cover the whole bottom of the bag. Fold the top of the bag a few times (to keep the popcorn from escaping as it’s popped).Place the bag on it’s side and microwave for about 2 minutes. You’ll want to listen to popcorn popping, as soon as it slows down to just a couple of pops a second it should be done. See it's SO easy!
For the peanut sauce, you’ll heat the honey and sugar for about 2 min., turn off the heat and add the peanut butter, sriracha, and garlic powder (optional). Then you’ll pour the peanut butter mixture over the popcorn and mix to coat, and some peanuts (optional), I like to spread mine out on a parchment lined baking sheet and let it cool for about 10-15 min. so the peanut sauce has a chance to adhere to the popcorn.
Chomp, chomp …munch, munch! A peanuty, sweet salty and slightly spicy treat to kick up your snack attack a notch!
** Adapted from PCC Natural Markets Spicy Peanut Popcorn
Thai Peanut Popcorn
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup popcorn kernels
- 2 Tbsp honey
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 2 Tbsp peanut butter
- 1 to 2 teaspoon sriracha hot sauce depending on taste
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- roasted peanuts optional
- 1 brown paper lunch bag for popping popcorn
Instructions
- Add popcorn to brown paper lunch bag. Kernels should cover the bottom of the bag. Fold over the top of bag a couple of times to keep kernels from spilling out. Place bag flat side down in microwave, cook for approx. 2 minutes (until popping starts to slow to a few seconds between pops). Pour popcorn into a bowl and set aside.
- In a small saucepan bring honey and sugar to a simmer and cook for 2 min. Remove pan from heat and add peanut butter, sriracha, and garlic, stirring to thoroughly combine. Pour peanut sauce over popcorn and mix with a wooden spoon. Add peanuts and continue to stir. Let mixture cool for 10-15 min. before serving.
MJG
Just made these from what I had on hand so unfortunately no garlic powder or roasted peanuts but it was still delicious!