Creamy Balsamic Vinegar + Peanut Butter Salad Dressing Recipe

Name: Creamy Balsamic Vinegar + Peanut Butter Salad Dressing Recipe
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Ingredients: 100ml Balsamic Vinegar of Modena I.G.P; 100g natural smooth peanut butter; 1-2 tsp honey; Water (if needed); Black pepper (optional); Salt (to taste)

This post is part of the Eating on a Budget series, which includes the essential tools, tricks and tips that underpin eating on a budget, and a collection of recipes to put those tools into practice.

I love peanut butter. That’s no secret. Why?

Not only because it’s delicious (obviously), but also because it’s insanely versatile.

We all know how well peanut butter performs in a sweet context (think: PB+J sandwiches, porridge , or peanut butter cups), but it also shines in savoury dishes (think: Thai peanut curry, satay chicken, or this creamy balsamic vinegar peanut butter salad dressing).

This dressing is essentially a creamy balsamic vinaigrette with peanut butter as the flavouring and the fat component. This peanut butter balsamic vinaigrette recipe will make you ditch your other salad dressings — trust me.

What is peanut butter?

But first, what actually is peanut butter? And why on earth would you want to use it in a salad dressing?

In its simplest form, peanut butter is nothing more than peanuts and a little salt. The peanuts are first roasted to the desired roast¹ and are then ground so that the oil separates from the peanuts and a creamy paste is formed.

Peanuts originated in the Americas, and therefore only became available to Europeans, Africans and Asians during the Colombian Exchange from the 15th century[SIC].

This meant that many countries and cultures gained access to peanuts around the same time, leading to parallel experimentation with the ingredient.

According to Jon Krampner in his book, Creamy & Crunchy: An Informal History of Peanut Butter, the All-American Food, John Kellogg (one of the brothers behind cornflakes) began making peanut butter in the U.S. sometime after 1890.

He’s regarded by many as the inventor of peanut butter. But not by everyone.

Around the same time as Kellogg began experimenting with peanut butter, a snack food company owner called George Bayle also began roasting and mashing peanuts. Bayle is also considered by many as the original peanut butter inventor (which, incidentally, he originally developed as a pairing with cheese).

Regardless of who invented peanut butter, Bayle is largely credited with bringing peanut butter into the mainstream.

George Washington Carver is famously known for having supposedly invented various uses for peanuts, and encouraged southern farmers to grow peanuts. But, according to Krampner, most of this is untrue.

In any case, though peanut butters popularity died down over the end of the 19th century, it slowly regained popularity from the 1970s. Nowadays, it’s easily one of the most popular (and absolutely the most delicious) foodstuffs on the market.

Peanut butter isn’t exclusively an American product, by the way. Because peanuts came to the world outside the Americas at largely the same time, peanut butter also independently came about in Haiti (as mamba) and in the Netherlands, as Calvé.

In any case, peanut butter is a staple across the world. My girlfriend and I are currently travelling, and we’ve found it in every country we’ve been to. It’s surprisingly popular in India and New Zealand, for instance.

But I digress — why would you want to use this in a salad dressing?

Well peanuts aren’t actually nuts. They’re legumes. Because they have such a high fat content compared to other legumes like chickpeas, they’re “culinarily” considered nuts.

And because they have such a high fat content, the oil that separates from them when you make peanut butter means that peanut butter works really well in dressings. Most dressings require a lot of fat. Vinaigrettes, mayo and so on are primarily made up of fat.

So instead of using vegetable oil or olive oil, which is the go-to for most dressings, we can use other things rich in fat, such as peanut butter.

OK, and what is balsamic vinegar?

Balsamic vinegar is, well, confusing. If you’ve ever looked for this product at the supermarket, you’ve undoubtably noticed that there’s a lot of choice.

Balsamic Vinegar from Modena, the balsamic vinegar glazes and syrups, and even white balsamic vinegar*.* And that’s just scratching the surface.

So strap yourself in, we’re in for a long ride.

Balsamic vinegar, according to *Serious Eats* writer **Andrew Wheeler, is first mentioned in history during an Italian tour untaken by Holy Roman Emperor, Henry III. In 1046, while passing through the Emilia-Romagna region, someone supposedly handed the monarch a bottle of this coveted balsamic.

I don’t know what that particular balsamic tasted like, but I presume pretty bloody good, since it’s now available en masse, and can cost as much as $200 USD per ounce.

That’s the cost of traditional balsamic, at least. Traditional balsamic is the cream-of-the-crop balsamic that is only made in Reggio Emilia or Modena with a very particular production process that is overseen from start-to-finish by a special certification agency.

A specific strain of locally grown, late-harvested grapes are pressed in their entitreity (that is, with the juice, skin, seeds and stem) and cooked down to reduce them by half.

The remaining concoction is left to ferment naturally for 3 weeks, and is then moved into barrels where it slowly matures and concentrates (through evaporation) for a minimum of 12 years. The balsamic is moved progressively into smaller and smaller barrels as it reduces.

This traditional balsamic vinegar is bottled from the smallest barrel, which itself is never fully drained. Instead, a little is bottled, then the bottle is topped up from the next-biggest barrel. That barrel is topped up by the next biggest barrel, and so on. The biggest barrel is topped with a fresh batch of the balsamic that has fermented for 3 weeks.

Because of this convoluted barrel malarkey, it’s pretty much impossible to accurately age a balsamic. While some of the liquid in there may be 12 years old, some of it could be 25 years old.

To resolve this, unlike wine, traditional balsamics are granted grades instead of age. This is determined by a panel of 5 professional balsamic experts. The grades include affinato (12 years), vecchio (15-20 years) or extra vecchio (20-25), though balsamics in Modena don’t use the vecchio label.

In short, this stuff is hard work to make.

This stuff is also ludicrously expensive. As mentioned earlier, you can expect to pay around $200 an ounce.

That’s why there’s a bunch of alternatives available.

There’s condimento balsamico. This is as close to the traditional stuff as you can get. It’s usually made with similar processes, but is either made outside Reggio Emilia or Modena, by non-traditional producers or is too young.

The most common alternative is Balsamic Vinegar of Modena IGP. This is balsamic produced inside Modena but made with the same grape varietals as the traditional balsamic, but which have been grown outside of Modena.

Without growing the grapes outside of Modena, there would have been no way for the market to keep up with the demand for balsamic. Reggio Emilia or Modena simply couldn’t grow enough grapes.

The Balsamic Vinegar of Modena is cooked in pressurised vats and then aged for at least 2 months in wooden barrels. It isn’t fermented. It has to contain wine vinegar so that it’s acidity is less than 6%, and may contain up-to 50% wine vinegar. It may also contain thickening agents, caramel or other colorants that have been added with the goal of making it closer to the real traditional balsamic.

The I.G.P. label, a designation from the European Union, ensures that these particular grape varietals have been used, that the vinegar has been produced in Modena and that it is produced with the criteria specified above.

In short, the I.G.P will ensure quality. Look for that stamp if you want to ensure you’re buying a half-decent product.

That being said, the quality of Balsamic Vinegar of Modena can vary a lot as the criteria is pretty broad. Ideally, you’ll want to use vinegars that don’t contain any additional ingredients beyond grape must and wine vinegar.

Then there’s a whole host of imitation balsamics. These are fake balsmics made from vinegars (wine vinegar, white vinegar, or cider vinegar) mixed with sweetener and colourings to give the taste and texture of balsamic, without any of the ingredients.

There’s also a bunch of products balsamic-inspired products. There are products that have some attributes of balsamic, but don’t pretend to be balsamic.

The most common is balsamic glazes and syrups, which are I.G.P balsamic vinegars mixed with thickening agents.

There’s also white balsamic, which is sweet white wine vinegar slowly cooked to avoid caramelisation. It’s not a “real” balsamic in any sense. It sure sounds good, though.

If you’re wondering what balsamic vinegar tastes like, that will largely depend on which balsamic vinegar you’re tasting. The traditional stuff is, according to Wheeler, rich in flavour and gives notes of “fig, molasses, cherry, chocolate, or prune.” The imitation balsamic will aim to emulate that flavour profile, but is likely to be more acidic. The same applies to the I.G.P. balsamic — it will be more acidic and likely have a more watery mouth-feel.

Phew, anyway! That was a long journey, wasn’t it? I warned you.

Which balsamic should I use?

For this recipe, the choice is clear.

You should never, ever use the traditional balsamic. Imagine explaining to someone that you mixed half of your £100 bottle of balsamic vinegar with… peanut butter? Yeah, no — don’t do that.

You could use an imitation balsamic if you have one on hand, but that’s wild west territory. You may have to adjust the recipe depending on the sweetness and acidity of the vinegar.

The balsamic glazes and syrups would work really well, but may be too thick. You might have to water the vinaigrette down.

The best choice is the Balsamic Vinegar of Modena. It’s the most common, it’s cheap and it isn’t too thick, and thus will give the dressing a lighter (but not too watery) texture. As I mentioned earlier, these balsamics do have rules, but they’re pretty flexible IMO.

You may have to adjust the recipe depending on your product. If it’s too acidic, add some sweetness. If it’s too thick, perhaps you could water it down. You get the idea.

Right… and what is a vinaigrette again?

In short, a vinaigrette is a dressing that’s made up of fat, water and an emulsifier (and salt) to keep the two liquids bound together.

In a traditional French vinaigrette, vegetable oil (the fat) is whisked together with lemon juice or white wine vinegar (the water), Dijon mustard (the emulsifier) and salt to form a creamy salad dressing.

Learn more about vinaigrettes and emulsions in my video on carbonara and emulsion science.

We’re not making a traditional vinaigrette in this balsamic peanut butter dressing recipe, but I’m happy to call it a vinaigrette all the same.

And so, without further ado…