Gado-Gado Recipe | Authentic Indonesian Salad with Spicy Peanut Sauce
Gado-Gado (Indonesian Salad with Peanut Sauce)
Gado-gado means 'mix-mix', and that's the dish: lightly blanched vegetables, boiled potato, egg, fried tofu and tempeh, tossed or draped in a rich, spicy-sweet peanut dressing and finished with krupuk. It's Jakarta street food, a complete vegetarian meal, and one of Indonesia's national dishes — a salad substantial enough to be dinner.
Chef Yossie
Traditional Indonesian Recipe
Make this recipe taste authentic
The dressing's warmth comes from real sambal, not chilli powder. Ours is handmade in Lancashire using Chef Yossie's Indonesian family recipe, and it ships across the UK.
What You'll Need
Hard to find these outside Indonesia? These are the ingredients and tools that make this recipe authentic.
- Sambal OelekThe chilli base for most Indonesian dishesView on Amazon →
- Kecap Manis (sweet soy sauce)Sweet, thick Indonesian soy — key to nasi goreng & marinadesView on Amazon →
- Palm Sugar (gula jawa)Caramel depth for marinades and saucesView on Amazon →
- Tamarind PasteSour note that balances rich, spicy dishesView on Amazon →
- Granite Mortar & PestleFor grinding fresh spice pastes the traditional wayView on Amazon →
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Interactive Cooking Guide
Master blanching, the peanut dressing, and the mix-mix assembly with step-by-step guidance
Grind the peanuts until mostly smooth, then blend in garlic, sambal, kecap manis, palm sugar, tamarind, salt, and the warm water.
Equipment needed:
Chef's Tip:
Leave a little texture in the peanuts — silky-smooth dressing is less interesting to eat.
Simmer the dressing for 5-8 minutes, stirring, until thick, glossy, and pourable. Taste and balance: sweet (palm sugar), sour (tamarind), spicy (sambal), salty.
Equipment needed:
Chef's Tip:
It thickens as it cools — stop while it still pours like double cream.
Important:
Peanut sauce catches easily; keep the heat gentle and keep stirring.
Blanch the vegetables separately in salted boiling water — beans 3 minutes, cabbage 2, bean sprouts 30 seconds — refreshing each in cold water.
Equipment needed:
Chef's Tip:
Separate batches, always: gado-gado lives and dies on the vegetables keeping their bite.
Fry the tofu and tempeh in a little oil until golden and crisp outside.
Equipment needed:
Chef's Tip:
Press the tofu dry with kitchen paper first so it crisps instead of spitting.
Arrange the vegetables, potato, cucumber, tofu, tempeh, and halved eggs on a platter.
Equipment needed:
Chef's Tip:
Group ingredients rather than mixing — the pour-over moment is half the pleasure.
Pour the warm dressing generously over, scatter fried shallots, add krupuk, and toss at the table.
Equipment needed:
Chef's Tip:
Serve extra dressing in a jug — someone will always want more.
Get the Perfect Sambal for Gado-Gado
This recipe uses our Sambal Oelek. Get the authentic taste Chef Yossie uses in professional kitchens.
Free download
The Indonesian Sambal Starter Guide
A free PDF covering the essential sambals, the pantry ingredients you actually need, and how to build authentic Indonesian flavour in a home kitchen. Sent straight to your inbox.
🛒 Perfect Ingredients for This Recipe
Recipe Match
Sambal Oelek
Pure chilli paste that gives the peanut dressing its warmth — add a spoonful to taste. Ships UK-wide.
Recipe Match
Buy Sambal Online UK
Browse the full Spice Island Indonesia sambal range and find the right heat level for your cooking.
👨🍳 More Delicious Sambal Recipes
Lalapan (Fresh Vegetables with Sambal)
The raw cousin — fresh vegetables served with sambal instead of peanut sauce
Chicken Satay (Sate Ayam)
The same beloved peanut sauce, poured over grilled chicken skewers
Bakwan (Indonesian Vegetable Fritters)
Crispy vegetable fritters — a perfect side for a gado-gado spread
📚 Learn More About Indonesian Cuisine
The Complete Guide to Indonesian Sambal Varieties
From oelek to matah — the condiments that define Indonesian eating
How Spicy Is Indonesian Food? A Guide for British Palates
How much sambal should go in your peanut dressing? Calibrate your heat
A Salad That Became a National Dish
Gado-gado began with the Betawi people of Jakarta and spread until the government named it one of Indonesia's five official national dishes. Street vendors assemble it to order — a handful of this, a handful of that, sauce ladled over, krupuk balanced on top — which is exactly the spirit to cook it in at home: a formula, not a fixed list.
What holds it together is the dressing: roasted peanuts, sambal, sweet soy, palm sugar, and tamarind, simmered until rich and pourable. It's the same family of sauce that crowns satay — proof that in Indonesian cooking, the sauce is never a side note.
How Indonesians Serve It
The Classic Plate
- • Warm dressing poured over just before eating
- • Krupuk or emping crackers on top
- • Fried shallots for crunch and sweetness
- • Lontong (rice cakes) or steamed rice on the side
Make It a Feast
- • Add satay skewers for the meat-eaters
- • Extra sambal stirred into the dressing
- • A jug of spare dressing at the table
- • Iced tea — the classic warung pairing