Chimichurri Sauce

Chimichurri sauce is vibrant, fresh, herbaceous sauce that has a wonderful flavor balance profile of tangy, savory and a little spice. 

An incredibly flavorful sauce that is also called as herb (green) salsa is  a popular accompaniment for grilled meats in Argentina and other parts of South America. Traditionally served with grilled steak, but it’s great on grilled chicken and fish too.

Why You Need To Try This Sauce Recipe?

While traditionally you’d put this sauce on steak, this sauce works well as a marinade for meat and vegetables. If you thought you could flavor meat or vegetables only with fatty foods like butter, cream, cheese, bacon…wait until you try this nutrient loaded, full of fresh flavors green goodness sauce. You’ll never turn back to fat loaded flavoring agents.

This herby flavorful sauce can be used on just about anything. We loved it with grilled chicken and roasted vegetables. It would work well with white flaky fish, grilled shrimp, roasted potatoes, on cauliflowers, grilled meat (steak and chicken).

This herby sauce is extremely versatile so much so that you can make it with almost any fresh green herb of your choice. While flat leaf parsley is the herb that is used in traditional chimichurri Argentina sauce, you can cheat by picking any fresh herb that has literally flooded your garden. Time to use up that big batch of fresh cilantro or curly leaf parsley to make your own version of sauce.

This sauce is usually made in a mortar and pestle bashing and mashing everything together until it resembles a sauce or by chopping everything by hand. By chopping mean, chop everything really really fine, so you get THE BEST, flavor bursting, authentic chimichurri sauce.

I followed one of the old school method here, since I loooove chopping and I’d like to push myself and see how fine can I chop an ingredient with a good old knife, nothing else.

Loved chopping the parsley, garlic and chilies fine (as fine as I could – don’t laugh at my knife skills). I tried and did my best and it was like a stress buster for few minutes. Me, my knife and all focus on chopping. You need to exercise this chopping therapy once a while, you guys! LOL  trust me, it’s therapeutic.

What Is Chimichurri Sauce?

Easy traditional Argentinian sauce served with grilled/BBQ steaks. The name sounds so funny but it is a sauce bursting with flavors and you can put it on everything. It’s perfect stirred in soups, spread on grilled meat, fish, shrimps, so amazing when spread on grilled cheese sandwich, or simply toss it up with pasta.

Ingredients Needed

1. Fresh parsley
2. Fresh cilantro
3. Fresh oregano
4. Garlic
5. Shallots or red onions
6. Fresh red chili (optional)
7. Olive oil
8. A dash of red wine vinegar
9. Lime juice
10. Salt and pepper to taste

How To Make Chimichurri Sauce?

• If you’d like try the traditional way of making this sauce, use a mortal and pestle to pound the fresh herbs together along with garlic and other ingredients.
• Or you could even chop everything super fine by hand like the way I did. A good sharp knife, a bit of patience and a little extra time is needed to make this lovely green goodness sauce.
• Chop fresh flat leaf parsley, cilantro super fine with sharp knife. I prefer to use tender stem too that I chop super fine. Tender stem of all these herbs are loaded with flavors.
• If you need it quickly or feeling lazy use mini food processor to chop all the ingredients fine. DO not make a paste, just pulse the processor few times so herbs, garlic and shallots are chopped fine.
• Mix finely chopped parsley, cilantro leaves, garlic, red onions, red chilies, salt, pepper with good quality extra virgin olive oil, dash of red wine vinegar. The herbs and rest of the ingredients should be submerged in oil.

Variations Of Chimichurri Sauce Recipe

While flat leaf parley is traditionally used to make the authentic version of this sauce, you can make your own variation of using a herb of your choice as the hero ingredient.

• Use cilantro and garlic with lime to make a flavor bursting sauce.
• Kale chimichurri make of kale for that extra boost of health factor.
• Fresh spearmint chimichurri sauce – for fresh minty falvorful sauce.
• Chimichurri with curly leaf parsley instead of flat leaf.
• Avocado chimichurri with all the goodness of avo.
• Perilla chimichurri

And the list goes on….

How To Use The Sauce?

This herbecious flavor packed sauce is great with ….almost everything!

• with grilled steak, chicken, fish, shrimp,
• as marinade to marinate seafood, chicken,
• as spread on grilled cheese sandwich,
• can be mixed with pasta,
• for adding extra kick to steamed broccoli,
• with roasted potatoes,
• stir in soup,
• all roasted vegetables.
• with cauliflower steaks

How Long Can I Store The Sauce?

It should last for 3 days in a close jar inside the fridge. The sauce takes in all the flavors and tastes better with time, but sure to use it in 2-3 days. The vinegar Later the herbs begin to turn dark in color loosing it’s freshness.

Frozen sauce can stay good upto few months. Pour into ice tray and freeze it into cubes. Store frozen cubes in a zip lock cover.

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Chimichurri Sauce

Chimichurri sauce is vibrant, fresh, herbaceous sauce that has a wonderful flavor balance profile of tangy, savory and a little spice. An incredibly flavorful sauce that is also called as herb (green) salsa is a popular accompaniment for grilled meats in Argentina and other parts of South America. Traditionally served with grilled steak, but it’s great on grilled chicken and fish too.

5 from 7 votes

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Course: marinade, sauce

Cuisine: Argentina, North America,

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

Servings: 2 cups

Calories: 530kcal

Author: Jyothi Rajesh

Ingredients

• 1 cup fresh flat leaf parsley leaves and tender stem1 cup fresh flat leaf parsley leaves and tender stem
• ¼ cup fresh cilantro leaves and tender stem¼ cup fresh cilantro leaves and tender stem
• 1 small shallot or red onion1 small shallot or red onion
• 4 cloves of garlic4 cloves of garlic
• 3 tablespoons full tightly packed fresh oregano3 tablespoons full tightly packed fresh oregano
• 2 tablespoon lime juice2 tablespoon lime juice
• 2 tablespoon red wine vinegar2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1 or 2 fresh red chilies adjust as per taste, optional1 or 2 fresh red chilies adjust as per taste, optional
• ½ teaspoon sea salt½ teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
• ½ cup good quality extra virgin olive oil½ cup good quality extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

• Pick leafs with tender stem of the herbs(flat leaf parsley, cilantro, oregano), wash apt dry it. Chop it fine.
• Chop shallots, garlic, red chili fine.
• Into a bowl add chopped herbs, shallots, garlic, red chili, sea salt, crushed pepper. Pour red wine vinegar, olive oil, lime juice and mix it all up.
• Serve immediately or refrigerate in sealed container for up to 3 days.

Notes

Hate chopping? Use a blender or food processor and pulse it a few times until all ingredients are chopped and fine (not pureed).

Flat Leaf Or Curly Leaf Parsley? Use one of them or use a mix of both. Don't have parsley, use any herb of your choice or that is readily available to you. See section Variations

Adjust Flavors - Taste the sauce and add more garlic, salt/pepper, red chilies or whatever you feel is missing according to your taste. 

Nutritional Info – Please keep in mind that nutritional information provided is only a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.

Nutrition

Serving: 0g | Calories: 530kcal | Carbohydrates: 9g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 55g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 2mg | Sodium: 614mg | Potassium: 262mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 2699IU | Vitamin C: 49mg | Calcium: 78mg | Iron: 3mg

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