Chimichurri is a zesty, green sauce made with fresh herbs, garlic, vinegar, chili pepper and olive oil that livens up pretty much anything you throw at it. Jump to the Chimichurri Sauce Recipe or read on to see our tips for making it.
It’s as versatile as your favorite white t-shirt. You can use it 100 different ways. Steak, shrimp, fish, vegetables and chicken all love it — especially if they’re grilled or roasted. It even passes tossed with pasta or spooned over fresh tomato slices. Stirring it into scrambled eggs is a good idea, too.
You May Enjoy This: We used this sauce to make our perfectly golden brown and tender cauliflower steaks!
How to Make Chimichurri Sauce
You can make the sauce by hand or with the help of a bender or food processor. By hand works perfectly fine, it just means the sauce will have a bit more texture. The food processor makes quick work of things so choose whichever method you like best.
Our recipe calls for parsley (although you can use other herbs — see below), garlic, shallot, crushed red pepper flakes, red wine vinegar and olive oil.
To make the sauce by hand, chop everything really, really small then give it a good stir. Leave the sauce for 20 minutes or so to help all the flavors come together and serve.
To make it in a food processor or blender, add the garlic and shallots first and pulse until they are chopped then add the parsley. After pulsing a few more times, add the remaining ingredients and process until a sauce forms. You can watch us do this in our video for chimichurri cauliflower steaks.
Chimichurri is excellent the day you make it, but it will last a few days in your refrigerator (you just might notice the parsley’s green dulls slightly).
We usually stick to parsley for our sauce, but lots of people really love to switch parsley for cilantro and make a cilantro chimichurri. We’ve seen a combination of both herbs used, too. A little fresh mint or oregano — we prefer dried — is great, as well. Once you have the base, you can play around depending on what ingredients you have or what you plan to serve it with.
More Homemade Sauces and Marinades
- Homemade Basil Pesto
- Honey Mustard Dressing
- Blue Cheese Dressing
- The Best Chicken Marinade
- Caesar Dressing from Scratch
Recipe updated, originally posted May 2015. Since posting this in 2015, we have tweaked the recipe to be more clear. – Adam and Joanne
Easy Homemade Chimichurri Sauce
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Chimichurri sauce is made with fresh herbs, garlic, vinegar, chili pepper and olive oil. It livens up pretty much anything you throw at it and you can use it 100 different ways. Try spooning it over steak, shrimp, chicken and vegetables. You can also toss it with pasta or rice. We like our sauce on the tangy, vinegary side. If you prefer things to be a bit more tame, reduce the amount of vinegar to 3 or 4 tablespoons.
You Will Need
2 cups (50 grams) packed parsley leaves and tender stems
3 to 4 garlic cloves (1 tablespoon minced)
1 medium shallot
1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 to 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes or 1 jalapeño or fresno chili pepper, finely chopped
1/2 cup (120 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup (80 ml) red wine vinegar
Directions
- Make By Hand
1Mince the garlic and shallot, and then add to a medium bowl. Finely chop the parsley then add to the bowl along with the salt, red pepper flakes, olive oil and the red wine vinegar. Stir then taste taste and season with more salt or red pepper flakes if needed.
2Let the sauce stand at room temperature for 20 minutes before serving. The sauce is excellent the day you make it, but it will last a few days in your refrigerator (you just might notice the parsley’s green dulls slightly).
- Make in a Food Processor or Blender
1Add garlic and shallots to the bowl of a food processor (or blender), and then pulse until minced. Add the parsley, salt and red pepper flakes. Pulse until the parsley is chopped small. Scrape the sides down, and then pour in the olive oil and red wine vinegar. Pulse a few more times until the sauce comes together. Taste and season with more salt or red pepper flakes if needed.
2Let the sauce stand at room temperature for 20 minutes before serving. The sauce is excellent the day you make it, but it will last a few days in your refrigerator (you just might notice the parsley’s green dulls slightly).
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Once you have the base recipe, you can play around with it depending on what ingredients you have on hand. Try switching parsley for cilantro, or use a combination of both herbs. A little fresh mint or oregano is also a really nice addition.
- Nutrition Facts: The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have used the USDA Supertracker recipe calculator to calculate approximate values.
If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #inspiredtaste — We love to see your creations on Instagram and Facebook! Find us: @inspiredtaste
Hiya, I’ve just made this delicious sauce, it’s standing in the fridge for now but I agree with Cindy too much red wine vinegar but I did add more garlic as I love the garlic plus I’ve added more red peppers so next time I’ll reduce the vinegar by half to see if it improves the taste plus maybe less olive oil too to suit my pallet.
Made this last night. It was delicious and this is an easy recipe to doctor up with a little more garlic, spice or herbs, based on personal preferences. I now have a new condiment in my repertoire. I actually spread this on the black bean burgers and it was great. Will try this on eggs as well. Thanks
Good basic recipe but too much vinegar…the parsley & pepper add enough bite so next time will use either lime juice or cut the vinegar way back
I just made this and it worked out so well for me! Delicious on top of my tri-tip lunch and I can’t wait to try it on other things. So easy and straight forward to follow your instructions! Thank you!