Chimichurri Sauce

Add fresh, tangy flavor to a variety of dishes with this easy homemade Chimichurri Sauce. It’s ready in ten minutes!

What Is Chimichurri Sauce?

Chimichurri Sauce is an uncooked sauce that comes from Argentina and Uruguay. It’s made with fresh green herbs, garlic, vinegar, and oil. Chimichurri is most commonly used on grilled meats like steak, but it can be used as a sauce or condiment for all sorts of dishes.

Ingredients

While this sauce is green like pesto and shares some common ingredients with salsa verde, there’s some notable differences. Chimichurri sauce uses fresh parsley and oregano as the herbs and has plenty of vinegar. If you don’t have fresh oregano I suggest leaving it out instead of using dried, it just isn’t a great substitute in this recipe.

While some chimichurri sauce recipes include lemon juice for some extra acid, I find that it doesn’t enhance the sauce. The red wine vinegar is a perfect pairing with the herbs, but if you need a little something extra, go for a squeeze of lime juice instead.

Other than that, all you need is extra virgin olive oil, some garlic cloves, salt, and if you like, red pepper flakes for some heat.

Love this sauce? Try my Gremolata recipe too which also uses fresh parsley!

How To Make Homemade Chimichurri Sauce

I’ve found that it’s easiest to prepare this sauce in a food processor or blender. If you don’t have either of those available, you can chop everything finely with a sharp knife, but it will take more effort. 

Just add all the ingredients to your blender or food processor, cover, and pulse several times until the sauce is your desired consistency. Put in a bowl to serve immediately or store in the fridge for future use. 

If you’re making it in advance, try this trick. Thread your blender blade onto a mason jar to blend it up. It’s a great no-mess way to make this sauce because you can both make and store the chimichurri in the jar.

Note that the sauce will darken as it’s stored and not stay as brightly colored. However, it will still taste great. I don’t recommend keeping it on hand for more than a few days though. But since it’s so easy, you can easily make more when you need to!

Uses For Chimichurri Sauce

Chimichurri sauce is often used for steak, sometimes as a steak marinade as well. But it’s also great on grilled fish or chicken, over roasted vegetables, as a condiment for burgers or sandwiches, or as a dip for fresh bread. I can’t wait to hear all the different ways you find to enjoy this easy sauce recipe.