Chimichurri Sauce (Argentinian Parsley and Garlic Pesto)
Chimichurri sauce is a zesty Latin American pesto, made with chopped parsley and often cilantro. It's especially popular in Argentina and Uruguay, where it's served with grilled meats, especially skirt steak & fried yuca chips, and used as a marinade to add flavor before grilling or broiling. It's incredibly simple to make, fresh, and so delicious. You can make this sauce by hand, either with a sharp knife & cutting board or mortar and pestle, or whip it up in a few minutes with a food processor. It's a summer BBQ essential, but you can use it to top all sorts of dishes year-round!
Equipment
- blender or food processor (you can also make this sauce in a large mortar and pestle, or by chopping all ingredients very finely with a sharp knife)
Ingredients
pulse together:
- 1 tbsp garlic cloves peeled & roughly chopped
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp dried oregano leaves (sub up to 1½ tsp fresh chopped oregano)
- ½ tsp grated lemon zest (optional)
- ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ tsp ground cayenne pepper
- 2 tbsp malt, sherry, or wine vinegar
chop:
- 1 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
- 1 cup fresh cilantro leaves (you may substitute parsley for all or part of the cilantro)
stream in:
- ¾ cup olive oil (substitute sunflower oil)
Instructions
- Wash and pick over the parsley and cilantro, and separate the leaves from the tougher stems. Save parsley stems for stock, and only use the leaves of both herbs for the sauce.
- Peel and roughly chop the garlic and measure out about one tablespoon, or more or less to taste.
- Add the garlic, dried herbs, lemon zest (if you are using it) and all of the dry seasonings to the jar of a blender or food processor, and pulse until the garlic is finely chopped.
- Add the vinegar, and pulse a few times to mix well.
- Add the parsley and cilantro leaves (or double the parsley if you aren't using cilantro) to the processor. Pulse and scrape down the container until the herbs are finely chopped.
- Stream in the olive oil while pulsing the processor. An authentic chimichurri is not a smooth pesto, but a roughly chopped sauce with distinct bits of herbs. You can blend it smoother if you prefer, but it should still be a bit chunky for best results.
- If you blended your sauce, the color will be brightest if you use it immediately, and will dull slightly over time.
- It's best to let the sauce rest before serving so that all of the flavors can come together. Taste the sauce, and adjust seasonings if required before serving. Refrigerate any leftover chimichurri sauce and use within a week.
- If you want to keep this sauce longer than a week, you should portion and freeze it in smaller containers or ice cube trays. Herbs packed in oil are a botulism-risk if you don't use them promptly or freeze them.
Notes
Nutritional information is an estimate, and calculated for listed quantities of seasonings including optional ingredients.
Nutrition
Calories: 249kcalCarbohydrates: 2gProtein: 1gFat: 27gSaturated Fat: 4gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3gMonounsaturated Fat: 20gSodium: 396mgPotassium: 92mgFiber: 1gSugar: 0.2gVitamin A: 1069IUVitamin C: 15mgCalcium: 28mgIron: 1mg
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