This Chimichurri Sauce is made with fresh and simple ingredients like parsley, cilantro, garlic, red onions and lemon juice. It’s perfect served as a sauce for steak, chicken, and seafood, as a salad dressing and even as a marinade! (gluten free, low carb, paleo, vegetarian, vegan)
Get ready because chimichurri sauce is the answer to all your food prayers!
Chimichurri is magical. It’s extremely versatile and can be used as a sauce to serve with grilled meats, as a condiment on burgers and sandwiches and even as a salad dressing. The possibilities are seriously endless.
If you’ve never had chimichurri before, you may be wondering…
What is chimichurri?
Chimchurri is an oil-based condiment made with fresh herbs, spices and a hint of acid from lemon juice and red wine vinegar. It’s typically served with steak but is also great with chicken, pork and seafood.
Traditionally, the only fresh herb and acidic component used in chimichurri is parsley and red wine vinegar.
But as you know, I’m a huge lover of cilantro and fresh citrus so I’ve added some fresh lemon juice and cilantro to this recipe.
How to make chimichurri sauce
- Add cilantro, parsley, olive oil, lemon juice, red onions, garlic, red wine vinegar, dried oregano, red pepper flakes, salt and black pepper to a food processor or blender.
- Pulse in short 1-second increments about 3-5 times.
The consistency of the sauce should be choppy with chunks of fresh herbs throughout.
And that’s it! It’s so easy to make and can be enjoyed right away.
To store, transfer the sauce to an air-tight container, close the lid and refrigerate for up to 1 week.
Ways to use chimichurri sauce
This bright sauce is extremely flavorful and adds a huge punch to anything you pair it with. Here are some of my favorite ways to use it.
- as a condiment for grilled steak like this carne asada or pork, chicken and seafood
- tossed with grilled veggies
- as a marinade for chicken and beef
- as a dressing on a salad
Can you freeze chimichurri?
Yes. To freeze, pour the sauce into ice cube trays and freeze. When frozen, transfer chimichurri cubes into a large freezer safe zip top bag.
When ready to use, simply remove as many chimichurri cubes as you need and thaw in a bowl on the counter.
I hope you love this recipe as much as I do! To get more easy Mexican recipes delivered straight to your inbox, sign up for my weekly email newsletter. You can also follow Isabel Eats on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest!
Ingredients
- 1 cup fresh cilantro (stems and leaves)
- 1 cup fresh parsley (stems and leaves)
- 3/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup lemon juice (about 1 1/2 lemon)
- 3 tablespoons chopped red onions
- 5 cloves garlic
- 2 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Add cilantro, parsley, olive oil, lemon juice, red onions, garlic, red wine vinegar, dried oregano, red pepper flakes, salt and black pepper to a food processor or blender.
- Pulse in short 1-second increments about 3-5 times. Serve immediately or store in an airtight container in the fridge.
Isabel’s Tips:
Nutrition Information
This post was originally published in August 2016. It was republished with brand new photos and content in June 2019.
I needed to use up extra parsley and cilantro and stumbled upon this amazing recipe! OMG!
I think those that commented about it being too salty may have used regular table salt instead of the kosher salt called for in the recipe. If you need to substitute, do 3/4tsp regular table salt. L
I made the recipe exactly as described and it’s perfect! Thank you!
Waaaay too salty, even though I put in less salt than the recipe stated. I had to bulk it up with other ingredients, and eventually it was passable.
This looks fantastic (I’ve loved all your recipes so far), and I want to try making it, but I have a question 1st:
Is there any viable substitute for the parsley? My mom has a severe allergy to parsley.
Thanks, Isabel!
Hi! A few substitutes for parsley are chervil, tarragon, or arugula. This recipe hasn’t been tested without parsley so I’m not quite sure how it would taste. Please let us know if you try it!
Oh my gosh-I just made this -Delicious! I was licking the bowl! Thank you!
I think this is my new go-to sauce for everything. The fajitas grilled cheese recipe brought me here and I am so happy it did. I also tried it on some steak and it was perfect for that too. Can’t wait to try it on everything now.
I will say that I forgot to read the comments and it is indeed a bit too salty. Next time I’ll cut the salt in half but everything else was perfect.
I made it woohoo! I think the lemon and vinegar, salt is too much, so I ended up fixing the taste with some sugar. Overall, what a great recipe. Thank you!!!
Too much lemon and vinegar
Self explainitary Check other recipes as I did when completed. Your recipe is overpowered by the lemon and vinegar. Glad other people enjoyed it
This sauce is amazing!!!! You can put it on anything!! Makes for an amazing sauce on pizza, on grilled flank steak, on eggs, mixed into cauliflower rice…. the options are limitless. This is a go-to sauce for me. Thank you so much for the recipe!!!!
Thanks, Marcella. I’m so happy you like it! I totally agree with you, it’s a staple in my kitchen because it’s good on everything!
This was fabulous. I made it exactly, just halved the recipe. Now I wish I made the full amount! Didn’t find it too salty. Found it perfect! I drizzled it over a black bean dip to add some color. Then tossed the rest with chopped avocados to top roasted salmon. Delish! Thanks!!
Thanks, Toby! I love the idea of putting it on some black bean dip. I have to try that!
Mine was RED!!!! Please help
Oh no! I’m not quite sure what went wrong with yours.
Holy crap.
I came here from your fajita grilled cheese recipe, and since I’ve never had chimichurri before, I made a batch with slightly less salt than indicated (as suggested by many comments).
Well, I think I’ll never make any other steak sauce, ever again. This is so easy to prepare!
Yay! I’m so happy you liked it! It’s seriously the perfect sauce for a steak, especially during the summer months.
Great recipe! Little less salt. I added lime with the peel on even, and then thickened it up a little bit more with kale.
Addictive to eat! my personal favorite is with garlic naan bread
Thanks, Heather!
I made this a few days ago. It really grew on me! It may have just taken a day for the flavors to really come together. Do you know what I really liked? mixing 1/4 cup of this wonderful sauce with 1 pound of ground chicken along with 1 teaspoon of salt. I let it sit overnight and then I pan fried it and made tacos out of it! Amazing! A little chopped white onion and cilantro. Some salsa and crema. Wow!
I gave some of this chimichurri to my neighbor. She said it was delicious!
Thank you for posting!
I’m so glad you liked it! I definitely find that sauces like this get better with time. Also, I’m going to have to try it with ground chicken like this, that sounds absolutely delicious. Such a great idea!
Awesome chimichurri sauce.
I would just add less salt.
Thanks, Maria!
Wish I’d read the comments. Tastes good, but too salty. 😥
This recipe is delicious! I use it on everything and all of my friends have asked for the recipe 🙂
No way! That makes me so happy to hear 🙂 Glad you like it!
Is it possible to can or freeze Chimmicuri?
I’m not sure about canning it, but you should be able to freeze it without a problem. I’ve never tried it myself, but I think it’s worth a shot!
Hi, my garden is full of parsley and cilantro and this recipe is perfect.
Quick question: The photo shows red onion but recipe calls for white? Which do you actually use?
Can’t wait to make it.
Hi Maja, thanks so much for the question. I just realized that they weren’t the same. So you can use either, but I prefer red onion. It’s usually more pungent and strong, which works well with the strong flavors of the herbs. And it gives it little specks of color, which is beautiful 🙂
Thank you, nice and easy to follow the recipe.
Thanks, Alex!