What Is Chimichurri?
Tangy, sharp flavors like vinegar, garlic and shallot liven up this lovely fresh-herb sauce. Hailing from South America, chimichurri is a pesto-like sauce—flavor-wise it’s like pesto on steroids—and is most closely associated with Argentinian cuisine, where it’s served perhaps most classically, to dress up a simple, Perfect Grilled Steak. Many chimichurri recipes call for cilantro, but we’ve opted to use the still-traditional and much more crowd-pleasing parsley—plus a little oregano—as our herbal base. To that grassy base, we add raw garlic, vinegar, good-quality extra virgin olive oil, a few pepper flakes, and shallots. Buzzing with vibrant, assertive flavors, chimichurri goes with so many things—serve it as a dipping sauce along with crudité, or some Good Bread, or over grilled fish or chicken. Whip up a batch, and you’ll see how it has a magical way of making just about anything taste divine.
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How To Make Chimichurri
We’re breaking out the trusty food processor to make this easy herb sauce. Our chimichurri recipe is as easy as:
- Pulse! Toss the shallot, parsley, oregano, garlic cloves, salt and black pepper into a food processor, and pulse—keyword PULSE!—just until you have a well-mixed, chunky paste of sorts, but stop before the herb-garlic mixture is pulverized. Chimichurri is a rustic sauce, and you want to be able to see all of its components.
- Stir. Now stir in the liquid—extra virgin oil, vinegar, and pepper flakes—to make the chimichurri into a sauce.
- Serve! That’s it! You made chimichurri from scratch!
Can You Freeze Chimichurri?
Fresh chimichurri will last for a week in the fridge—although we don’t know how anyone manages not to eat it all in one sitting. You can also freeze chimichurri, which is something you may want to do if you’re making the chimichurri as a way to use up an onslaught of summertime herbs from the garden. Stored in an airtight container, it will keep in the freezer for at least a month.
Tools You’ll Need:
- Food processor. You could also do the pulsing step with a blender, or an immersion blender.
- Mixing bowl.
How To Serve Homemade Chimichurri Sauce
Fresh, tangy, garlicky chimichurri sauce makes a wonderful marinade for all manner of things, it’s a killer dipping sauce (it’s vegan! It’s dairy-free! it’s gluten-free!), and of course, there is no better steak-topper. We’re particularly partial to this Chimichurri Steak Recipe, and we love serving it with grilled pork tenderloin, too.
Chimichurri Sauce Victories? Tell Us About It!
Snap a photo of your chimmichurri to show us how you used it! Drizzled over grilled bread or maybe slathered on a simple omelette? There’s no wrong way. Tag us on Instagram using @themodernproper and #themodernproper so we can see how you chimichurri!
