Chimichurri Sauce

Chimichurri is a typical sauce from countries like Uruguay, Paraguay, and Argentina. With a liquid consistency, it is mainly made with oregano, garlic, vinegar, parsley, ground chili, and salt. The use of chili gives this sauce a distinctly spicy character, and it is commonly used to marinate mainly meats and fish, and to serve as a dressing for salads or roasted meats. Its main quality is to enhance the flavor of the meats on which it is applied. It is a sauce widely used in the famous Argentine barbecue.

Towards the end of the 19th century, chimichurri was usually made with a base of brine, which was later replaced by vinegar. In addition to the already mentioned ingredients (garlic, parsley, oregano, etc.), other ingredients can be included in its preparation; thyme, bay leaf, pepper, mustard, etc. It should be made clear that there is not a single recipe for this sauce, as both the ingredients used and their proportions vary considerably from one area to another.

As you will see in the step-by-step that we show you below, the preparation of this sauce is extremely simple, basically consisting of finely chopping the solid ingredients and mixing them with the liquids. Playing with the amount of chili, you can get versions with a greater or lesser spicy character

How to make the recipe Chimichurri Sauce

1. For this delicious sauce, you will need a mortar bowl in which all the ingredients can fit and not spill out when crushed with the pestle.
2. Chop the parsley, the garlic with a knife so that it will be easier to chop with the mortar later.
3. Add the spices: the chili, oregano, thyme, ground cumin, fresh parsley, sweet paprika, a tablespoon of white vinegar, and salt to taste.
4. Mix with the pestle and add the oil all at once. Mix everything well with the pestle.
5. This sauce does not have to be emulsified, it is rather an aspect of oil marinated with many spices.
6. Test the sauce and correct the salt if needed. Serve with a good piece of grilled meat and EAT!

Notes and Tips

Although most people tend to use dry aromatic herbs, it must be said that the aroma and flavor they provide when fresh is far superior, therefore, we recommend that in the kitchen you use, whenever they are at your disposal, freshly harvested herbs. Having pots with various aromatic plants on the window sill is within anyone's reach, we just have to monitor the watering and give them a fertilization every 15 days so that they give us their delicious aromas.

Although this sauce can be consumed freshly made, I like to prepare it several days before its use. Once it has cooled down, I transfer it to a container with a hermetic closure and leave it in the refrigerator for several days. As the sauce cools, the oil will solidify, appearing as a whitish layer on the surface of the sauce. When we want to use it, we must take it out of the refrigerator a couple of hours before so that the oil returns to a liquid state, which will facilitate mixing it with the rest of the ingredients.

Chimichurri usually has a liquid consistency, to alter it, varying the consistency, you can play with the proportions of the three liquids used and the aromatic herbs.