Argentina Chimichurri Sauce

One of the food highlights of our South America trip was the chimichurri sauce in Argentina.  Every restaurant we went to served us a delicious chimichurri sauce to accompany our dinners, specifically the amazing grilled meats.  Chimichurri is essentially an herb-olive oil based sauce, like an Argentina pesto.  It’s super easy to make and a great way to change up your steak dinners.

We weren’t sure if each restaurant made their own chimichurri or if they all used the same local supplier.  I’m leaning toward each restaurant making their own as it’s super easy to make and I think the chimichurri tasted a little different at each restaurant. While we were in Argentina we used chimichurri on all of our grilled meats from steak to lamb to pork.  We even dipped our bread in it.

When we got back home, I knew I wanted to recreate the chimichurri we had in Argentina so I started researching.  Every recipe I found online was a little bit different; the commonalities being parsley, cilantro, oregano, vinegar, and olive oil.  The amount of each ingredient varied a lot from recipe to recipe.  Parsley is the predominant herb in all the chimichurri recipes I found, which I have to say was a little disappointing as parsley is not my favorite herb.  So I tried to keep the ratio of parsley to cilantro pretty close to a one to one ratio.

I think my final product is pretty close to the chimichurri sauce we had in Argentina.  I would recommend letting the sauce sit for at least an hour before serving to let the flavors come together.  Even better if you let it sit overnight.  You can use this sauce to top any grilled meats.  Or you can marinate meat in the sauce before cooking it.  I had Kris grill up a flatiron steak to go with this chimichurri sauce and it was the perfect pairing.  And, of course, you have to drink Malbec with your steak and chimichurri.

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Chimichurri

Prep Time

15 mins

Total Time

15 mins

 

Classic Argentina chimichurri sauce. An olive oil herb sauce that perfectly pairs with a variety of grilled meats.

Course: Sauce

Servings: 2 cups

Author: Emily

Ingredients

• 1 cup of fresh parsley stems removed
• 3/4 cup fresh cilantro stems removed
• 2 tbsp fresh oregano stemmed removed
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 5 garlic cloves
• 1 shallot
• 1 cup olive oil
• 1/8 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp red pepper flakes

Instructions

1. Place all ingredients in a blender.
2. Pulse to combine.
3. Sauce will be thin.
4. Let chimichurri sit at least an hour before serving. Can be made day in advance.
5. Place any leftovers in a sealed container and store in the refrigerator.
6. Sauce is good for one week.