Chimichurri Sauce

Easy Chimichurri Recipe

When you are on a keto diet, seasoning your protein with just salt and pepper gets old fast, but sometimes you just need a quick and easy meal. With this chimichurri recipe, you won’t need to spend hours in the kitchen or compromise on flavor. It’s an easy-to-make sauce with parsley, cilantro, oregano, minced garlic, red pepper flakes, and red wine vinegar. Because of the fresh herb base, chimichurri sauce is incredibly versatile and goes great with chicken, steak, fish or any grilled meat. This sauce will become your household go-to in no time.

What is Chimichurri Sauce?

Chimichurri sauce is a traditional Argentinian and Uruguayan condiment made with finely chopped herbs. It’s traditionally used as a dipping sauce or marinade for grilled meats, steak, fish, and sausages. The oil-based condiment has a bold, herbaceous flavor that will transform your simple grilled meats into something special. The red wine vinegar adds a nice level of acidity to the sauce.

Tips and Substitutions

Although this sauce can be an acquired taste since it has a bit of bite, all of the herbs and ingredients can be personalized to your liking.

• If you don’t like eating spicy foods, skip the red pepper flakes, but if you particularly like spicy food, you can add more red pepper flakes or even add chili powder or jalapeno to your chimichurri sauce.
• If you like a more robust garlic flavor, use more garlic cloves and allow them to sit in the sauce for a few minutes.
• Always make sure to try your sauce as you create it, so you know if you need to add more or less of an ingredient.
• The level of salt and pepper in your chimichurri sauce can also be adjusted to your taste buds.
• Red wine vinegar is the most authentic choice for chimichurri, but you can use lemon juice as a substitute if you prefer. I don’t recommend balsamic or white vinegar – they significantly change the taste of the sauce. Plus balsamic vinegar is higher in carbs compared to other vinegars.
• Olive oil can be used in place of avocado oil if you don’t have avocado oil available or are allergic to avocado.
• To release the flavors of the parsley and cilantro, use a food processor to get them finely chopped. If you don’t have a food processor, just finely chop the parsley and cilantro with a knife so the chimichurri is the right consistency.
• Once the herbs are chopped and the sauce is mixed, leave the chimichurri sauce in the refrigerator overnight or at room temperature for about an hour. Letting it rest gives the parsley and cilantro time to infuse into the oil, which makes it a perfect match for a juicy grilled steak.

What to Use Chimichurri Sauce on?

Chimichurri is a fresh, herby sauce made with parsley and cilantro, making it great on just about anything. From grilled steaks, like flat iron steak, skirt steak or flank steak, and chorizo sausages to chicken, pork, or fish, chimichurri is a delicious addition to any protein. You can even drizzle chimichurri on top of vegetables, on eggs, or use it as a marinade or dipping sauce. Once you try it, you’ll want to put it on everything.

Storage

Since all of the ingredients in this chimichurri sauce are fresh herbs and basics like oil and vinegar, this sauce can stay refrigerated for up to 5 days. In fact, it will even taste better if you let the sauce sit at least overnight in the refrigerator. By allowing the sauce to sit, the herbs, garlic, and vinegar will infuse together with the oil, creating a stronger flavored sauce. All you need to do is whip up a large batch and store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator.