How To Prepare Traditional Chimichurri Sauce

Chimichurri is a delicious spicy sauce known throughout South America, but especially in Argentina. It is served mainly with steak, but also with pies or salads specific to the region. Read this article to find out how to prepare the traditional chimichurri sauce.

Generally, chichurri sauce contains chopped herbs and spices mixed with oil and vinegar. Its main ingredients are parsley, olive oil and hot pepper. However, you can add other products to customize the recipe.

Even if you change the original recipe a little, you have to keep the same amounts to get the traditional taste. This way, you make sure that the sauce matches any dish.

The chimichurri sauce is very well known and can be found in many supermarkets. But it is best to cook it yourself from fresh ingredients, which we can match to our own taste.

In the lines below we show you how to prepare the traditional chimichurri sauce, but we also present you four variations of the original recipe.

Origin of the name “chimichurri”

In gastronomy, there are three variants that could explain the origin of this name. Nobody knows what the true story is.

The first version claims that James McCurry, known simply as Jimmy, created and marketed the sauce in the 19th century. It appears that he prepared chimichurri as a substitute for Worcestershire sauce. Speakers of Spanish, the inhabitants of the region changed their pronunciation to “Yimi Churry”.

Another version features nineteenth-century British soldiers captured by Spanish colonies in South America. The prisoners demanded a spice to season their food: “give me curry” or “che-mi-curry” which later turned into “chimichurri”.

The latest theory claims that the term comes from the Basque word widespread in South America, “tximitxurri”, which means “mixture” and refers to a sauce that uses various ingredients and techniques for different dishes.

How to prepare traditional chimichurri sauce

In the following we show you how to prepare the traditional chimichurri sauce, based on the original ingredients and proportions. This delicious recipe is for 6 servings. If you want to prepare more, increase the amounts of all ingredients proportionally.

ingredients

• 3 bay leaves
• Lime juice (100 ml)
• ½ teaspoon of salt (2 g)

• 1 cup olive oil (200 ml)
• ½ cup of white or red wine vinegar (100 ml)
• ½ teaspoon black pepper (2 g)
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme (5 g)
• 3 cloves finely chopped garlic (15 g)
• 1 tablespoon oregano tip (10 g)
• 5 tablespoons chopped parsley (40 g)
• ½ finely chopped red onion (20 g)
• 1 teaspoon paprika (5 g)

Method of preparation

1. Grind oregano, parsley, garlic and bay leaves in the pestle mortar.
2. Add the onion and the rest of the spices (thyme, black pepper and paprika) to the bowl.
3. Mix the oil, vinegar and salt.
4. Add this dressing to the first bowl and mix all the ingredients well.
5. Keep the sauce in a glass jar with a lid.
6. Store it in the refrigerator in the coldest place for a few days.

Once you start using it, you can keep it in the fridge for 3 months.

Other variants of chimichurri sauce

You can modify the original recipe for chimichurri, adding more ingredients or replacing the old ones. For example, if you put a little more garlic instead of red onion, you will get a garlic chimichurri.

How to prepare tomato chimichurri sauce? Adding 200 g of sun-dried tomatoes to the original recipe. Be sure to wait long enough for the tomatoes to rehydrate.

To prepare coriander chimichurri, replace the parsley with coriander, keeping the same amounts. You will get a fragrant and tasty sauce that combines perfectly with many dishes. 

Now that you know how to make chimichurri sauce, you have no reason to buy it from the store. Cook it at home, in your own kitchen and enjoy the benefits of fresh, natural and high quality ingredients.