Summer is fast approaching, and that means grilling.  One of our favorite condiments or sauces to put on grilled veggies is chimichurri, a traditional Argentinian sauce made with parsley, garlic, extra virgin olive oil, red pepper flakes, salt, and black pepper.  There are many other variations that include oregano, rosemary, lemon zest, and even sun-dried tomatoes for a red version. Classic green chimichurri with parsley, garlic, red pepper flakes, extra virgin olive oil, kosher salt, black pepper, and lemon zest.

In this post, we include the recipe for our favorite version of a traditional parsley-based chimichurri plus several other suggestions using different herbs in place of parsley.

• Traditional parsley chimichurri with parsley, garlic, red pepper flakes, extra virgin olive oil, kosher salt, black pepper, and lemon zest.
• Cilantro chimichurri with cilantro, garlic, red pepper flakes, extra virgin olive oil, kosher salt, black pepper, and lime zest.
• Dill chimichurri with dill, garlic, red pepper flakes, extra virgin olive oil, kosher salt, black pepper, and Meyer lemon zest
• Mint chimichurri with mint, garlic, red pepper flakes, extra virgin olive oil, kosher salt, black pepper, and orange zest.

The chimichurri that most of us are familiar with is green but did you know that there are red versions of it that include oven or sun-dried tomatoes, roasted or fresh red cherry tomatoes, roasted or fresh red bell peppers!?!  Try adding these to any of the above chimichurris for an even more exotic sauce to put on your grilled veggies or meats.

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Make Time:  5 minutes

Yields:  1 cup

Ingredients:

• 1 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
• 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, smashed, minced
• Juice and zest of one lemon (about 2 tbsp)
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes (or to taste)
• Kosher salt to taste
• Black pepper to taste
• Optional ingredients:
  • Replace the lemon juice with red wine vinegar
  • 1 tbsp fresh rosemary, finely minced
  • 1 tbsp fresh oregano, finely minced
  • For a red version…2 oven or sun-dried Roma tomatoes, finely diced

Preparation:

• Remove the leaves and thinner stems from the main stem (you can save the stems for stock), wash the leaves really well, they can be very sandy, drain, repeat, spin-dry, finely chop, place in small to medium mixing bowl.
• Peel the garlic, smash, mince, add to mixing bowl with chopped parsley; set aside.
• Wash, zest, and juice one lemon; set aside.

Make:

• Add the olive oil, mix well.
• Season to taste with kosher salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes, lemon juice, and lemon zest.
• Your traditional chimichurri sauce is done!

Other Variations:

For cilantro chimichurri:

• Replace the parsley with roughly chopped cilantro leaves.
• Replace the lemon juice and zest with juice and zest of one lime.

For dill chimichurri:

• Replace the parsley with finely chopped dill leaves.
• Replace the lemon juice and zest with juice and zest of one Meyer lemon.

For mint chimichurri (see photo below):

• Replace the parsley with finely chopped mint leaves.
• Replace the lemon juice and zest with the juice of half an orange and the zest of a whole orange.

For red chimichurri (any of the above versions):

• Add 2 tbsp of diced oven or sun-dried Roma tomatoes, rough chopped red cherry tomatoes, diced roasted or fresh red bell peppers.

Enjoy!