Aji verde substitutes

One packed cup of cilantro including the stems, half a cup of mayonnaise, one or two jalapenos seeded to taste, one garlic clove, two tablespoons of lime juice, two tablespoons of grated cotija or parmesan, salt, blended smooth.

Best for

pollo a la brasa, grilled chicken and steak, roast potatoes, sandwiches, dipping fries

This is the real thing and it is faster than going to the shop, which is why it heads the list rather than sitting at the bottom. Two details make the difference between a decent green sauce and one that tastes like a Peruvian restaurant: the cheese, which supplies a salty savoury backbone people cannot identify but always notice missing, and using the cilantro stems, which carry more flavour than the leaves. If you have aji amarillo paste, a tablespoon of it in place of half the jalapeno adds the fruity Peruvian chilli note and turns the sauce slightly more yellow-green.

A shop-bought creamy cilantro sauce, sold as cilantro crema, green crema or Peruvian green sauce.

Best for

grilled chicken, tacos and burrito bowls, salad dressing, dipping

The closest bottled swap and often literally the same recipe. What changes: commercial versions are usually built on sour cream rather than mayonnaise, so they taste tangier and lighter and less rich, and they are almost always much milder because manufacturers hedge on heat. Half a fresh jalapeno blended in, or a few dashes of hot sauce, brings it back into range. If it tastes thin, a tablespoon of mayonnaise per half cup restores the body.

The Argentine herb and vinegar sauce turned creamy by whisking it into mayonnaise.

Best for

grilled steak and chicken, sandwiches, roast vegetables, when a jar of chimichurri is what you have

A genuinely good sauce and clearly not aji verde, which is worth knowing before you serve it. What changes: chimichurri is built on parsley and oregano with red wine vinegar, so it tastes markedly more herbal, more oregano-forward and sharper, and it lacks the specific green brightness that cilantro gives. Adding a tablespoon of lime juice per half cup shifts the acidity from vinegar towards citrus, which helps a lot. Blitz it briefly if you want it smooth, since chimichurri is usually chopped rather than blended.

Mexican green salsa given body and richness with mayonnaise.

Best for

grilled chicken, tacos, eggs, rice bowls, dipping

Easy, fast and reasonably convincing at a glance since the colour is right. What changes: tomatillos are tart in a distinctive fruity, almost gooseberry-like way that aji verde does not have, so the sauce tastes sharper and more vegetal and less creamy-herbal. It is also usually thinner, hence the mayonnaise. If you have any cilantro at all, blending in even a small handful moves this substitute much closer, because cilantro is the flavour people are actually recognising.

A Middle Eastern or South Asian green chilli and coriander paste loosened into a creamy sauce.

Best for

grilled chicken, kebabs, sandwiches, roast cauliflower

Works better than it sounds, because both sauces are fundamentally coriander, green chilli and garlic. What changes: zhoug usually includes cumin and often cardamom or caraway, so the sauce carries a warm spiced note that reads Middle Eastern rather than Peruvian, and it is generally considerably hotter, which is why the ratio here is more cautious. Add lime juice rather than lemon to pull it towards aji verde, and taste before salting since many jarred zhougs are salty.

The same blender sauce made with parsley for people who taste cilantro as soap.

Best for

households where someone cannot eat cilantro, grilled chicken, potatoes

Worth being straight about this one: cilantro is the defining flavour of aji verde, so a parsley version is not aji verde and will not taste like it. What you get instead is a pleasant creamy green herb sauce, milder and grassier, missing the citrusy pungency that makes the original distinctive. The extra lime is important, because parsley brings much less aromatic lift and the sauce goes flat without it. A handful of basil alongside the parsley adds back some of the perfume.