Chimichurri substitute

Best substitute

Five-Minute Homemade Chimichurri

makes about 1 cup

Best for grilled steak

Close match

Combine 1 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley, 4 cloves minced garlic, 1 tbsp dried oregano, 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, 3 tbsp red wine vinegar, 1/2 cup olive oil and 1 tsp salt. Rest 20 minutes before serving. This is the actual answer for most people, since the sauce is faster to make than to shop for.

Other chimichurri substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Italian Salsa Verde
Close match
Use the same amount
The closest thing in a jar.
What changes
Same parsley, garlic, oil and acid structure, but capers and anchovy make it brinier and more savoury, and lemon usually replaces the vinegar. On a steak it does the same job of cutting fat; it just tastes salty-savoury rather than sharp and garlicky.
Best for
steak, grilled fish, lamb, roast vegetables, boiled potatoes
Add a teaspoon of red wine vinegar and a pinch of dried oregano per quarter cup to nudge it toward Argentine. Reduce salt elsewhere, since capers and anchovy are already salty.
3Pesto Thinned with Red Wine Vinegar
Taste and texture differ
½ cup pesto + 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
Works on grilled meat and most people enjoy it, but the swap is honest about being different.
What changes
Basil, pine nuts and parmesan make it sweeter, nuttier and much richer, and the cheese means it clings rather than pooling. Your steak will taste good and unmistakably Italian.
Best for
steak, chicken, grilled vegetables, pasta, bread
The vinegar is essential, not optional. Pesto on its own is rich without being acidic, and the acid is the main thing chimichurri contributes to a fatty piece of meat.
4Gremolata Loosened with Oil and Vinegar
Different taste
Use the same amount once loosened
Gremolata is parsley, garlic and lemon zest, so it is already two thirds of the way to chimichurri.
What changes
Add olive oil and a splash of vinegar and you have a very close cousin: brighter and more citrusy, with none of the dried-oregano warmth or the chilli heat.
Best for
steak, osso buco, grilled fish, roast chicken
Add 1/2 tsp dried oregano and a pinch of chilli flakes per quarter cup to close the gap. Lemon zest reads noticeably sweeter than vinegar, so use both rather than only zest.
5Cilantro Sauce or Zhoug
Different taste
Use the same amount
Right structure, right freshness, right chilli heat, different herb.
What changes
A cilantro-and-garlic sauce over grilled meat is genuinely excellent and closer in spirit to chimichurri than pesto is. Zhoug adds cumin and cardamom, which pushes it toward Middle Eastern.
Best for
grilled meat, chicken, lamb, grilled vegetables, flatbreads
If you are making it yourself, swap half the cilantro for parsley and skip the cumin to land much nearer the Argentine original.
6Bare-Pantry Version with Dried Herbs
Taste and texture differ
makes about ½ cup
Whisk 1/3 cup olive oil, 2 tbsp red wine vinegar or lemon juice, 2 minced garlic cloves, 2 tsp dried parsley, 1 tsp dried oregano, 1/4 tsp chilli flakes and 1/2 tsp salt.
What changes
It has no fresh-herb aroma at all, so it tastes flatter and more like a vinaigrette, but it delivers the acid and garlic that matter most.
Best for
steak, burgers, when there are no fresh herbs in the house
Let it sit at least 30 minutes so the dried herbs rehydrate in the oil and vinegar. Straight out of the bowl it tastes dusty.

What is Chimichurri?

Chimichurri is Chimichurri is an uncooked Argentine and Uruguayan sauce of finely chopped parsley, garlic, dried oregano, red wine vinegar, olive oil and chilli flakes, spooned over grilled meat.

Cooking tips

Chop the parsley by hand with a sharp knife rather than using a food processor. A processor bruises the leaves, which turns the sauce dark, bitter and slightly slimy within an hour. Hand-chopped chimichurri stays green and tastes cleaner.
Dried oregano is correct here, and this is one of the rare cases where fresh is actively worse. Argentine chimichurri is built on the concentrated, slightly dusty warmth of dried oregano, and fresh oregano tastes green and medicinal in its place.
Make it at least 20 minutes ahead. The garlic needs to mellow in the acid and the oregano needs to hydrate, and a chimichurri served immediately after mixing tastes raw and sharply garlicky rather than balanced.
It is a raw finishing sauce, so use a separate batch if you also want to marinate. Spooning sauce that has touched raw meat back onto the cooked steak is a food safety problem, and marinating in chimichurri also wastes the fresh aroma you made it for.
Chimichurri rojo is a different sauce and worth knowing about, since some recipes mean that one. Add 1 teaspoon of smoked paprika and 1 tablespoon of tomato paste to the base recipe for a sweeter, deeper red version.

Frequently asked questions

Can I just leave chimichurri out?

Yes, nothing structural depends on it, but you will miss what it was doing. On a fatty grilled steak the sauce's real job is acid: it cuts through the richness and resets your palate between bites. If you skip the sauce, at minimum squeeze lemon over the meat or serve a sharply dressed salad alongside, because a plain grilled steak with no acid anywhere on the plate eats heavy.

Is chimichurri spicy?

Only mildly, and it is adjustable. The traditional heat comes from a modest amount of dried red chilli flakes, sometimes aji molido, which gives a gentle background warmth rather than real burn. Many Argentine versions have almost none. If you want it hotter, add more flakes or a minced fresh chilli; if you are feeding children, leave the flakes out entirely and nothing else changes.

Can I use cilantro instead of parsley?

Yes, and it makes a good sauce, though a purist would say it is no longer chimichurri. Cilantro is more assertive and citrusy than flat-leaf parsley, so the sauce tastes brighter and more perfumed and slightly less grassy. A half-and-half mix of parsley and cilantro is a genuinely good compromise and is common in Uruguayan and Mexican-influenced versions.

Can I use chimichurri as a marinade?

You can, but make a separate batch for it rather than reusing the sauce you plan to serve. Chimichurri is fairly acidic, so keep meat in it no longer than about two hours, or the surface goes pale and mealy. In practice chimichurri works better as a finishing sauce than as a marinade, because the fresh parsley aroma is exactly what heat destroys.

How long does chimichurri keep?

About a week in a sealed jar in the fridge, with the oil covering the herbs. The colour dulls after a day or two and the garlic gets progressively sharper and more pungent, so it tastes best in the first 24 hours. Bring it to room temperature before serving, because cold olive oil goes thick and cloudy and mutes the flavour.

Related substitutes

More sauces & condiments substitutes

Chimichurri substitute

Other chimichurri substitutes

2Italian Salsa Verde

3Pesto Thinned with Red Wine Vinegar

4Gremolata Loosened with Oil and Vinegar

5Cilantro Sauce or Zhoug

6Bare-Pantry Version with Dried Herbs