Salsa criolla substitutes

The actual recipe, which is faster than driving to a store.

Best for

asado and grilled steak, choripan and sausages, grilled chicken, empanadas

One small onion, one ripe tomato and half a red bell pepper, all diced to about a quarter inch, plus 3 tablespoons olive oil, 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar, half a teaspoon salt and a pinch of dried oregano. Let it sit 20 minutes so the onion softens and the vinegar draws juice out of the tomato. This is not a substitute so much as the thing itself, and it is why most substitution advice here is unnecessary.

Mexican fresh chopped salsa of tomato, onion, chile, cilantro and lime.

Best for

grilled meat, sausages, sandwiches, when you need something from a tub

Structurally the same idea: raw diced onion and tomato providing acid and crunch. The flavor tilts Mexican rather than Argentine because of the cilantro, the lime instead of vinegar, and usually some jalapeno heat. On a steak it still does the job of cutting the fat. To pull it toward criolla, stir in a tablespoon of red wine vinegar, a spoon of olive oil and a pinch of dried oregano, and pick out the worst of the cilantro.

The other required Argentine asado sauce: parsley, garlic, oregano, vinegar and oil.

Best for

grilled steak, chorizo and choripan, grilled vegetables

It plays the same role at the table, delivering sharp vinegar and raw garlic against charred fatty meat, and any Argentine cook would accept it. But it tastes green and herbal where criolla tastes sweet-sharp and vegetal, and it has no crunch and no tomato juiciness, so it coats the meat rather than sitting on it in chunks. Use less, because the garlic and oregano are far more concentrated.

Thin-sliced red onion steeped in lime juice or vinegar with salt.

Best for

Peruvian-style salsa criolla, chicharron sandwiches, papa rellena, fried fish

If your recipe is Peruvian, this is not a compromise, it is nearly the dish: slice half a red onion paper thin, rinse under cold water, then toss with the juice of two limes, half a teaspoon salt and 10 minutes of waiting. What is missing is the chopped cilantro and the sliver of aji limo or aji amarillo, which is where most of the perfume comes from. Add either if you have them. For the Argentine version this misses the tomato and bell pepper entirely, so it reads sharper and thinner.

Italian-American jar of pickled mixed vegetables in vinegar.

Best for

sandwiches, sausages, grilled meat platters

Bring the acid and the crunch, lose the freshness. Giardiniera is much more assertively pickled and often carries chile heat and celery, so the plate tastes sour and briny rather than bright and oniony. Chop it fine, drain it well, and cut it with a handful of fresh diced tomato if you have one to soften the vinegar hit. Fine on a choripan, wrong next to a delicate grilled fish.

The stripped-back version when the onion is all you have.

Best for

asado, sausages, sandwiches, emergencies

Honestly, this is 70 percent of what criolla contributes. Dice an onion small, salt it, add a tablespoon of red wine vinegar and a tablespoon of olive oil per onion, and let it stand 15 minutes so the harsh sulfur edge mellows. The result is sharper and less sweet than real criolla, with no tomato juiciness and no bell pepper perfume, but it does the fat-cutting work correctly and nothing on the plate tastes wrong.