Seeking the perfect basil garlic sauce? This basil chimichurri recipe yields a robust, bold, summery sauce perfect for drizzling on so many foods.
The great thing about having friends who love food as much as I do is that I can email or message them for advice and they can instantly inspire me (and sometimes save the day). I was chatting with Maris about needing something more for a dish I was working on (more on that on Monday) when she suggested that I make chimichurri to go with it.
Ding, ding, ding!
Since I had a lovely bunch of fresh basil waiting to be used, it was only natural that I adapt the sauce to focus on this summery herb. Basil. Garlic. Olive oil. Red wine vinegar. Seasonings. You won’t ever mistake this basil sauce for pesto — it’s a whole different fresh and tangy take on the herb favorite.
Making chimichurri sauce is so incredibly easy. You just stuff everything into a mini food processor, whirl it around and it’s done and ready to use.
This basil chimichurri is great with steak, chicken or even on rice with grilled onions, which is how I ate it. And it was good. So good. This basil garlic sauce would also be fantastic drizzled on fresh mozzarella and tomatoes as a different take on Caprese salad.
What have you been making with basil lately?
Note: This recipe is adapted from Simply Recipes’ recipe for traditional chimichurri.
Basil Chumichurri Sauce
Seeking the perfect basil garlic sauce? This basil chimichurri recipe yields a robust, bold, summery sauce perfect for drizzling on so many foods.
Ingredients
- 1 cup finely packed fresh basil leaves
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor (a mini food processor works great) and process until the basil pieces are small and even.
- Drizzle on chicken, steak or whatever you like.
Nancy
Wednesday 14th of September 2022
Can this sauce be frozen?
Sarah Walker Caron
Monday 26th of September 2022
That's a great question, Nancy. I've never tried it, but I do freeze pesto (which has a similar ingredients list) with success, so I imagine it will be fine.
Virginia
Saturday 4th of June 2022
Fast, easy and TOTALLY DELICIOUS! Had this on an otherwise unremarkable frozen cauliflower pizza and it made it just yummy. Thank you!
Kittychatalot
Saturday 29th of August 2015
This was wonderful- put it on a pizza with some great tomatoes!
the bar and bean
Tuesday 10th of February 2015
[…] and scrambled the eggs with some rosemary in a cast-iron skillet and topped it all off with some basil chimichurri Katie whipped up […]
Recipe Radar: Basil Chimichurri | Six Different Ways
Friday 14th of June 2013
[...] used a little bit less garlic than this recipe from Sarah’s Cucina Bella, but other than that I stuck to it and it was the perfect accent to our steak. A great summer sauce [...]