It's rare to find a meal that isn't a little better with a little green sauce for drizzling or dipping. Stock a batch in the fridge, and pretty much anything you cook will taste better, whether we're talking pan-seared steak or crispy roasted potatoes, boiled pasta or steamed dumplings.
But there's no one single definition of green sauce. Pretty much any uncooked sauce featuring fresh green herbs qualifies. Almost every cuisine around the world includes a version—and usually many versions—of the stuff. Me? I like to pick and choose inspiration from anywhere I please, grabbing whatever fresh herbs I happen to have in the crisper drawer or exploding out of my window box and throw them in the food processor with some olive oil. Sometimes I add lemon juice, sometimes vinegar. Sometimes garlic, sometimes jalapeño. Sometimes anchovies or capers or chili flakes. Or mayo.
Not quite ready to improvise your own house green sauce? Then these 10 iconic green sauces are a great place to master the basics. Let's take a little tour together:
Who would say no to some tri-tip with chimichurri?
1. Argentina: Chimichurri
Sit down at most restaurants in the US and they'll put ketchup on the table. Sit down at most restaurants in Argentina and they'll put a jar of chimichurri on the table. Finely chopped parsley, oregano, onion, and garlic are the name of the game in chimichurri, whose base is olive oil but whose tang comes from red-wine vinegar. A healthy dose of red chile flakes and salt wake the whole sauce up, and make it exactly the tangy-salty-spicy-pungent thing you what you want to spoon over grilled meat—or anything fresh off the grill, for that matter. But don't think of it just as a finishing sauce. It can also double as a marinade for any meat you might want to throw on the grill—you really can't go wrong.
Add to Recipes2. Morocco: Chermoula
This North African pureed green sauce is traditionally deployed as a marinade for all kinds of seafood, but it can be used for so much more—from marinating chicken or steak or eggplants to drizzling over roasted vegetables. Cilantro is the star here, with parsley and occasionally mint playing supporting roles. And a blend of toasty spices such as cumin, paprika, coriander, and red chile flakes add serious depth. Take note: It's thicker than some of the other sauces on this list, so you might want to thin it a bit with extra olive oil to serve it as a drizzling sauce.
3. Italy: Salsa Verde
It may look a lot like chimichurri, but the flavor of Italian salsa verde is surprisingly different, with chopped capers and sometimes anchovy fillets giving this version an irresistible salty-funky tang. Sometimes salsa verde will get zing from lemon juice and/or zest, too. Drizzle salsa verde over pan-seared steak or scallops, toss it into pasta, top your eggs with it, or just drag your bread through it.
4. Mexico: Salsa Verde
In Mexico salsa verde means something completely different than it does in Italy, but it still involves a lot of fresh herbs and garlic. Most classic versions involve fresh or roasted tomatillos, blended with fresh green chile, onion, and salt. Sometimes a bit of avocado gets blitzed in, too. It's a little bit spicy, and totally refreshing. It's exactly what you want to drizzle over tacos or dunk those crispy tortilla chips into. It's also great with any grilled meat or seafood—I wouldn't say no to dipping some lightly charred shrimp into a big bowl of this.
5. Italy: Pesto
Yes, technically you could call pesto a "salsa verde," since the term just means "green sauce." Pesto's easily the most luscious of the green sauces, since it boasts not only olive oil but cheese (usually Parmesan, sometimes Pecorino) and nuts (often pine nuts, but sometimes with walnuts or other nuts, too). When tossed with hot pasta, that cheese in the pesto melts to make an even more luxurious green sauce that even the most picky eaters find hard to resist.
Pesto can be made with any herb or green, but the traditional Italian way is with basil, and lots of it. Of course it's excellent on pasta, but it's also great smeared on pizza, or rubbed on chicken before grilling. Thin it with a little extra oil and it makes a great finishing sauce for a raw tomato salad or some roasted cauliflower. Or of course you can just put it in a bowl and dip your bread in it and be transported to basil cloud nine.
This fresh spicy Thai green sauce may be called a "dipping" sauce, but you'll find you might want to pour it on everything.
6. Thailand: Chile-Herb Dipping Sauce
An entire book could be written about the broad range of Thai chile-herb sauces, but this version is a great place to start. While Italian pesto gets its thickness from ground nuts, this Thai chile-herb sauce gets its body from pulverized toasted rice. Whole dried chiles also get toasted to release their richest flavor, then ground into flakes. Here we leave the world of olive oil behind: lime juice and fish sauce form the funky-tangy liquid base of this green sauce. A spoonful of sugar balances everything out, and chopped cilantro and mint co-star as our green herb sweethearts, with some chopped scallion for extra intrigue. Yes, it's a great dipping sauce for dumplings or skewers or fresh summer rolls, but it's also great drizzled over any grilled or roasted meat or seafood or vegetable you desire.
7. Yemen: Zhoug
This spicy thick green sauce is Yemenite in origin, but it can be found all over Syria, Israel, and other parts of the Middle East, where it's spooned over shakshuka for breakfast and drizzled into falafel sandwiches the rest of the day. It's an easy leap from there to drizzle it over any kind of eggs, or spread it in your favorite sandwich.
And that's just for starters: Thin it with some yogurt to make a dip, or with more olive oil to drizzle it over a green salad or a platter of roasted carrots. Parsley and cilantro share the lead in this green sauce, which is most like chermoula than anything else on this list. But vinegar is used for zhoug instead of lemon juice, and the heat here comes from fresh chiles instead of smoked paprika. Garlic, cumin, and coriander round it out, creating an addictive concoction that you might dream about eating on runny eggs the next morning.
8. India: Green Chutney
Cilantro and mint headline together in this earthy Indian green condiment, while ginger and jalapeño give it a a gently burning heat. Sometimes yogurt is added to thicken the sauce, like in this version below, which is also intensified by the warming Indian spice blend chaat masala. Spoon it on top of your favorite curry for an extra hit of freshness and spice, serve it alongside any grilled meat, or dip samosas in it. That ginger in there really sets it apart from all the other green sauces on this list—something to steal for your own riff, for sure.
9. Texas: Creamy Jalapeño Sauce
Austin's favorite taco sauce is affectionately known as That Green Sauce, and no, it's not made with avocados or dairy. The secret to the creaminess of this addictive cilantro, jalapeño, lime, and garlic sauce is to use a blender to slowly emulsify vegetable oil into the puree. Once you master the technique, you're going to want to drizzle it on everything from grilled chicken to tacos to your scrambled eggs. And I won't judge if you eat it with a spoon.
Green goddess dressing makes healthy Buddha bowls irresistible.
10. California: Green Goddess Dressing
Some people might disagree with me on this one, but I don't think you can go on a world-tour of green sauces without mentioning this California babe of a sauce. Parsley, chives, and tarragon are what make it green, while mayo and sour cream give it body and seductive creaminess. But it's the anchovy and the lemon juice that really bring it home for me. Drizzle it over any salad or Buddha bowl like a true CA health nut, or slather up your favorite sandwich with it instead of mayo. It may make you wish we all could be California girls.
Get ready to watch green sauce in action:
