Easy Homemade Chimichurri — Bold, Fresh, and Made in Minutes
There is a moment in every cook's life when they realize the sauce is the whole meal. Not the protein. Not the starch. The sauce. For me, that moment came the first time I made chimichurri from scratch — and I understood that I had been buying a pale imitation of something I could build myself in less time than it takes to drive to the store.
Chimichurri is an Argentine-style herb sauce — bright green, punchy, and deeply savory. It was made for grilled steak, but it doesn't stop there. In my kitchen, it goes on chicken, shrimp, roasted vegetables, scrambled eggs, and spooned over a bowl of rice when I need dinner to feel intentional without a lot of effort. It is one of those sauces that makes people ask what you did differently.
The version I make uses Simply Home Herbal Blend to add savory, herby depth to the sauce. It gives the chimichurri a fuller, more rounded flavor while still letting the fresh herbs, garlic, vinegar, lemon, and olive oil shine.
Made with Simply Home Herbal Blend
This recipe uses our Herbal Blend to build savory, herby depth in a fresh homemade sauce.
Shop Herbal Blend — $15.99
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What Does Chimichurri Taste Like?
Chimichurri tastes fresh, garlicky, herby, tangy, and slightly spicy. The olive oil gives it body, the vinegar and lemon bring brightness, and the herbs make it taste alive. It is bold enough for steak, but light enough for shrimp, chicken, vegetables, eggs, and rice bowls.
If you have never made it before, this is the recipe to start with. It comes together in about 10 minutes and keeps in the refrigerator for up to five days.
Why I Add Herbal Blend to Chimichurri
Most chimichurri recipes are built on fresh herbs, garlic, vinegar, olive oil, and salt. What Simply Home Herbal Blend adds is another layer of savory, herby complexity that makes the sauce taste fuller and more intentional from the first stir.
The blend works beautifully in oil-based sauces because it has time to bloom into the olive oil while the chimichurri rests. Taste after 10–15 minutes, then adjust the salt to your preference.
Simply Home Chimichurri
Made with Simply Home Herbal Blend. Fresh, bold, and ready in minutes.
Prep: 10 min
Rest: 10–15 min
Yield: About 1½ cups
Skill: Easy
INGREDIENTS
¾ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
¼ cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped
¼ cup fresh oregano, chopped
½ cup red onion, finely chopped
¼ cup garlic, minced
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
½ tsp lemon peel or zest
1 hearty pinch Simply Home Herbal Blend
½–1 tsp Simply Home Fire Pepper Blend or chili flakes
Salt, to taste
METHOD
Finely chop the parsley, cilantro, oregano, red onion, and garlic. You can use a food processor and pulse 6–8 times for a finer texture, or chop by hand if you want more body in the sauce.
Combine all the chopped herbs in a bowl. Add the olive oil and red wine vinegar and stir to combine.
Stir in the Simply Home Herbal Blend, Fire Pepper Blend or chili flakes, lemon juice, and lemon zest.
Let the chimichurri sit for 10–15 minutes before serving so the flavors have time to fully meld. This step matters — don't skip it. Then taste and add salt to your preference.
Serve with: Grilled steak and shrimp, roasted vegetables, grilled chicken, or use as a marinade.
No Herbal Blend yet? You can substitute 1 tsp each of dried basil and dried thyme in a pinch — but the Herbal Blend gives the sauce a more rounded, savory finish that's hard to replicate.
How to Use It
Chimichurri is one of those sauces that improves almost everything it touches.
On Protein
Spoon it over grilled steak, chicken thighs, or shrimp the moment they come off the heat. The olive oil carries the herbs into every crevice and the lemon brightens the char. I also use it as a marinade — coat your protein and let it sit for 30 minutes to an hour before cooking.
On Vegetables
Roasted potatoes, grilled zucchini, charred corn — chimichurri turns a side dish into the thing people reach for first. Toss warm vegetables directly in the sauce so it clings.
In Rice and Grain Bowls
A spoonful stirred into plain rice transforms the whole bowl. Rice, a protein, chimichurri — done. The Herbal Blend in the sauce means the flavor is already layered before the bowl even comes together.
On Eggs
Drizzle over scrambled eggs or a fried egg on toast. It sounds unexpected. It isn't. Try it once and you'll keep a jar in your fridge permanently.
As a Bread Dip
Set a bowl out with crusty bread before dinner and watch it disappear before the main course hits the table.
The Blend Behind the Sauce: Simply Home Herbal Blend
No salt. No fillers. Just a carefully balanced combination of dried herbs that adds savory complexity to everything it touches — and works especially hard in oil-based sauces like this one.
If Herbal Blend lives in your kitchen, here's where else it earns its place: homemade ranch dressing, spicy or classic mayo, roasted chicken and turkey, potato salad, rice and grain bowls, pasta sauces, shrimp and seafood, scrambled eggs and omelets.
Shop Herbal Blend — $15.99
If this is the kind of food you want to make more often — fresh, flavorful, simple, and full of depth — start with the Essential Five.
It is the Simply Home starter set I reach for in my real kitchen, from sauces like this chimichurri to chicken, rice, seafood, eggs, vegetables, soups, and everyday weeknight meals.
Start with the Essential Five — $69.99
Herbal Blend · All-Meat · Fire Pepper · Bouillon · Black Pepper Heritage Trilogy