Zhoug is the easiest way to decorate up your favourite meats, veggies, and dips! Make home made zhoug sauce with the simplest components, together with recent jalapeño, cilantro, parsley, garlic, olive oil, and spices. You’ll need to put it on all the pieces!
In case you’re a fan of Peruvian inexperienced sauce, chances are high good you’ll love zhoug. I take advantage of this spicy cilantro sauce so as to add a great deal of taste to all the pieces from salmon to rooster shawarma, and as a dressing for falafel.

We’re about to zhuzh issues up with brilliant, flavor-packed Zhoug sauce. Zhoug, schug, or zhug, is a flexible home made condiment, and it’s one in every of my must-haves within the fridge on any given day. Originating within the Center East, Zhoug is a scrumptious spicy cilantro sauce produced from a mix of peppers, garlic, recent herbs, and spices. I’ll present you the right way to make it with a handful of components in your blender!
Causes to Make Zhoug (Spicy Cilantro Sauce)
- It’s fast and simple. All it’s essential make it’s a few easy-to-find components and your blender or meals processor. It’s prepared to make use of in minutes.
- A lot taste! There’s nothing fairly like Zhoug sauce. It’s a bit spicy (with the choice to adapt), a bit savory, with a mouthwatering mixture of recent herbs and spices. It goes properly with something and all the pieces.
- Preserve leftovers for days. When you’ve tasted zhoug, I simply know you’ll discover all types of how to make use of it, from marinating rooster to dressing roasted greens. Leftovers retailer properly within the fridge or freezer, so you may make a double batch when you have the blender out.


Zhoug Sauce Substances
The magic of zhoug comes down to a couple choose recent herbs and a handful of savory spices that give it its distinctive, advanced taste. I cowl those I take advantage of to make mine beneath! You’ll discover the total recipe with the printable quantities within the recipe card after the publish, adopted by step-by-step photographs.
- Jalapeño – I take advantage of jalapeño peppers as they’re simple to search out. You may adapt the warmth stage of your zhoug sauce with hotter peppers, like habanero. Deseed the peppers to tame the warmth a bit.
- Garlic – Contemporary cloves are finest right here. In any other case, substitute ½ teaspoon of garlic paste per clove.
- Contemporary Herbs – Freshly chopped cilantro and parsley.
- Lemon Juice – Freshly squeezed lemon is finest, however bottled lemon juice works in a pinch. You might additionally substitute white or crimson wine vinegar.
- Spices – Floor cumin, coriander, cardamom, crimson pepper flakes, and salt.
- Olive Oil – I like to recommend a good-quality olive oil as you’ll style the distinction. Avocado oil is an effective substitute.
What Does It Style Like?
Zhoug is full of advanced flavors from mildly spicy jalapeños, brilliant, citrusy lemon and garlic, earthy cumin, and candy, natural cardamom. So much is happening, in the absolute best means! It’s what makes this sauce so wonderful and so versatile. Plus, for those who make it at residence, you possibly can adapt the salt, spice, and different flavors to style.


Zhoug vs. Chimichurri
Chimichurri is the Argentinian reply to Zhoug sauce. The principle distinction between the 2 inexperienced sauces is that chimichurri makes use of a mix of parsley, garlic, and oregano. In the meantime, Zhoug is heavy on cilantro. You’ll discover different variations, like Moroccan zhoug, that additionally comprise mint.
Methods to Use Zhoug Sauce
Zhoug is actually an all-around condiment. I prefer to drizzle it over dips like hummus, or stir it into Macedonian taratur (much like tzatziki) for a spicy kick. These are just some different simple concepts:
- Marinade. Use Zhoug sauce to marinate your favourite proteins, like rooster or beef.
- Dipping sauce. Serve this spicy inexperienced sauce alone or blended into yogurt as a zippy dipping sauce for rooster skewers, juicy rooster bites, or salmon bites.
- Salad dressing. Add a bit additional olive oil and toss your zhoug with a recent inexperienced Mediterranean salad or use it as a dressing for tabbouleh or couscous.
- Topping. I take advantage of Zhoug sauce as a topping over salmon filets or rooster tagine, or I’ll serve it over grilled meats, like flank steak. It’s even nice drizzled over my household’s favourite Macedonian fried pork pizza.
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Mix the components. Place all the pieces besides the olive oil within the bowl of a meals processor. Pulse till all the pieces is chopped and beginning to come collectively.
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Add olive oil. With the meals processor working, pour the olive oil in by way of the highest of the lid. (By way of the opening the place you possibly can add liquid whereas the meals processor is working.) As soon as all of the olive oil has been added, flip off the meals processor.
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Scrape the bowl. Scrape down the edges and pulse a number of extra occasions till a thick sauce is shaped.
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Season to style. Style and modify the seasonings if wanted. You may add extra salt if you would like it saltier, extra crimson pepper flakes if you would like it spicier. Add these changes 1/4 teaspoon at a time, mixing between additions, till you obtain your required taste.
Energy: 87kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 0.4g | Fats: 9g | Saturated Fats: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fats: 1g | Monounsaturated Fats: 7g | Sodium: 199mg | Potassium: 60mg | Fiber: 0.5g | Sugar: 0.3g | Vitamin A: 589IU | Vitamin C: 14mg | Calcium: 14mg | Iron: 1mg
Dietary data is an estimate and supplied as courtesy. Values could range in keeping with the components and instruments used. Please use your most well-liked dietary calculator for extra detailed data.
Make Zhoug
Similar to getting ready home made pesto sauce or blender Hollandaise, making zhoug is straightforward to do in your meals processor:




- Mix the components. Add your entire zhoug components to a blender or meals processor, other than the olive oil. Pulse a number of occasions so the combination comes collectively.
- Add oil. Preserve the processor working and stream within the olive oil. As soon as that’s added, change off the meals processor and scrape down the edges earlier than pulsing once more.
- Modify for seasonings. Style the sauce and modify your seasonings to style. I like to recommend including a bit at a time, mixing in between. You may at all times add extra, however you possibly can’t take it away! While you’re completely satisfied along with your zhoug, serve it straight away or retailer it for later, see beneath.
Storage Directions
- Refrigerate. You may serve zhoug sauce instantly or maintain it saved in an hermetic jar or container. To assist preserve its freshness, pour a skinny layer of olive oil over the zhoug earlier than you seal the lid. It lasts for 5-7 days within the fridge.
- Freeze. Sure, you possibly can freeze zhoug! Freeze it in a freezer-safe container for as much as 6 months and thaw it within the fridge whenever you’re prepared to make use of it.