Give your meals a punch of flavor with Italian Salsa Verde! This flavorful herby green sauce has delicious depth of flavor from anchovies & capers. Perfectly paried with fish, veggies, or meat.
Italian Salsa Verde is a vibrant, pungent, herbaceous green sauce from Northern Italy, made with capers, parsley, garlic, lemon and anchovies in an olive oil base.
Its flavor is bright and tangy with delicious umami depth from the anchovies and capers.
What you’ll need
Ingredient Notes
- Olive Oil– use a good quality extra virgin olive oil.
- Anchovies- give depth here. Start conservatively, add more to taste. Vegans can leave it out and add more capers or 1-2 teaspoons of miso paste.
- Parsley– Traditionally, flat-leaf parsley is used, but feel free to add mint, basil or cilantro.
- Capers– Use capers in saltwater brine or capers packed in salt- either will work.
How to Make Italian Salsa Verde
Use a food processor or immersion blender, or just finely chop everything by hand. Blend the anchovies, garlic and oil first- then add the remaining ingredients.
I like to leave the capers whole- up to you.
Ways to Serve it!
- Serve over Grilled Branzino or Baked Cod
- Serve or grilled chicken or Grilled Steak
- Serve over cauliflower steaks, cabbage steaks or Roasted Romanesco Broccoli
- Spoon over Grilled Veggies or Roasted Veggies
- Toss with Pasta and create a delicious Italian Pasta Salad
Recipe FaQs
Mexican Salsa Verde is made with tomatillos, cilantro, fresh green chilies and lime. Italian Salsa Verde has an olive oil base with fresh parsley, anchovies, capers, and garlic and lemon.
Yes, leave out the anchovies and add a couple of teaspoons of miso paste.
Though pesto and Italian salsa verde both originate from Italy, and look similar in appearance, they are different in flavor. Pesto is made with basil and parmesan, while Salsa Verde is made with parsley, anchovies and capers.
Italian Salsa Verde
- Prep Time: 15
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 1 cup 1x
- Category: sauces
- Method: blended
- Cuisine: Italian
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Italian Salsa Verde is punchy, vibrant and herbaceous with a delicious depth of flavor from anchovies and capers. Tastes great on grilled or roasted fish, veggies, or meat.
Ingredients
- 1–2 anchovies, optional; see notes
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 1 cup Italian Parsley- packed, (feel free to sub 1/2 basil, mint or cilantro)
- 2–3 tablespoons capers (and 1 tablespoon caper brine, optional)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt or add to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper, more to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon chili flakes, optional, more to taste
Instructions
Place anchovies, garlic olive oil, and lemon juice in a food processer, or use an immersion blender, and blend until well combined. Add lemon zest and fresh parsley and pulse repeatedly until combined but not too smooth.
Stir in the capers.
Add salt, pepper and chili flakes to taste. You want it to taste slightly salty.
Notes
Vegan: Leave out the anchovies and add 2 teaspoons miso paste, for added depth.
This will keep up to 5 days in the fridge.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 tablespoon
- Calories: 64
- Sugar: 0.1 g
- Sodium: 73 mg
- Fat: 7.1 g
- Saturated Fat: 1 g
- Carbohydrates: 0.7 g
- Fiber: 0.2 g
- Protein: 0.3 g
- Cholesterol: 0.2 mg
Excellent and very handy for salads – any kind.
Thanks and yes, I love this tossed with pasta to make a quick pasta salad.:)
Where do you get the anchovies pictured, they don’t look like the typical canned variety?
Hi, I got these at a specialty store in Bend- they are refrigerated, not tinned. I’ve seen them at upscale grocery stores.