This recipe for Peruvian Green Sauce (Aji Verde) is made with fresh chilies, cilantro, garlic and lime. This version can be made without mayo or dairy using cashews as the base, keeping totally vegan & plant-based if you like.
If you’ve been here a while, you’ve probably seen this old post for Peruvian Chicken with Peruvian Sauce – it’s still one of my favorites and today I wanted to share how you can make the flavorful Peruvian Green Sauce, totally vegan. It has been coming in handy around here!
Peruvian Green Sauce called Aji Verde, is traditionally made with Peruvian chilies- a little hard to find in here the states, so we often sub serranos or jalapenos.
The sauce is loaded up with cilantro, lime and garlic and the base is typically made with mayo– so you end up with a spicy, creamy cilantro sauce that is tangy and dangerously addicting.
I seriously want to put this Aji Verde Sauce on everything, it ticks all the boxes for me. Well except the mayo part that is- so I’ve been making it vegan!
The best part, my husband hasn’t even noticed!
How to Make Peruvian Green Sauce:
- The recipe is simple! Just place the ingredients in a blender and blend until creamy and smooth. Adjust the spice level, by adding more fresh chilies to taste.
- To make this vegan, simply substitute raw cashews and water for the mayo. And of course, you can also use vegan mayo. Very easy!
What to serve Peruvian Green Sauce with:
- Burrito Bowls
- Fish Tacos!
- Smoky Blackbean Burgers
- Vegan Crispy Jackfruit Tacos
- Chipotle Grilled Chicken
- Grilled Steak Tacos
- Portobello Tacos
- Spicy Mexican Oaxacan Bowl
- Simple Baked Tacos
- Baja Bowls!
- Simple Baked Chicken Breast
This recipe is pretty universal! It can go so on many things- and can take plain old meals and elevate them, so I hope you give it a try!
Happy Week,
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Peruvian Green Sauce (Aji Verde)
- Prep Time: 10
- Total Time: 5
- Yield: ¾ cup 1x
- Category: condiment, vegan
- Method: blended
- Cuisine: Peruvian
- Diet: Vegan
Description
A simple recipe for Peruvian Green Sauce ( Aji Verde) that is vegan adaptable- to use in Peruvian Style Meals, burritos, tacos, burrito bowls, or with Peruvian Chicken.
Ingredients
Peruvian Green Sauce (Aji Verde) :
- ½ mayo or sour cream (or 1/3 cup cashews and 1/3 cup water -vegan option, see notes)
- ½–1 jalapeño or 1/2 a serrano chili (use less for less spicy, you can always add more to taste)
- 1 fat garlic clove
- 1 cup chopped cilantro- thin stems ok.
- ¼–1/2 teaspoon kosher salt,
- a squeeze of lime juice (1 tablespoon)
Instructions
Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth, scraping down sides if need be. ( See notes for vegan)
Blent until creamy. Taste. Adjust heat, salt and lime to your liking, adding more of each if you want. You want this slightly salty.
Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Makes 3/4-1 cup.
Notes
A note on Peruvian Green Sauce ( Aji Verde): Mayo is traditional. I prefer sour cream, or a blend of sour cream and mayo. Or the vegan version below!
VEGAN PERUVIAN GREEN SAUCE: Instead of mayo, substitute 1/3 cup raw cashews and 1/3 cup water, and use 1/2 teaspoon salt. Blend cashews and water first- in a high-powered blender. (If your blender is not “high-powered” soak the cashews in water for 4 hours first, so they soften a bit.) Blend until creamy then add remaining ingredients- chilies, cilantro, garlic, salt and lime. Taste and adjust heat and salt to your liking. You want this slightly salty.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 3 tablespoons
- Calories: 83
- Sugar: 1.2 g
- Sodium: 81.4 mg
- Fat: 6.3 g
- Saturated Fat: 1.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 5.4 g
- Fiber: 0.8 g
- Protein: 2.8 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Keywords: aji verde, aji verde recipe, Peruvian green sauce, spicy Peruvian green sauce, vegan aji verde, vegan Peruvian green sauce
This sauce is the best I’ve ever had! I make it weekly. I found it originally as a part of your Peruvian chicken recipe and I am hooked. I replace the mayo with Greek yoghurt as I am on a weight loss journey and this helps with calorie counting. I usually double the recipe and then have it as a salad dressing or a dipping sauce for raw veggies. I’ve even had it on scrambled eggs or over sliced steak with brown rice. I could eat this in my sleep it is seriously THAT good! Thanks for the best recipe ever!!!
★★★★★
Perfect Lee- glad you adapted to meet your needs. It great on so many things!
Thank you for this amazingly delicious recipe. I make the cashew vegan version and it’s perfect. I am egg sensitive so I try to avoid them at all times and I was missing aji. I usually double the recipe and make this weekly to keep on hand.
★★★★★
Thanks Jackie! Glad this works for you!
I’ve been making this for years . simple and delicious !! I eat it with everything !
Great to hear Cynthia~!
Crazy delicious. Never had it before but I had a bunch of cilantro left over. I ended up using 3 jalapeños cause I like it spicy.
★★★★★
The garlic totally overwhelmed this classic
Garlic is pretty tradional- you can always use a little less?
I could drink this from the bowl. Delicious!
★★★★★
Wow, this would make cardboard delicious! I made the mayo version and will be making another batch today as I’m nearly out. Thank you so much for sharing this simple and superb recipe. I’ve used it on grilled veggies, eggs, veggie burgers,….
★★★★★
Thanks so much Whitney!
This sauce is over-the-top delicious. I made it with 1/2 mayo and 1/2 Greek full-fat yogurt. I used an entire serrano. For my family it wasn’t too spicy. If I were having guests, I would only use 1/2 serrano. My husband said he could put this sauce on on anything. Simple and delicious.
★★★★★
Awesome, glad everyone liked it!
The sauce is delicious I made it for my family and everybody enjoy .
Thank you
★★★★★
Made it with the cashews and loved it. Do you think hemp seeds would work here too?
★★★★★
I think they would work great here!
We’ve always made this with mayo, but tried the cashews today- delicious and easy!
This is so flavorful!
★★★★★
This sound delicious!!! Would yogurt work as a substitute for the mayo?
I haven’t tried it with yogurt. I’d say yes, just make sure it is full fat?
I love this sauce! Try it over polenta and a beef roast and root veggies in the fall to brighten up the flavors.
★★★★★