Salsa verde is a sharp, uncooked green sauce of parsley and other herbs with capers, anchovy, garlic, mustard and vinegar or lemon, served in Italy with boiled meats, fish and vegetables.
What it is¶
Salsa verde ("green sauce") is a chopped sauce of flat-leaf parsley — often with basil, mint or tarragon — sharpened with capers, anchovy fillets, garlic, a little Dijon mustard and vinegar or lemon juice, then loosened with olive oil. In Piedmont it is bagnet verd, the traditional partner of bollito misto, the great platter of boiled meats. The name causes confusion: Mexican salsa verde is a completely different sauce of tomatillos and green chillies, and Germany's Grüne Soße and France's sauce verte are separate cousins. This page is about the Italian sauce, with the others under Variations.
Origins¶
Green sauces of herbs and vinegar are old in Europe. Medieval cookery manuscripts in France and England describe vert sause of parsley and other herbs pounded with bread and vinegar to serve with fish and meat, and a similar sauce appears in Italian collections of the Renaissance. The bread is the tell: soaking stale bread in vinegar and pounding it with herbs gave body before emulsified sauces existed, and some Piedmontese versions still use it.
The modern Italian form, with anchovy and capers, belongs to the north: Piedmont and Lombardy serve it with bollito misto, and it is also common in Tuscany and Liguria with fish. Its reputation in Britain and America owes much to the late-twentieth-century "rustic Italian" restaurant cooking of the River Café era, where it was served with grilled meat and fish.
What goes in it¶
| Component | Role |
|---|---|
| Flat-leaf parsley | Base; bright and grassy |
| Basil, mint or tarragon (optional) | Perfume; a small proportion |
| Capers | Sour, salty pops of flavour |
| Anchovy fillets | Savoury depth that dissolves into the sauce |
| Garlic | Pungency; one clove is plenty |
| Dijon mustard | Helps emulsify and adds heat |
| Red wine vinegar or lemon juice | Sharpness |
| Extra virgin olive oil | Binds everything |
🔁 Vegetarian salsa verde
Anchovy makes the traditional sauce unsuitable for vegetarians. Leave it out and add an extra tablespoon of chopped capers and a pinch more salt; a few chopped green olives also help replace the savoury depth.
Flavour¶
Sharp, salty and herbaceous, with a savoury depth from the anchovy that most people cannot identify as fish. It should taste bright and slightly aggressive on its own; against boiled beef or a piece of grilled fish it seems exactly balanced. Chopped by hand it has texture and distinct flavours; blended it is smoother and milder.
How to use it¶
- Bollito misto and other boiled or poached meats: beef, tongue, chicken, cotechino.
- Fish: grilled mackerel, sea bass, poached salmon.
- Roast and grilled meat: lamb, steak, pork chops.
- Vegetables: boiled new potatoes, green beans, grilled leeks, soft-boiled eggs.
- Sandwiches: with leftover roast beef or in a porchetta roll.
Making it at home¶
About 200 ml · 15 minutes
You need
- 1 large bunch flat-leaf parsley (about 50 g leaves)
- A small handful of basil or mint leaves (about 10 g)
- 2 tbsp capers, rinsed if salted
- 4 anchovy fillets in oil
- 1 small garlic clove
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar (or lemon juice)
- 100–120 ml extra virgin olive oil
- Black pepper; salt only if needed
Method
- Chop the garlic, capers and anchovies together on a board to a coarse paste.
- Pile the herbs on top and chop everything together until fine but not puréed.
- Scrape into a bowl and stir in the mustard and vinegar.
- Stir in the oil to a loose, spoonable sauce. Taste and add pepper, and salt only if the anchovies and capers have not seasoned it enough.
- Serve within a few hours for the brightest colour.
Variations¶
- Bagnet verd (Piedmont): parsley, garlic, anchovy and bread soaked in vinegar, sometimes with hard-boiled egg yolk.
- Sauce verte (France): usually a green mayonnaise or a herb vinaigrette with tarragon, chervil and chives.
- Grüne Soße (Frankfurt): seven specified herbs — borage, chervil, cress, parsley, burnet, sorrel and chives — with sour cream or yoghurt and egg, served with boiled potatoes and eggs.
- Mexican salsa verde: tomatillos, green chillies such as serrano, onion and coriander, raw or cooked — an unrelated sauce that shares only a name.
Buying and storing¶
Salsa verde is best the day it is made; acid gradually turns the herbs olive-drab. Covered and refrigerated it keeps 2–3 days, with a thin layer of oil on top to slow darkening. It does not freeze well once made, but a herb base without the vinegar freezes acceptably.