Chermoula Sauce

5 from 7 votes

Chermoula is a really flavorful sauce with lots of fresh herbs, earthy spices, and just the right amount of flavor. It's also really easy to make and extremely versatile.

Prep Time5 mins

Total Time5 mins

Course: Condiment

Cuisine: Moroccan, North African

Diet: Halal, Vegan, Vegetarian

Servings: Tablespoons

Calories: 127.9kcal

Author: Amira

Ingredients

Basic Chermoula: ( no spices)

¾ cup (8g) fresh parsley leaves, coarsely chopped
1 ½ cup (25g) fresh cilantro leaves, coarsely chopped.
1 head (40g) of garlic.
1 ½ teaspoons salt.
½ cup olive oil plus more for covering.

Red Chermoula Sauce:

Basic Chermoula.
2 Tablespoon paprika.
2 Tablespoons chili flakes.
½ teaspoon turmeric.

Green Chermoula sauce

Basic chermoula.
½ Tablespoon chili flakes.
½ teaspoon mace.
1 teaspoon turmeric.
½ pickled (preserved) lemon.

Instructions

For any type of chermoula place all the ingredients in a food processor and puree.
Place in a clean jar, pour olive oil over until you have a film covering the chermoula then refrigerate.
This sauce is great to marinate chicken, fish, shrimp, couscous or over a salad, I’ve made a delicious zoodles with butter, basic chermoula and a splash of heavy cream.

Video

Notes

If you are not familiar with chermoula, then my advice to you is to make the recipes here as they have been tested by many people. After you get used to the taste then venture out and reach for your spice cabinet to make your own favorite blend.
Make chermoula your own and add your preferred spices. You can add cumin, coriander, mint, ras el hanout and many more.
Traditionally a mortar and pestle is used not a food processor.
To make chermoula stay longer always make sure to use clean spoon when scooping it up and always cover with a thin film of olive oil.
Some people make it solely with cilantro. I’ve seen people make it anywhere between 1:1 to 1:4 parsley to cilantro ratio. If you find cilantro soapy aim for a higher ratio of parsley may be 1:1. Parsley and garlic will mask this soapiness.
Others got even more innovative, but this is not traditional, and added basil and/or Thai basil with great success.
The green and red chermoula stayed in my fridge for two weeks. Basic chermoula stayed for about 6 weeks before I discarded what was left, color changed a bit yet it was still fragrant.
Freezing Chermoula: I have not tried it but my guess is if pesto can be frozen then why not with Chermoula!
Green Chermoula recipe yields ¾ cup while the red one made 1 cup.
Nutrition is calculated for the basic Chermoula and using pink salt.

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Nutrition