There are essentially two ways that we like to enjoy our steak these days. The first is with soy sauce and butter, as in our Grilled Ribeye with Soy Butter Glaze.
The second is inspired by Argentinian gauchos–a simple, well-salted grilled skirt steak topped with deliciously verdant, garlicky, and slightly spicy chimichurri.
Now a caveat before I go on to wax poetic about beef and delicious Argentinean condiments: this is not what some may see as an “authentic” recipe. Namely, we omit red wine vinegar from our chimichurri in favor of letting the pure parsley, garlic, and chili flake flavors shine through. It also makes it a much more versatile condiment.
This recipe will make about 1 cup of chimichurri. It can be used on your grilled skirt steak, as a delicious dipping oil for pre-dinner bread, or as an easy flavor agent cheat for when you’re sautéing vegetables (just add to the pan like you would add standard garlic and oil, and sauté–no need to add anything else!). So if you’re a gaucho in Argentina right now, taking a break from herding your cows and making your grandmother’s 50-year-old recipe for chimichurri, this is just a Chinese family of professional eaters’ take on it! That said, if you like vinegar in your chimichurri, feel free to use it!
Now that that’s out of the way, if you’re the type of person that eats your skirt steak plain, we implore you to try chimichurri. If steak could have a best friend–nay, a soulmate–we would bet on chimichurri. Take a little break from your A1, your Worcestershire sauce, your ketchup, whatever your chosen flavor enhancer is, and MAKE THIS CHIMICHURRI.
You won’t be sorry, and we’re betting that you’ll never look back.
*UPDATE: There was quite a lot of speaking up about the noticeable lack of oregano and vinegar in our chimichurri recipe, which left me feeling understandably conflicted about my longstanding, go-to recipe. So the other day when a craving struck for chimichurri, I plucked some sprigs of oregano from the garden and poured in a few liberal dashes of red wine vinegar. The result was indeed much, much more delicious than the original! As Sarah said, when a whole culture of people is telling you to do it one way, it can’t be bad. So I’ve amended my errant ways in the updated recipe below! :D Thanks for reading and sticking up for your food preferences, y’all. — Kaitlin
Recipe Instructions
Pick the leaves off your bunch of parsley, and finely chop them. Peel all your garlic cloves and mince finely. You can use a food processor, garlic press, or an old fashioned knife and cutting board.
In a small bowl, combine the parsley, oregano, red wine vinegar, garlic, oil, red pepper flakes, salt, black pepper, and lime juice. Stir well to combine.
Fire up your grill to preheat. Season your steak with salt and pepper.
When your grill is extremely hot (if you have a thermometer on your grill, it should be in the range of 500-600F), lay the steaks on the grill. Skirt steaks are very thin, so this process will be quick. Do not close the grill, and don’t walk away!
When the first side has been on the grill for about 1 minute, rotate the steaks to get some solid grill marks. After another minute, flip the steak, letting cook for 1 minute, then rotating, then letting cook for another minute or two. Once you’ve established a solid criss-cross, you can start moving around a little bit more erratically. This will ensure that you get a delicious uniform grill crust–none of that fakey McFakerson neat criss cross lame-ness you see in Outback Steakhouse commercials. These instructions are for medium rare, which is in our opinion the best way to enjoy your steak. If you like it more or less well done, add or subtract cooking time.
When the grilled skirt steak is cooked, transfer to a plate and let rest for a solid 10 minutes. Don’t cut into it before then. Serve as large steaks or slice against the grain and top with generous amounts of chimichurri.
Rice cooked with a glug of olive oil and mixed with a pinch of salt and stewed black beans are excellent side dish options to serve with your grilled skirt steak and chimichurri!
Grilled Skirt Steak with Chimichurri
Ingredients
- 1 bunch of parsley
- 2-3 tablespoons fresh oregano minced
- 1 bulb of garlic
- 2/3 cup neutral oil (such as canola oil, light olive oil, or grapeseed oil)
- 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- juice of half a lime
- Skirt steak (Make however much you want! You’ll have plenty of chimichurri to go with it.)
Instructions
- Pick the leaves off your bunch of parsley, and finely chop them. Peel all your garlic cloves and mince finely. You can use a food processor, garlic press, or an old fashioned knife and cutting board.
- In a small bowl, combine the parsley, oregano, red wine vinegar, garlic, oil, red pepper flakes, salt, black pepper, and lime juice. Stir well to combine
- Fire up your grill to preheat. Season your steak with salt and pepper. When your grill is extremely hot (if you have a thermometer on your grill, it should be in the range of 500-600F), lay the steaks on the grill. Skirt steaks are very thin, so this process will be quick. Do not close the grill, and don’t walk away!
- When the first side has been on the grill for about 1 minute, rotate the steaks to get some solid grill marks. After another minute, flip the steak, letting cook for 1 minute, then rotating, then letting cook for another minute or two. Once you’ve established a solid criss-cross, you can start moving around a little bit more erratically. This will ensure that you get a delicious uniform grill crust--none of that fakey McFakerson neat criss cross lame-ness you see in Outback Steakhouse commercials. These instructions are for medium rare, which is in our opinion the best way to enjoy your steak. If you like it more or less well done, add or subtract cooking time.
- When the steak is cooked, transfer to a plate and let rest for a solid 10 minutes. Don’t cut into it before then. Serve as large steaks or slice against the grain and top with generous amounts of chimichurri.
Tips & Notes:
Hi
I only have white wine vinegar. Can I use that instead of red wine vinegar?
Thanks
Yes you can Su!
Hi Guys, I’ve been enjoying your Chinese recipes very much and have learned a lot from your cooking tips. From reading the above and given I’m an Argentinean (no cow herding gaucho though), I thought it was a good opportunity to now give you guys something back :).
First of all, meat need to be cooked over the head of wood of charcoal embers. Gas will never give you the same flavour. This is why we only use salt for seasoning.
Secondly, in my view, chimichurri can only be called chimichurri if it contains vinegar. I understand your reasoning but the acid of the vinegar is very important and should not be left out. Also Oregano is a key ingredient of a well rounded chimichirri.
As mentioned, I became a heavy user of your site and very grateful of all the information you guys share.
Cheers,
Andy
Hi Andy, thanks for the tips! We’ll have to try the chimichurri with vinegar and oregano next time we make it. And we do have a natural lump charcoal grill now, so this will be first on our grilling list when warmer weather hits!
Well as one of those weird people with a genetically disposed condition that makes many chimis taste like soap, I love another chimi recipe with parsley! And lime juice instead of wine vinegar totally floats my boat, tho I love my wine vin chimi recipes also. Looking forward to trying this!
Thanks for the extra tips! It’s great to hear about people’s favorite variations on chimichurri.
As a native I am:
1. Glad I’m not a gaucho
2. Happy to see new takes on what I think is a – yes, very delicious BUT – super one-dimensional food.
Make no mistake, I love my country’s cuisine, but the focus on being traditional hurts more than help. Especially seeing the restaurants that opens around the world! What “traditional Argentine restaurants” usually do is add other Latino dishes instead of experimenting with the traditional Argentine. I mean, it’s so basic..it should be seen as a canvas to try out different things.
So I’m happy you went for it! Another great recipe as always!
Well, that’s a cultural thing for us isn’t it. If you are from Chile or Argentina most people believe throwing a cow on the charcole grill is the pinnacle of all meals ever. My cousin does barbeques almost every freaking day for example.
I agree with you both. People outside of Texas think we BBQ beef everyday and that’s all we eat. Like Argentina and Chile, we have a coast line that allows us other choices. Plus chicken and the things that taste like chicken. Happy grilling. I’m making this recipe this weekend.
Hahah “things that taste like chicken” ;)
Hahah thanks so much, Fernando!
The part where you leave out the Vinegar doesn’t bother me that much.
It hurts much more, that you left out the orégano.
Ahhh so that’s where the true priority is. Next time we make this recipe we’ll try it with oregano!
How about a good Lo-Mein recipe?
Hi Roger, we’ve got a few lo mein recipes on the blog: https://thewoksoflife.com/?s=lo+mein Cheers!
I have made your rib eye and received comments like, “THE BEST STEAK I’VE EVER EATEN”. Now I must try this recipe…thanks
Awesome, Lyn! Big shoes to fill ;)
About how many cups is a “bunch” of parsley? (I have some but it’s already been used not in the original amount)
Hi Heather, about 1 cup of parsley should do the trick.
Looks fabulous! I totally agree with omitting the vinegar, which (in my opinion) is too strong a flavor. Now if you used extra virgin olive oil instead of a neutral tasting oil, you’d wind up with an Italian salsa verde. If you like chimichurri, worth a try…
Clearly a winner!
Nice idea, Frank! We are big fans of salsa verde ^_^