In the Canary Islands there's a good chance that your traditional meals will come with a side of mojo: different local sauces that people pair with everything from meat to fish to potatoes. While the most famous mojo sauce is the red and slightly spicy mojo picón, mojo verde (green mojo) definitely gives it a run for its money!
Don't miss these other Spanish condiments! My recipes for bravas sauce and garlic alioli are reader favorites.
Introduction
Made with cilantro, parsley, green peppers and garlic, this delicious Canarian sauce is the perfect condiment for grilled fish or roasted potatoes like the famous Canarian papas arrugadas.
While finding native Canarian peppers is nearly impossible away from the islands, mojo verde sauce is easy to adapt to what you have available at home.
Ingredients
Curious what you need for a refreshing batch of mojo verde? Grab some simple ingredients, and you'll be ready to get started! Here's the key ingredients.
- Fresh Herbs: Use fresh cilantro and parsley for the best flavor. Discard any bruised or wilted leaves, and throw away the stems for a better texture.
- Olive Oil: Use the best quality olive oil you can find! Great-quality Spanish olive oil will shine in mojo verde.
- Sherry Vinegar: This adds a wonderful tang to the mojo! Substitute with red wine vinegar if you want.
See recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
How to Make Mojo Verde
If you’d like to see the full ingredients and instructions, scroll to the bottom of the post for the printable recipe card.
- Remove the stems from the cilantro and parsley and chop the leaves. (image 1)
- Roughly chop the garlic, then mash it into a paste in a mortar and pestle. (image 2)
- Place the cilantro, parsley, mashed garlic, pepper, salt, and cumin to a blender and pulse a few times. (image 3)
- Keep the blender on low speed and drizzle in the olive oil. Be careful not to purée the sauce! (image 4)
- Add the vinegar to taste, then add more salt or cumin as desired. (image 5)
- Serve the mojo verde with papas arrugadas or with vegetables and barbecued meat! (image 6)
Recipe FAQs
Canarian mojo verde is made from a flavorful mixture of fresh cilantro and parsley blended with green pepper, garlic, sherry vinegar, salt, cumin, and olive oil. This sauce adds a delicious bright flavor to grilled meats and veggies!
Keep mojo verde tightly covered, and refrigerate it for up to 5 days.
Serve
In the Canary Islands, mojo verde and its cousin mojo picón are typically served with papas arrugadas, the salty, wrinkly potatoes that are famous in the area. But if you can't whip up a batch of these potatoes, serve mojo verde with grilled fish, meat, or veggies.
Expert Tips
- Use fresh cilantro and parsley that's free from wilted leaves. Be sure to remove the stems before blending for a better texture.
- Avoid over-processing the sauce and turning it into a purée. Mojo verde should still have some texture from the herbs and pepper.
- Be sure to add the olive oil slowly to help it emulsify into the mixture.
- Don't have a food processor or blender on hand? Make this sauce the traditional way and use a mortar and pestle instead.
Other Spanish Sauces You'll Love
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Canarian Mojo Verde Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 bunch fresh cilantro stems removed
- ½ bunch fresh parsley stems removed
- 5 large garlic cloves
- 2 small green peppers either bell peppers or spicy ones
- 1-2 teaspoons sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons sherry or red wine vinegar
Instructions
- Remove the stems from the cilantro and parsley and roughly chop the leaves
- Roughly chop the garlic and mash it to a paste in a mortar and pestle
- Add the cilantro, parsley, mashed garlic, chopped pepper, sea salt and cumin to a blender or food processor and pulse a couple of times.
- Slowly drizzle in the olive oil while blending slowly (you don't want to over process the sauce, the truly traditional way would be to do it all in a mortar and pestle).
- Add the vinegar to taste, and then adjust for salt and cumin.
Notes
- Use fresh cilantro and parsley that's free from wilted leaves. Be sure to remove the stems before blending for a better texture.
- Avoid over-processing the sauce and turning it into a purée. Mojo verde should still have some texture from the herbs and pepper.
- Be sure to add the olive oil slowly to help it emulsify into the mixture.
- Don't have a food processor or blender on hand? Make this sauce the traditional way and use a mortar and pestle instead.
Nutrition
Photography by Giulia Verdinelli
dirk
Sorry to correct you a little bit: The taste of cilantro is in the stems, not in the leaves (as e.g. Jamie Oliver always says). If you remove the stems, you remove most of the cilantro taste. Why don't you just put everything into the blender and that's it? That's the way how every Canarian houseman/wife is doing it when the prepare the mojo verde. (I have been working at the Canary Islands for several years...)
Giulia
I tried this yesterday and I did leave the stems for extra flavour.
However, they got tangled around my blades and jammed the blender LOL.
So maybe it was just my blender but next time I'll cut them off.
The flavour is absolutely delicious and I loved it so much that I made two batches so I have a stash in the freezer!
I tried it on fish and it was just perfect.