This 5 ingredient magic green sauce is just as the recipe title suggests – magic! It’s SO versatile. It can be used as a salad dressing, a marinade, a sandwich spread, a pasta sauce, eaten by the spoonful…it’s just incredible.
I don’t know if this is anything like what happens in your house, but sometimes I’ll just have no ideas what to make for dinner. I’m usually brimming with I ideas (hello – Five Ingredient Fridays – and now I have my very own cookbook I can turn to) but some days I’m just out of ideas and I’ll ask my hubby what he wants for dinner and he’ll say something along the lines of “everything you make is good, so I’m fine with whatever.” Great, that was helpful…now what?
So imagine my surprise when I received an email from my hubby during lunch one day at work that simply said “can we make this for dinner?” and contained a link to a recipe on Serious Eats called “The Best F&$king Grilled Chicken Sandwich Ever” <- with a recipe title like that-how could one not be intrigued, right? All I replied was “YES!!”
The chicken sandwich as a whole was really good (it did require more steps and ingredients than one may think for a sandwich), but it was the green sauce that was really the star of the show. As I was making the sauce I tasted it and was thinking “where have you been all my life?”
I tweaked the recipe a little bit and have been making it ever since. It goes with everything – grilled vegetable, oven roasted vegetables (like this vegetarian sheet pan dinner), as a spread on sandwiches, as a marinade for meat, as a topping for cooked meat, as a salad dressing, as a pasta sauce, on top of rice…basically, make this sauce to go on everything!
Just yesterday for lunches I packed my hubby and I rice and roasted veggies and chicken and he came home and said “you know what would have made lunch really good? That green sauce!” and I literally was about to say the same thing!!
The key to making this 5 ingredient magic green sauce is using avocado, it makes it super creamy, and a gorgeous color! I have a little garden and my jalapeno plants are just going nuts, so this is also the perfect use for them.
This sauce has become my ‘go-to’ sauce, and is amazing, make it and you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about!!
Other recipes you might enjoy:
- 5 Ingredient Cheese Sauce Recipe
- Green Goddess Dipping Sauce/Dressing with Yogurt
- Homemade Enchilada Sauce

5 Ingredient Green Sauce
Ingredients
- 1/2 avocado
- 1 large jalapeño
- 1/2-1 cup fresh cilantro
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tablespoons water
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to a food processor (or blender) and pulsate/process until smooth.
- Taste the sauce to make sure it's salty enough for your liking - if you like it saltier add a pinch a more.
Nutrition
Recipe adapted from Serious Eats sauce used on The Best F&$king Grilled Chicken Sandwich Ever
Karen says
Hi Phi, I am new to your site (found you through Gina@skinnytaste). So my kids don’t like spicy, so I just leave out the jalapeno or is there an ingredient I should sub for it? Thanks! I am going to try your lemon yogurt chicken recipe today. Can’t wait!
Sweetphi says
Hi Karen,
Welcome! Love Gina and Skinnytaste. I used to not like spicy, so I totally understand. I would recommend subbing jalapeno for 1/4 of a green bell pepper or you can just add extra herbs, but even if you left out jalapeno, this sauce is delish! Also – love the lemon yogurt chicken, I think you’ll really like it 🙂
Thank you for commenting,
Phi
Sarah says
Husbands are so fun like that 😛 Mine does the exact same thing. I’m like dude, I decide dinner 99% of the time, please have an opinion for me when I demand it! Anyway this recipe looks killer.. it’s what i’ll be making on those nights when Dave is being frustrating 😉
Amanda @ Cookie Named Desire says
My favorite is “Oh, I don’t know. You always come up with such great ideas for dinner, so you decide.” Blergh! But this sauce. It does sound so magical! I can see me making this regularly from now on!
Karen @ Seasonal Cravings says
Yum, I can’t wait to try this and slather it on everything. How about on toast with a fried egg on top? Yes!
Sweetphi says
Oh that sounds super good, I might just have to do that for breakfast tomorrow morning 🙂
Tanya says
I can’t wait to try this! I may have to modify the amount of cilantro though-I am in the “do not care for” camp when it comes to cilantro. Any suggestions for a substitute? I put guacamole on everything so this would be a great option!
Sweetphi says
That’s a great question. I would suggest using parsley or green onion, or a combination of both 🙂
Dianna says
Tanya, basil would go very nicely in this sauce instead of cilantro, especially on a grilled chicken sandwich. That is what I am going to try! I like cilantro, too, so I intend to try both.
Sweetphi says
I hope you love the sauce Dianna, it’s so good I just made some again last week for some sandwiches!
Jessica says
This recipe combines all my very favorite flavors – it does sound magical! I’m all in! I love the idea of this on chicken or over tacos, looks delicious!
Sweetphi says
It totally is magical, and I just today made it for some chicken this week 🙂