Wild garlic salsa verde is a simple green sauce or salsa made with wild garlic and mint. This versatile sauce packs a real flavour punch and adds vibrancy to any dish you serve it alongside.
Wild garlic salsa verde is a simple green sauce that can be made in minutes. A perfect accompaniment to vegetables, chicken, fish, shellfish or meat. However, I love it alongside steak.
Springtime brings an abundance of these leaves to our woodlands, ready for picking. Wild garlic is such a fabulous free ingredient!
Wild garlic green sauce freezes really well so make in bulk and freeze in portion sized pots. This means you can enjoy this salsa long past the short growing season.
This wild garlic salsa is made in less than 10 minutes, this is fresh tasting food … fast! Just set it aside for a hour to allow the flavours to meld together before serving.
Our wild garlic salsa is gluten free so suitable for Coeliacs or anyone following a gluten free diet. It also contains no eggs or dairy so a great sauce to serve to vegan diners.
How to make Wild Garlic Salsa Verde – recipe steps:
- Look out and prepare all the ingredients ready to start. This is a very quick sauce to prepare!
- Place the wild garlic and mint leaves in a food processor and pulse to a fine chopped consistency.
- Gradually add the olive oil and continue to pulse. You want to leave some consistency to the sauce, therefore the pulse method works well.
- Place the sauce into a serving bowl, stir through the vinegar and lemon zest. Season to taste.
- Set the sauce aside for an hour before serving to allow the flavours to combine.
How to forage for wild garlic:
If you fancy foraging for wild garlic it can be found growing in woodlands around the UK from March to June. You won’t find it growing out in the open, it likes to grow under the shade of trees, often in damp ground, so look in shaded woodland.
The broad leaves are vibrant green, and best picked young when they are most flavoursome, before they start to flower. That’s not to say you can’t eat the leaves once they are in flower, you can! In fact I eat these delicious leaves the entire growing season to make the very best of wild garlic while it is here!
Please take care when picking wild garlic to only remove the leaves, don’t pull too hard or you’ll remove the bulb as well and you don’t want to spoil next years crop. As with all foraging take only what you need and treat the site with care so you can enjoy it again next year.
Finally, if you fancy foraging for wild garlic please be mindful. Don’t pick from the side of the road as there is too much pollution here from cars.
What does wild garlic taste like?
Do not be put off by the pungent smell of this green, leafy herb. The aroma of wild garlic hits you well before you arrive at a patch of it and it can be quite overpowering! However, the taste is a lot more mellow than the smell wafting from a decent handful might suggest!
Wild garlic has a mellow garlic flavour, somewhat like a garlic chive. The flavour is far fresher and herbal, rather than pungent like a garlic clove. This makes it ideal for eating both cooked and raw.
Worth noting, wild garlic is best picked when young, before it flowers, that’s when it is at it’s most flavoursome. However, that’s not to say that you can’t enjoy it once it is in flower.
What does wild garlic salsa verde go with?
Wild garlic salsa verde is really versatile and can be used in a variety of different ways. It tastes great when served on top of some vegetables, fish or meat. I like to make this sauce when I’m barbecuing food, it tastes amazing with a grilled steak on a summers day.
Add a spoon of this salsa to add flavour to your favourite tacos – whether fish, chicken, meat or veggie.
Use it as a dressing and drizzle it over potatoes for a quick and simple potato salad. This sauce would also taste great poured over some roasted veggies.
Wild Garlic Salsa Verde ingredients:
- Wild garlic is a great leafy green that cooks similar to spinach in that you just need to wilt it in the soup – no need for a long cook here. Although it smells quite pungent the flavour of garlic comes through a lot milder once cooked.
- Mint leaves add another balance of flavour in this fresh tasting green sauce. You could also add other herbs, oregano, parsley, coriander or thyme would all work in this sauce.
- Olive oil forms the base of the sauce you can use regular olive oil or extra virgin olive depending on your own particular taste. You could also substitute extra virgin rapeseed oil if you prefer.
- Red wine vinegar adds acidity to this easy green sauce. You can also substitute with white wine vinegar, sherry vinegar or lemon juice. Just ensure that you balance the flavours.
- Lemon zest pairs really well with the wild garlic and adds a great tasting citrus note to the butter. Lemon is entirely optional and if you prefer you can leave the zest out entirely.
- Salt and black pepper is added to season the salsa.
- Chillies can be added to this wild garlic salsa if you want to add a bit of heat. Just stir it through the sauce along with the garlic.
- For an added salty note you can add anchovies or capers to the salsa.
Can wild garlic salsa verde be made ahead?
FRIDGE: Once prepared this simple salsa can be placed in an airtight container and stored in the fridge for up to 3 days. Place a piece of cling film directly on top of the sauce to stop it from oxidising and turning brown. Remove from the fridge 20 minutes before you want to serve it and give everything a good stir through.
FREEZER: Wild garlic is only around for a couple of months each year so I like to make the very best of it while I can. This salsa verde freezes really well and is a great way of enjoying wild garlic well outwith its growing season.
I like to make a double batch of salsa and place it into individual sized lidded containers. Place in the freezer for up to 4 months, allowing you to enjoy this delicious salsa all summer long.
Useful hints & tips:
- A food processor makes light work of this wild garlic salsa verde and you can have the sauce ready in 10 minutes. However, if you don’t have a food processor use a stick blender to blitz the wild garlic and olive oil and then pour into a mixing bowl, add the remaining ingredients and mix everything together.
- Set the wild garlic salsa aside to rest for one hour as this allows the flavours in the sauce to meld together, giving you a better tasting sauce.
- Allergy advice: gluten free, dairy free, egg free, soya free and nut free. For comprehensive and detailed allergy advice go to Allergy UK.
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Additional recipe suggestions:
If you enjoyed this recipe then why not try some of our other wild garlic recipes:
Also have a look at our 5 Wild Garlic Recipes post which features our favourite ways to make the most of this delicious leafy green when it is in season.
Wild Garlic Salsa Verde
Ingredients
- 120 g wild garlic leaves
- 80 g mint leaves
- 240 ml olive oil
- 30 ml red wine vinegar
- zest of one lemon
- salt & pepper
Instructions
- Place the wild garlic and mint leaves in a food processor and pulse to a fine chopped consistency.
- Gradually add the olive oil and continue to pulse. You want to leave some consistency to the sauce, therefore the pulse method works well.
- Place the sauce into a serving bowl, stir through the vinegar and lemon zest. Season to taste.
- Set the sauce aside for an hour before serving to allow the flavours to combine.
Notes
• Please note that the nutrition information provided above is approximate and meant as a guideline only •
Janice
Thursday 30th of January 2020
Oh nice idea! I'm always looking for something new to make with wild garlic.
Lesley
Monday 3rd of February 2020
Thank you Janice. We’re lucky enough to have a plentiful supply of this seasonal leafy green. It’s so versatile. Lesley x