Welcome to my homemade churrasco with chimichurri sauce recipe. Think large cubes of succulent steak on a skewer, cooked fast over searing hot charcoal then dressed with the zesty sharp freshness of the famous Argentinian sauce; chimichurri.
You can cook churrasco (steak kebabs) on a regular BBQ or even under a super hot grill; but if you have a rotisserie BBQ even better.
Here’s my recipe video of how to make my steak kebabs with chimichurri sauce (full recipe below):
Chimichurri is fragrant, fresh with a little kick and packed with fresh parsley, olive oil, garlic, chilli and some sharpness from lemon juice or vinegar. Once you combine this delicious Argentinian dressing with the Portuguese and Spanish style of grilling meat, usually on large skewers known as churrasco, and you’ve hit the carnivore jackpot!
Cooking meat (or anything for that matter) on a spit or skewer is one of the oldest methods of cooking; the Greeks would call this Souvlaki or Souvla, the Japanese Yakitori, for the Indonesians it’s Sate (pronounced satay – it’s the method of cooking, not the peanut sauce), probably the only thing earlier was cooking meat in the ground.
My first experience with churrasco was while I was travelling through South America and stumbled upon the churascaria’s in Brazil, mainly around Rio and Florianopolis. I walked in to find a guy wandering around with a huge skewers layered with large chunks of steak that were being shaved onto guests plates before going bac on the BBQ.
As soon as I saw large pieces of sizzling meat spinning on a skewer I knew I had found my home from home.
Then I noticed guys appearing with all manner of meat being cooked on skewers; steak, chicken, chicken livers and just kept being sliced off into the diners plates. just slice off thick shards of carnivore heaven that drop onto your plate.
Talking of meat on a spit, I like my steak rare, charred on the outside and utterly succulent.
Top 3 tips for the perfect churrasco:
- Top quality meat steak (ideally fillet or sirloin from your butcher)
- Thick cut (at least 2 inches thick)
- Hot coals – you want to cook these fast to sear the outside and keep the centre pink
Lets crack on with my recipe for steak kebabs (churrasco) marinated and dressed in chimichurri sauce…
Steak Kebab recipe with Chimichurri sauce – Ingredients:
Chimichurri Marinade:
(I have a whole blog post dedicated to chimichurri sauce but below is my slightly quicker version).
1 clove garlic crushed
100g parsley finely chopped
1 tbl dried oregano
Pinch dried chilli flakes
3 cherry tomatoes finely chopped
4 tbl extra virgin olive oil
1 tbl redwine vinegar
Couple pinches of sea salt and pepper
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Steak Kebabs (churrasco) Ingredients:
500g of thick cut sirloin or fillet steak at room temperature – cut into large 2-3 inch cubes
Method:
- Mix all the chimichurri ingredients together and taste for balance of flavours and ensure the chimichurri is a little loose.
- Cut the steak and then marinade the steak in about a third of the chimichurri mixture (ideally for a few hours in the fridge – but no worries if not).
- Place the meat onto skewers leaving some space between each piece of meat.
- Cook the meat over the hottest part of the charcoal for about 8 minutes (but test for your desired done-ness). The steaks should sear and char quickly on the outside.
Nb. If you are cooking these on a regular grill and turning by hand you can halve the cooking time (about 1 minute each side, totalling 4-5 minutes) for rare/medium rare. If on a motorised rotisserie then 6-8 minutes is about right. But check for your preference.
- Remove and rest for a few minutes before serving and placing a drizzle of chimichurri sauce over the top.
Goes great with a cold beer and plenty of salad!