Cilantro Chutney
Jan 30, 2020, Updated May 23, 2023
Made with fresh cilantro, ginger, green chilies, lemon juice, this Cilantro Chutney is the perfect accompaniment to Indian meals!
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My favorite Cilantro Chutney is great on sandwiches, wraps and is also the perfect accompaniment to parathas, pakoras, samosas & more!
If you love Indian food, then you must have come across the green cilantro chutney.
Indian meals (especially snacks and appetizers) are often incomplete without a side of this chutney.
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Chutneys and achars (pickles) are an integral part of Indian food. In my home, there was always some sort of chutney on the table for our lunch.
The common ones were of course cilantro, mint and then there was amla chutney (Indian gooseberry) and chutney made of raw mangoes! Oh well, the list is endless.
In fact everyone was so obsessed with chutneys in my house that if there was nothing else, we would make a chutney of garlic, green chilies with mustard oil.
It was the simplest chutney where you had to just crush everything and mix it all together and let me tell you it tasted amazing, especially with plain parathas!
I grew up eating cilantro chutney on everyday basis and so you can always find a batch of it in my refrigerator. It never lasts more than a week in my house, sometimes even less.
The thing about this chutney is that it is so versatile. You can use it on sandwiches, wraps, salads and so much more. If you love Indian food, then you gotta have a batch of this in your refrigerator at all times!
My mom always said that chutney tastes when made on sill-batta. Do you guys know what that is? It’s kind of a grinding stone which was traditionally used to grind masalas and chutneys in India.
Of course people in cities don’t use them anymore but people in villages still do.
Since my family belongs to a village in Uttar Pradesh, we always had that sill batta in the kitchen. Trust me, the chutney made in a blender can never match to that chutney.
It’s like any chutney tastes 10 times better when hand grinded with that stone. Obviously, I made this cilantro chutney in my blender because I don’t have a sill batta with me here.
Ingredients for Cilantro Chutney
Cilantro: of course, the star ingredients on this dish! Use fresh cilantro here for best results.
Ginger: I love adding ginger to my chutney, gives it a nice flavor. Some people add garlic too but I usually just go with the ginger.
Green Chili: what is a chutney without some spice? My version uses only 1 thai green chili so it isn’t really spicy. If you want a spicier chutney, feel free to add more of these.
Spices: chaat masala, roasted cumin powder are added to flavor the chutney.
Lemon juice: it adds a nice tang to the chutney, do not skip it.
Yogurt: now some people prefer adding yogurt and some don’t. I belong to the former category, I almost always use yogurt in my cilantro chutney recipe.
I have tried this chutney with dairy yogurt as well as non-dairy yogurt (plain almond milk yogurt) and it comes out great both ways.
Sugar: just a bit of sugar helps in balancing the flavors. You may skip it.
And of course there’s some salt and pepper!
How to Thicken The Chutney
In my experience, the chutney made with almond milk yogurt turns out pretty thick.
However if your chutney turns out runny (with or without addition of yogurt), here’s what you can do to thicken it- add thick sev to it!
Here’s the picture of the kind of sev you would need to add to make your chutney thick.
I learnt this cool trick many years ago from a Gujarati person that I knew.
Start by adding 1 teaspoon of thick sev at a time, blend and then add more only if needed.
Serving Suggestions
This chutney is amazing on sandwiches, rolls, wraps. And you can eat it with naan, tikki, samosa, pakoras, the list is really too long.
Basically, it tastes great with anything & everything!
Here are my favorite recipes with which I enjoy the cilantro chutney-
Method
Remove all the hard stems/stalks from the cilantro, the tender ones are okay to have and then wash the cilantro.
To a blender add the cilantro leaves, green chili, ginger, cumin powder, chaat masala, black pepper and salt. Also add in lemon juice and sugar.
Add yogurt to the blender. I have used vegan yogurt here in this recipe (plain almond milk yogurt).
Blend it all together to a smooth consistency. If your chutney has a runny consistency, you may add a teaspoon of sev or peanuts to the chutney to make it thicker.
Add 1 teaspoon at a time and then go from there.
Keep this cilantro chutney refrigerated and use it as needed. You can also freeze the chutney.
If you’ve tried this Cilantro Chutney Recipe then don’t forget to rate the recipe! You can also follow me on Facebook, Instagram to see what’s latest in my kitchen!
This post has been updated from the recipe archives, first published in January 2018.
Cilantro Chutney
Ingredients
- 2 small bunches cilantro 50-60 grams each, hard stems removed
- 1 green chili or to taste
- 1/2 inch ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon roasted cumin powder
- 1/8 teaspoon chaat masala optional
- pinch black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1/4 cup yogurt plain milk yogurt or plain almond milk yogurt
Instructions
- Remove all the hard stems/stalks from the cilantro, the tender ones are okay to have and then wash the cilantro.
- To a blender add the cilantro leaves, green chili, ginger, cumin powder, chaat masala, black pepper and salt. Also add in lemon juice and sugar.Add yogurt to the blender. I have used vegan yogurt here in this recipe (plain almond milk yogurt). You can also use plain milk yogurt.
- Blend it all together to a smooth consistency. If your chutney has a runny consistency, you may add a teaspoon of sev or peanuts to the chutney to make it thicker. Add 1 teaspoon at a time and then go from there.
- Keep this cilantro chutney refrigerated and use it as needed. You can also freeze the chutney.
Notes
- Feel free to add more yogurt as per your taste. More yogurt=less spicy chutney.
- Add more green chilies for a spicier chutney.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
