Name: Cilantro Chutney
Prep time: 10 min
Ingredients: 3 cups cilantro ((cleaned)); 3 green chili; 1 inch ginger; ½ cup roasted peanuts; ½ tsp cumin powder; ½ tsp rock salt ((optional)); ¾ tsp salt; 1 tsp sugar; ½ lemon ((juiced)); ⅛ tsp asafetida ((optional)); ¼ tsp chaat masala ((optional)); 1-2 dried red chili ((optional)); ¼ cup water

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A 10 minute recipe to make flavorful cilantro chutney; my favorite dipping sauce for Indian snacks and appetizers!

Cilantro chutney is a great accompaniment to SO many Indian recipes. Many know this recipe as dhaniya chutney, green chutney, hari chutney or coriander chutney.

Served with samosas from any food stall, applied on bread for sandwiches, a great marinade for a ton of recipes and a must-have ingredient for chaats. This chutney is easy to make, super versatile and stores extremely well in the refrigerator or freezer.

Video Recipe

What goes in to Cilantro Chutney?

This recipe is a mix of a lot of types of chutneys I have had. Every Indian family has their own blend of ingredients for this. In fact every individual has a different set of proportions of similar ingredients. This recipe here is my favorite and loved by family and friends.

Cilantro: As the name suggests, cilantro or coriander is the key ingredient. A bunch of fresh bright colored cilantro yields the best chutney. Using cilantro the day you buy it gives the brightest chutney!

Ginger and Green Chili: Key ingredients in chutney, chili gives it the spice and ginger the peppery taste. Plus, they have a pungent aroma that is signature to Indian Chutney.

Roasted Peanuts: This is generally used to thicken the chutney. Adding grated coconut or roasted dalia works too!

Salt, Sugar, Cumin powder and Rock Salt: These add a lot of taste and flavor to the chutney.

Lemon Juice: This adds tang to the chutney and the citrus helps maintain the green color. So do not skip this!

A few extra ingredients in the chutney

As I mentioned above, every family has their favorite ingredients to add to the chutney. Lately I have started adding a couple of extras to my recipe. They work great and add some zing.

First ingredient I add is Hing or Asafetida. A tiny pinch of this goes a long way and adds a great pungent flavor to the chutney.

Chaat masala is another ingredient that is a great addition to the chutney. A mix of Indian spices, this masala adds a lot of flavor to it.

Lastly, adding a couple of dried red chilis to the chutney works really well. This is something the sandwich seller close to my house in India does, and I have started the same. The dried chili is not necessarily spicy, but tasty.

Variations

While the basic ingredient like cilantro, chili and spices are essentials here, other ingredients can be changed a little.

Adding some mint is a great idea. It makes the chutney more flavorful. However, mint tends to darken the chutney in a few days. I sometimes add it if I am using the chutney immediately.

Peanuts may be completely left out or swapped out with roasted dalia or grated coconut. The purpose of all of these is to thicken the chutney.

A lot of folks actually use thick sev to thicken the chutney. It does work really well to get the consistency right!

Serving Suggestions

While the chutney is great with just a slice of bread, it is a great accompaniment for a lot of recipes. Serve it with these for a great appetizer or meal:

Baked Samosa Puffs

Cupcake Handvo

Sandwich Dhokla | Layered Savory Steamed Cakes

Kothimir Vadi

Bhel Puri

Sabudana Vada