Skhug or zhoug sauce is a brightly flavored Middle Eastern hot sauce many liken to pesto, chimichurri, and salsa verde because of its vibrant green color. Spicy, fresh, and fragrant, versatile skhug is a spicy herb sauce that adds a nice pop of color and heat to any meal.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Skhug has a bright, zesty flavor from using fresh herbs and spices.
- A little bit goes a long way. The sauce has a slow-building burn that tastes so good.
- Like shatta sauce, use skhug as a condiment, marinade, dressing, dip, or cooking ingredient.
- Customize the ingredients to suit your taste.
- The sauce is easy to make. And while traditional prep with a mortar and pestle takes time (and tastes delicious), you can whip it up in a food processor in no time.
What is Skhug?
You’ve probably seen the ‘zhoug’ recipes floating around the internet, popularized by Trader Joe’s and Tiktok. However, zhoug, also called skhug, is a delicious green sauce from Yemen. It is popular throughout the Middle East, and it also happens to be my new favorite condiment! Seriously, I want to put it on everything.
There are many variations of skhug in Yemenite Jewish cuisine, including green (schug yarok) and red skhug (schug adom). And depending on where the recipe is from the green hot sauce may come with a different spelling or name, too – often going by names like zhoug, zhug, shug, schug, and even Middle Eastern pesto.
But my recipe for classic green skhug combines fresh herbs, fresh garlic, chili peppers, olive oil, lemon, and freshly ground spices for a perfect bit of spice with every meal.
What You Need to Make this Recipe
- Spices: Season the sauce with salt and whole spices like coriander seeds, cumin seeds, black peppercorn, and green cardamom seeds. We toast and grind the spices to pronounce the flavor before adding them to the sauce. Freshly ground, whole spices make all the difference but feel free to use ground spices if you’re in a hurry.
- Olive Oil: What would Yemeni, Israeli, or Middle Eastern sauce be without extra virgin olive oil? Like our sumac onions, I recommend using high-quality olive oil since it’s a main ingredient.
- Lemon Juice: Fresh lemon juice is the perfect pop of acid to tie the condiment together.
- Garlic: I suggest using four cloves, but don’t let my recipe tell you how much garlic to use- measure with your heart.
- Jalapeños: I prefer jalapeño, but serrano peppers or green chillies are perfect if you want to increase the heat level.
- Herbs: Recipes vary, but I prefer the combination of fresh cilantro and parsley.
Additions and Substitutions
Instead of green sauce, prepare brown or red sauce using different chilies. Change my recipe by including fresh herbs like mint and fenugreek leaves with the cilantro and parsley.
How to Make Skhug
The full recipe with measurements is in the recipe card below.
Prepare skhug two different ways. Chop the ingredients and combine them in a bowl, or make the sauce in five minutes using a food processor.
Step 1: Dry toast the coriander, cumin, black peppercorn, and green cardamom in a skillet for 5 minutes over medium-high heat.
Step 2: Add the toasted spice mixture to a spice grinder or mortar and pestle. Grind into a powder and sit it aside.
Step 3: Method One: Finely dice the parsley, cilantro, jalapeños, and garlic. Add them to a bowl. Then, stir in the lemon juice, kosher salt, reserved spice mixture, and olive oil.
Step 3: Method Two: Add the parsley, cilantro, jalapeños, garlic, and lemon juice to a food processor and pulse to combine. Then, stir in the kosher salt, reserved spiced, and extra-virgin olive oil.
Expert Tips
- Remove the green outer shell from the green cardamom pod before grinding the seeds.
- If you prefer a milder flavor, I recommend removing the membrane and deseeding the hot peppers.
- My recipe calls for one cup of freshly chopped parsley and cilantro. While you can chop any part of the cilantro plant (stems and leaves), I recommend only chopping the parsley leaves.
- Whether you chop the ingredients by hand or use a food processor, stir the olive oil into the mixture with a spoon to finish the spicy sauce. While using a food processor is an easy way to get the sauce to the table, I prefer the fresh flavor and consistency of chopping the ingredients by hand.
- Prepare the spicy condiment at least 1 hour before serving it so that the ingredients have time to combine.
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Serving Suggestions
A little goes a long way. Some common ways to use skhug in Israeli cuisine are as a spicy condiment for falafel, sabich, fried fish, and eggs. Add a dollop of skhug to soup, stew, roast, or use it as a spread for a sandwich or pita. There are many ways to use this flavorful sauce, but here are a few ideas to spark your creativity.
- Vegetables: Roasted Potatoes, Turmeric Roasted Cauliflower, Grilled Eggplant, Sweet Potatoes
- Grains: Brown Rice, Quinoa, Farro, Couscous
- Sides: Lentils, Beans, Authentic Chana Masala Recipe
- Bread: Flatbread, Falafel, Pita, Air Fryer Pita Chips
- Chicken: Al Faham Chicken, Grilled Chicken Drumsticks, Joojeh Kabob
- Beef: Koobideh Kabob, Air Fryer Ribeye Steak
- Seafood: Grilled Shrimp, Baked Flounder
- Lamb: Boneless Leg of Lamb Recipe, Gyro
- Breakfast: Moroccan Shakshuka, Scrambled Eggs, Frittata, Fried Eggs, Avocado Toast
- Sauces: Labneh, Butter Bean Hummus
What to do With the Leftovers
- Refrigerate – Store leftovers in an airtight container for 3-5 days. Bring the spicy green sauce to room temperature before serving it since olive oil hardens once it cools.
- Freeze – I often make extra sauce to freeze ahead. Pour the leftovers into a freezer-safe container or bag. Skhug freezes for six months. Alternatively, you can divide the leftover sauce into ice cube trays, freeze it, and transfer the cubes to a freezer-safe bag until you’re ready to use them.
- Repurpose – Make compound butter or aioli with the leftovers. Or you can combine skhug with Greek yogurt or sour cream for an easy-to-make veggie dip and pair it with rainbow wraps for a tasty snack or appetizer.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is skhug sauce made of?
Skhug is a versatile sauce, well-known in Middle Eastern cuisine and beloved for its spicy flavor. My green schug recipe contains jalapeños, flat-leaf parsley, cilantro, and various spices. The sauce can be brown, red, or green, depending on the chilies included in the recipe. Some variations only use cilantro, but I love adding fresh parsley.
What does zhoug taste like?
Zhoug is bold, bright, and herbaceous. It is garlicky, herby, and because of the chilis, it has a nice spicy kick. If you’re sensitive to spicy food, I recommend deseeding the jalapeños and reducing the amount you include.
What is skhug in hebrew?
In Hebrew, the word “skhug” literally means ‘rub’ or ‘crush’ referring to grinding the ingredients by hand on a traditional grinding stone called a mas-chag to make the sauce.
More Dip and Sauce Recipes:
Easy Green Skhug
- ½ teaspoon coriander seeds, toasted and ground
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds, toasted and ground
- ¼ teaspoon black peppercorns, toasted and ground
- 4 green cardamom, green shell removed, toasted and ground
- 1 cup flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
- 1 cup cilantro, finely chopped
- 6 jalapeños, finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- Dry toast the coriander, cumin, black peppercorn, and green cardamom in a skillet for 5 minutes over medium-high heat.
- Add the toasted spice mixture to a spice grinder or mortar and pestle. Grind into a powder and sit it aside.
- Method One: Finely dice the parsley, cilantro, jalapeños, and garlic. Add them to a bowl. Then, stir in the lemon juice, kosher salt, reserved spice mixture, and olive oil.
- Method Two: Add the parsley, cilantro, jalapeños, garlic, and lemon juice to a food processor and pulse to combine. Then, stir in the kosher salt, reserved spiced, and extra-virgin olive oil.
- Transfer the sauce to an airtight container and refrigerate for at least one hour before serving.
- Remove the green outer shell from the green cardamom pod before grinding the seeds.
- If you prefer a milder flavor, I recommend removing the membrane and deseeding the hot peppers.
- My recipe calls for one cup of freshly chopped parsley and cilantro. While you can chop any part of the cilantro plant (stems and leaves), I recommend only chopping the parsley leaves.
- Whether you chop the ingredients by hand or use a food processor, stir the olive oil into the mixture with a spoon to finish the spicy sauce. While using a food processor is an easy way to get the sauce to the table, I prefer the fresh flavor and consistency of chopping the ingredients by hand.
- Prepare the spicy condiment at least 1 hour before serving it so that the ingredients have time to combine.
- The nutritional information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for professional advice.
Annie
Monday 23rd of January 2023
This sauce is so easy to make and it is now my favorite addition to roasts and sandwiches. Everyone should try this at least once, especially if you enjoy some heat.
Natasha
Friday 16th of September 2022
Okay, you weren't kidding. I could put this on everything!
Tressa Jamil
Friday 16th of September 2022
It truly is THAT good!