This recipe for Cilantro Mint Chutney is incredibly easy and will be ready to eat in just 5 minutes. The ingredients are readily available, making it a great small-batch recipe to keep on hand all the time or to make once or twice a week when you’re running low! This recipe is great to use as a chutney or dip. It is also a great way to use up any cilantro that you have left over at the end of the growing season and tastes great with Indian food.

CILANTRO MINT CHUTNEY RECIPE

Simple, FLAVORFUL Cilantro Mint Chutney- a bright and refreshing Indian condiment to use on Biryani, Samosas, Frankies, Dosa, Kabobs, Rice or Naan. Can be made in 5 minutes flat! Vegan adaptable. See notes!!!

• Prep Time:10 mins
• Total Time:10 minutes
• Yield:1 ½ cups

Ingredients

• ½ cup yogurt, (see notes for vegan version)
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 bunch cilantro, tender stems ok
• 1 cup mint leaves, packed ( 2 x .75 ounce packages)
• 1 medium jalapeno, sliced
• 2 teaspoons sliced ginger
• 1 garlic clove
• ¼–1/2  teaspoon kosher salt,
• ½ teaspoon sugar (or an alternative like honey, palm sugar, etc)
• optional: 1 tablespoon water, or just enough to get blender going – you may not need this

Instructions

1. Blend all ingredients in a blender or food processor until relatively smooth.
2. Taste and adjust salt and lemon to your liking.
3. Refrigerate until serving.
4. Chutney will keep 4 days in the fridge.

Notes

To make this thicker, feel free to add desiccated coconut or peanuts.

If you would like to make this vegan – either sub coconut yogurt or soy yogurt, or silken tofu. If using silken tofu, you might want to add 1 tablespoon olive oil and for sure, more salt and lemon.

If you would like more of a traditional Indian Mint Chutney, without the “creaminess” leave out the yogurt, add ¼ cup-½ cup of chopped onion and a bit of water to get the blade moving.

Nutrition

• Serving Size: ¼ cup
• Calories: 21
• Sugar: 1 g
• Sodium: 39.7 mg
• Fat: 0.8 g
• Saturated Fat: 0.4 g
• Carbohydrates: 2.2 g
• Fiber: 0.7 g
• Protein: 1.7 g
• Cholesterol: 1.9 mg

CILANTRO MINT CHUTNEY (GREEN CHUTNEY)

This cilantro mint chutney is the classic Indian “green chutney” that you’ll find served in restaurants alongside appetizers and more. It’s easy to make, versatile and with a bright, fresh flavor. You’ll soon be adding it to everything.

Cilantro mint chutney

Many years ago now, I spent the night with relatives who are originally from India as my flight was too late to allow a connection home. Conveniently, they lived not too far from Heathrow where I was connecting through.

While I was there, I joined them at a get-together with some of their relatives. I’ll admit I don’t remember a whole lot from the night both as it was so long ago and I was really tired from travel. But I will always remember the homemade chutneys and pickles.

You’ll hardly find an Indian meal without a chutney or a pickle of some kind. Sometimes it’s more for dipping appetizers, other times alongside the main itself (like brinjal pickle is more typically). This green chutney is one of the most popular, most often served to dip skewers, pakora and chaat, as well as spread in sandwiches. 

GREEN CHUTNEY VARIATIONS

This bright sauce is usually called either green chutney or coriander mint chutney and you’ll find it all around India, but particularly in the North. It is relatively simple but can have a couple of variations in the ingredients.

Most typically, this is made with both cilantro (coriander) and mint, but it can be made with just one or the other. Often even when people talk about pudhina chutney (mint chutney) they are meaning with cilantro in there as well. The two work really well together to give a balance of flavors.

The other main ingredients are fresh green chili, ginger and usually garlic. A lot of recipes, as I have here, add lime or lemon which both helps add a fresh flavor and preserves the green color. Others add tamarind for a similar slight sour flavor, but it will likely make it a little darker.

In restaurants in particular, you’ll often find this with added yogurt. This, as you can imagine, gives it a creamier texture and helps to dull the kick of the chili. It’s great both ways, so make as you prefer. 

MAKING AND STORING THE CHUTNEY

This is really as simple as putting everything together in a blender or food processor and blending it up. You can make it by hand by chopping everything finely then finishing with a pestle and mortar, but it will of course take more time. 

You’ll need to use either a small capacity blender/food processor or make a larger quantity to make sure it blends properly as otherwise the leaves will just get clogged and not blend. The quality of your blender makes a difference, too. 

If you do end up making a larger quantity, don’t worry. It doesn’t mean you have to use a lot all at once or waste it. You can store it in the fridge for a few days – just make sure you use a well-sealed container as the smell can permeate otherwise. 

You can also freeze it for longer term storage. The best way is to put small amounts in an ice cube tray then transfer to a freezer bag once frozen. Then you have small quantities you can defrost when you need them.

HOW TO USE IT

Above I made this chutney to go with tandoori shrimp and peshwari naan and it works really well. It’s also great for dipping pakora (eg cauliflower pakora), paneer tikka (as below), pappadams and other appetizers. You can drizzle it over dhal, rice or fries/chips or spread it in a sandwich. It adds a great, punchy flavor to anything.

This cilantro mint chutney (green chutney) is so easy to make and adds such a vibrant burst of flavor to whatever you serve it with. It’s bold and has a good kick of chili, as well as lots of great fresh herb taste. A classic Indian chutney for good reason.

Mint Chutney

This easy homemade Mint Chutney makes the perfect accompaniment to Indian snacks. It is also great on sandwiches, wraps and more. You need only 15 minutes to make this!

This quick and easy Mint Chutney is easy to make at home and makes a great dip for a variety of Indian snacks like samosa, pakora etc. It’s also great as a spread for sandwiches, wraps. You only need 15 minutes to make this chutney which is also vegan!

I have often talked about how important chutneys are in Indian cuisine. I grew up with having some sort of chutney on our lunch table everyday. The kind of chutney that was there on our table varied from season to season. There was raw mango chutney in summers, amla (Indian gooseberry) chutney in winters but it was always there.

The most common chutney we ate was of course the cilantro chutney. Mom made it using silbatta (traditional stone grinder). By the way, if you have never tasted chutney made on silbatta then you are missing out. Somehow, chutney made the traditional way on the stone grinder tastes 10 times better than the one made in a blender. I definitely miss having it here.

Its close counterpart, mint chutney was also pretty common but was made specifically for eating snacks like samosa and pakoras. I don’t know how mom made her mint chutney, but I am sharing a version that I make often and enjoy.

This Mint Chutney

• is vegan and gluten-free.
• uses minimal ingredients.
• can be made ahead.
• adds flavor to anything you add it to.
• greats on wraps and sandwiches.
• makes the perfect accompaniment to Indian snacks.

Ingredients

Mint: since this is mint chutney, we of course use a lot of fresh mint. I use only the mint leaves for this chutney, so discard all the stems.

Cilantro: there’s also some cilantro in the chutney as it helps in balancing flavors and cutting down on the sharpness of the mint.

Ginger-garlic-chili: as with most chutney recipes, this one also uses ginger, garlic and green chilies (thai chilies or you can use serrano pepper). You can skip the garlic if you like, I would really not skip the ginger since that’s my favorite here. The amount of chilies can be adjusted to preference.

Cashews: to the make the chutney thick and creamy, I have used some cashews here. You can soak them in warm water for 10 minutes so that they can blend easily but it’s not essential if you have a high speed blender.

Lemon juice: I highly recommend using fresh lemon juice in this recipe, you can also use lime juice. Do not skip lemon juice in this chutney, it brightens it up.

Step by Step Instructions

1- Discard all the stems from the mint, we will be using only mint leaves for the chutney. Wash the mint leaves (2 cups, loosely packed, around 30 grams) and then transfer them to a blender.

2- To the same blender, now add:

• 1 cup loosely packed cilantro (leaves only, around 15 grams)
• 1 small clove of garlic
• 1/2-inch ginger
• 1 green chili (or use 1/2 for less spicy chutney or more for spicier chutney)
• 8-10 cashews (raw)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• 3/4 teaspoon sugar, or to taste

3- Now, add 1 to 1 & 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice and 2 to 3 tablespoons ice cold water (as needed, depending on the consistency of chutney you prefer).

4- Blend until everything is well combined and you have a smooth chutney.

Storage & Freezing

Store the chutney in a glass container in the refrigerator and it should last you a week. If you want to make it last longer, you should freeze it.

A great way to freeze this mint chutney is to add it to an ice cube tray and freeze. That way, you can take out and defrost only the amount of chutney that you need. I do this often and it saves me time on busy days.

Serving Suggestions

There’s no end to the ways you can use and enjoy this chutney, I mean really the options are endless!

• Serve as an accompaniment to samosa, pakora, dhokla etc.
• Serve along chilla, parathas, dosa.
• Enjoy with chaat like aloo tikki, dahi puri, papdi chaat.
• Spread on wraps and kathi rolls.
• Use as a spread on sandwiches like bomaby sandwich.
• Add as a topping on tacos, burritos.

Useful Tips

• You can make the chutney less or more spicy depending on your taste and preference. Add 2 green chilies for a spicier chutney and 1/2 of a green chili for a less spicy chutney.
• If you don’t want to add cashews, you can add some yogurt in place. Cashews make it thick and give it a nice consistency and so I like using it. You can also use some thick sev to thicken the chutney.
• For this recipe, use only the leaves of mint and cilantro and discard all the stems. The approximate weight of the herbs mentioned in the recipe is the weight of the leaves only (after stems were discarded).
• Use ice cold water to blend the chutney, this will keep the color of the chutney green.
• You may skip the sugar but it helps in balancing the flavors.
• This mint chutney recipe can easily be doubled or tripled.