A vibrant Chimichurri Chicken and Asparagus Skillet is easy to make, fresh, and flavor-packed. Serve with more veggies, rice, or rolls for an easy weeknight meal that changes up the chicken dinner routine.

Overhead view of a deep sided cast iron skillet filled with thin-sliced chicken breasts sauteed in a homemade chimichurri sauce together with asparagus spears.

Fresh, flavorful chicken in a flash.

Is there anything more appealing than a simple, delicious meal cooked in one pan? This easy chimichurri chicken is easy to make, easy to devour, and easy to clean up afterwards. The true trifecta for a busy family, if you ask me.

I’m a huge fan of simple skillet recipes, especially when they manage to incorporate both protein and fresh vegetables in one without any fussy timing issues. In this mix, a fresh and vibrant homemade chimichurri sauce dresses both tender chicken breasts and crisp asparagus spears, so everything enjoys the zesty flavors of garlic, red wine vinegar, and pepper.

This recipe originally appeared here way back in 2019 and deserved a photo and text refresh in the most serious way. No changes to the recipe, just some additional guidance on how to make the chimichurri either by hand or using the food processor, as you wish. We love to pair this with a simple side of rice, which is extra delicious drizzled with the last bit of chimichurri. Enjoy!

How To Make Chimichurri Chicken

I’ve included a few step-by-step photos here to make this recipe extra easy to follow at home. For the full printable recipe instructions and ingredient quantities, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

Are you ready? This is easy and delightful.

Chimichurri ingredients - fresh parsley, garlic, olive oil, red wine vinegar, pepper, salt, and black pepper - in a mini food processor ready to blitz.

Begin by making your chimichurri. You can do this in a food processor – I use this miniature one – in a blender, or by hand.

Homemade chimichurri sauce blended in a mini food processor.

Blitz or chop and stir into a fairly smooth sauce. You can do this up to 24 hours in advance if you like. Chimichurri keeps well tightly-covered in the fridge.

Thinly-sliced chicken breasts marinating in chimichurri sauce.

Place chicken breasts in a shallow bowl or baking dish and pour about half of the chimichurri sauce on top to coat well. Marinate at room temperature for at least 10 minutes, or cover and chill in the fridge if you want to cook later in the day.

Chopped asparagus spears being sautéed in a cast iron skillet.

While the chicken is marinating, or when ready to cook, chop the asparagus spears into short pieces and sauté in a very light drizzle of olive oil until crisp-tender and very bright green in color. Remove to a plate and set aside.

Chimichurri-marinated chicken breasts being cooked in a cast iron skillet.

Transfer the chicken breasts to the hot skillet and sauté on both sides until golden brown and cooked through. Discard what was used as a marinade.

Asparagus and chicken breasts in a cast iron skillet cooked with chimichurri sauce.

Return asparagus spears to warm in the pan, and drizzle as much more chimichurri as you like over everything. Dinner is ready!

Serving Suggestions

You’ll most likely have a little extra sauce after cooking and dressing the chicken, which is a really zesty and delicious condiment to serve over rice. You can opt for white, brown, or cauliflower rice as a low-carb option.

It’s also delicious mopped up with some slices of baguette, crescent rolls, or some semi-homemade garlic knots, even if this is admittedly a bit of a culinary cultural mash-up.

Chimichurri chicken breasts and asparagus spears cooked in a skillet and ready to serve with an extra sprinkle of sea salt.

More FAQs

What is chimichurri?

Chimichurri, derived from South American and Mexican cooking, is “a piquant sauce or marinade traditionally used on grilled meat, typically containing parsley, garlic, vinegar, olive oil, and flakes of chili pepper. Often billed as ‘Argentine BBQ sauce,’ chimichurri extends its influence far beyond the grill.” It can be red or green, and packs a ton of flavor into a relatively simple sauce, thanks mainly to the power of fresh garlic and herbs.

Chimichurri is one of those condiments that every cook out there probably makes in a slightly different way. But my favorite, published here, is just lightly adapted from Karina at Cafe Delites, whose recipe is sourced directly to her Uruguayan-born father.

Do you need a food processor to make chimichurri?

You can make chimichurri in a food processor or blender, but it’s also easy to make by hand as long as you don’t mind a little fine chopping. As you might expect, using an appliance results in a smoother, more even texture — which you may or may not even prefer. You can see a photo of a “by-hand” chimichurri below. You can see that the individual flakes of parsley remain more visible and the emulsification does not become quite as thick.

Close-up of a bowl of bright green chimichurri made by hand.

If mincing and mixing all of the ingredients by hand, take particular care to chop the garlic and pepper to a very fine dice, and stir very well to blend the flavors. If using an appliance, you can just coarsely chop the garlic and pepper and let the electronic blade do the rest.

Storage & Reheating

Storage: Place leftover chicken, asparagus, and sauce together in any airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. (These are our favorite meal prep and storage boxes.)
Warming: Reheat on 50% power in the microwave until warmed through. Using half power reduces the odds that your chicken will dry out in the microwave and is worth the extra few seconds.
Freezing: Frozen and thawed asparagus is not always appealing, but you can freeze chimichurri sauce for at least 3 months and thaw to an equally flavorful condiment. Store in a freezer-safe zip-top bag; freeze initially with a little bit of space to allow for expansion, but as soon as it’s frozen solid, go back and press out as much excess air as possible, then reseal of course. This keeps the sauce super fresh until you need it.

Skillet dish with thin sliced chicken breasts and asparagus spears cooked with a homemade chimichurri sauce.

Related Recipes

If you like easy chicken skillets, welcome to the club, and you may enjoy these next:

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