Italian Green Sauce (Bagnèt Verd)

If you haven’t heard of bagnèt verd (salsa verde), listen up. It’s an easy-to-make Italian green sauce prepared with parsley and stale bread. The flavours are piquant, salty, fresh and rich with umami notes. This recipe is a vegetarian version and contains neither anchovies nor eggs.

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As I was perusing the Guardian’s Feast a couple of weeks ago, I came across a recipe from Tom Hunt for green sauce made with stale bread. I was intrigued and immediately wanted to find out more.

Dive Right In

• What Is Italian Green Sauce?
• Why Make Italian Green Sauce?
• Vegan Italian Green Sauce
• Key Ingredients
• How to Make Italian Green Sauce
• How To Use Bagnèt Verd
• Other Recipes That Use Stale Bread You Might Like
• Keep In Touch
• The Recipe

What Is Italian Green Sauce?

Originally from Piedmont, bagnèt verd has now spread throughout northern Italy. The recipe originated in the 19th century at the court of King Carlo Alberto to enhance the flavour of boiled meat.

The sauce is also known as bagnet piemontes and “salsa verde”. Just like salsa verde, Bagnèt verd literally means green sauce. The former term generally refers to a group of sauces made with capers, anchovies and parsley. You can find variations of it throughout Europe.

Bagnèt verd is generally made with all three of these ingredients, but crucially contains stale bread and vinegar. It’s a typical thrifty Italian recipe and a great way to use up leftovers. It’s also sometimes made with boiled eggs.

Why Make Italian Green Sauce?

Italian green sauce is an exciting sauce or spread to add to your culinary repertoire. It adds flavour, interest and a touch of Italian tradition to your dishes. Here are a few more reasons why you might want to make it.

1. Adaptable – You can easily customise bagnèt verd to suit different taste preferences. Adjust the quantities of ingredients or add extra elements like gherkins or green chilli peppers to give it a personal touch and tailor it to your liking.
2. Easy to Make – Just like many similar herby sauces, Italian green sauce is relatively simple to prepare and it requires ingredients that are readily available. Create a flavoursome sauce in no time with just a little chopping, combining and adjusting seasonings.
3. Flavoursome – Italian green sauce (bagnèt verd), also known as salsa verde, is a delicious and versatile condiment that adds a burst of flavour to various dishes. Its combination of bread, parsley, vinegar and other ingredients creates both a harmonious and vibrant taste.
4. Healthy – The key ingredient in Italian green sauce is parsley, which is rich in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. It provides nutritional benefits at the same time as adding a fresh and vibrant element to your meals.
5. Thrifty – With the price of both cheese and nuts, it makes an excellent “poor man’s” substitute for classic basil pesto. Use it in exactly the same way as pesto, but expect to pay a fraction of the price. It’s also a great way to use up stale bread.
6. Versatile – Serve Italian green sauce in just the way you like it. It adds a refreshing and herbaceous touch to all sorts of dishes. Pair it with bread crostini for an easy and delicious Italian appetiser. Use it in sandwiches, as a dip for vegetables, or as a dressing for salads. It also adds a burst of flavour to boiled or steamed veg, especially potatoes.

Vegan Italian Green Sauce

As a vegetarian, I obviously can’t use anchovies to make my bagnèt verd. I could use an egg yolk, but I wanted to keep this sauce vegan. So I left out the egg and swapped the anchovies for a little white miso paste. It works brilliantly, giving a salty umami flavour to the sauce which rounds it off perfectly.

Sourdough bread dries out quite quickly and seems to go hard in no time at all. This recipe is a great way to use up those last couple of stale slices. Really, it’s a sort of poor man’s pesto. If, like me, you’re lazy and thrifty, this is the recipe for you. What’s not to like?

Key Ingredients

Apart from parsley, bread and vinegar are the key ingredients in this Italian green sauce. However, there are a few other items that are very much needed.

Fresh Herbs

Parsley is the herb of choice here. It’s the traditional one for Italian green sauce and has an excellent flavour. It’s highly nutritious too. Try to go for at least fifty grams, though eighty grams is better still.

Vinegar

Vinegar provides the piquancy which is such a delight in this recipe. Traditional recipes call for red or white wine vinegar, but I prefer to use apple cider vinegar which is a bit less astringent. It also gives a better flavour in my humble opinion.

You can use whatever vinegar you like though. A mild one such as sherry vinegar is a good bet. Or mix it with sour pickle juice to give even more flavour.

Bread

Bread provides bulk as well as protein and other nutrients, depending on what sort of bread you use. Sturdy bread is best. Go for wholemeal or rye if you can. Stale sourdough is perfect.

I use a mini food processor which gives a rustic texture to the sauce, which I really like. If you prefer a smoother sauce, use a blender.

The Rest

Extra virgin olive oil is a must, of course. What Italian recipe doesn’t include it? And with good reason. Garlic is another ingredient you don’t want to miss out on. It’s such a powerhouse of flavour and nutrition.

Instead of anchovies, I’ve gone for miso as the salty, umami element to this Italian green sauce. It works really well. For more ideas take a look at my post on anchovy substitutes.

Capers are the last element needed for this salsa verde. They provide an additional layer of flavour and complexity to the sauce. Capers have a tangy and slightly pungent taste, which complements the herbaceous freshness of the parsley, the sourness of the vinegar and the savoury elements of the garlic and miso paste.

You won’t need to add any salt in this recipe as the miso, capers and bread are already plenty salty enough.

How To Make Italian Green Sauce

Like all salsa verde, bagnèt verd is very easy to make. It doesn’t take much time to prepare it either. But it does need a few minutes for the bread to soak. So you’ll need to factor that in if you’re expecting something super speedy.

Step 1. Soak Bread

Soak the bread in the vinegar and pickle juice for at least five minutes before blending. The tougher the bread the longer it will benefit from soaking. I tend to soak mine for half an hour or so. I stick it in a sealed container so that the bread not only softens, but absorbs all of the liquid.

Step 2. Prepare Parsley

Wash the parsley and dry it using a salad spinner or kitchen paper. Then remove any tough stalks. Soft stalks are fine to leave though. I find the stalks of my homegrown parsley are usually too tough to use, but shop-bought ones are generally quite soft.

Roughly chop the herbs to make it easier for your food processor to blend everything together. I use a mini food processor* which gives a nice chunky texture. If you prefer something smoother, you might want to use a blender instead.

Step 3. Blend

Place all of the ingredients except the oil into a mini food processor. Pulse until everything is well combined but still chunky.

Add half of the olive oil, then pulse again. Finally add the remaining oil and pulse until you have a texture you’re happy with.

Either use the bagnèt verd immediately or scrape it into a clean lidded jar. Top your pot of salsa verde with a little olive oil and it will keep in the fridge for at least a week.

Top Tips

To make salsa verde by hand, place everything on a large chopping board and finely chop with a large sharp knife. A curved knife called a mezzaluna* is the traditional implement for this. Keep chopping until everything is thoroughly combined. Scrape the mixture into a bowl and gradually add the oil, stirring vigorously as you go.

If you want a looser sauce for something like pasta, just add some of the pasta cooking water to the bagnèt verd before mixing it in. Alternatively, blend in some more olive oil.

How To Use Bagnèt Verd

Traditionally, bagnèt verd is served alongside bollisto misto (mixed boiled meat) or tomini cheese. However, it’s also delicious just spread on crackers, bread or crostini. But don’t stop there. Here are a few more ideas on how to use this delicious and thrifty Italian green sauce.

With Vegetables

Mix this vegan Italian green sauce into roasted, steamed or boiled vegetables. It’s especially good with freshly boiled new potatoes.

Salad Dressing

Use the sauce as a salad dressing to add vim and vigour and banish blandness forever. It’s especially good with potatoes to make a surprisingly good potato salad. If liked, mix it with mayonnaise or yoghurt.

Sandwich Filling

Either add some bagnèt verd to your favourite savoury sandwiches, or try it as a sandwich with juicy tomatoes, cucumber slices or lettuce.

Canapé Topping

Italian green sauce makes a great topping for canapés. Go wild and add slices of ripe tomatoes, sweet peppers or salty cheese.

General Purpose Dressing

Not only does this Italian salsa verde work with vegetables, but it’s a great dressing for other dishes too. Try it with grilled tofu, tempeh or halloumi. Mix it into pasta dishes and slather it over eggs. Yum!

Garnish

It also makes a lovely green garnish for your soups, salads and egg dishes.

Other Recipes That Use Stale Bread You Might Like

• Bread sauce
• Chocolate bread and butter pudding
• Ribollita: a delicious, hearty vegan Tuscan soup
• Tempeh caesar salad
• Vegan savoury bread pudding
• Vegetarian lentil bobotie

Keep in Touch

Thank you for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make this Italian green sauce, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. Do you have any recommendations or advice for vegan salsa verde?

Please rate the recipe. If you post pictures of your creations on social media, use the hashtag #tinandthyme so I can see them.

For more delicious and nutritious recipes follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard or Pinterest. And don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to my weekly newsletter. Or why not join the conversation in our Healthy Vegetarian Whole Food Recipes Facebook Group?

If you’d like more recipes for using leftovers, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All delicious and nutritious, of course.

Choclette x

Italian Green Sauce. PIN IT.

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5 from 9 votes

Italian Green Sauce (Bagnèt Verd)

If you haven't heard of bagnèt verd (salsa verde), listen up. It's an easy-to-make Italian green sauce prepared with parsley and stale bread. The flavours are piquant, salty, fresh and rich with umami notes. This recipe is a vegetarian version and contains neither anchovies nor eggs.

Cook ModeToggle to keep screen awake

Prep Time5 minutes mins

Cook Time0 minutes mins

Soaking Time10 minutes mins

Total Time15 minutes mins

Course: Dips, Spreads & Sauces

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: bread, leftovers, parsley, pesto, sauce, spread, vinegar

Servings: 6 people

Calories: 101kcal

Author: Choclette @ Tin and Thyme

Equipment

• mini food processor (affiliate link)

Ingredients

• 50 g stale bread (preferably sourdough)
• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar (I used 1 tbsp cider vinegar and 1 tbsp sour pickle juice)
• 50-80 g fresh parsley soft stalks are fine, but remove any tough ones
• 1 tbsp capers
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tsp white miso paste
• 1 green chilli optional
• 50 ml extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

• Soak the bread in the vinegar in a covered container for at least ten minutes. If your bread is really hard, you’ll probably need to soak it for longer.
  50 g stale bread, 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• Place all of the ingredients, except the olive oil, but including the bread and any leftover vinegar into the bowl of a mini food processor. If using the chilli, remove the seeds or not, depending on how much heat you like.
  50-80 g fresh parsley, 1 tbsp capers, 1 clove garlic, 1 tsp white miso paste, 1 green chilli
• Pulse until everything is well combined but only roughly blended.
• Add half of the olive oil and pulse again, then finish up with the remaining oil and pulse once more. I like a bit of texture with this Italian green sauce, but continue to blend if you prefer a smoother paste.
  50 ml extra virgin olive oil
• If not using straight away, transfer to sterilised glass jars. Top with a little olive oil to seal and it keep in the fridge for up to a fortnight.

Notes

I like a bit of texture to this Italian green sauce, but of you prefer a smoother paste you might want to use a blender instead.

How much pesto per serving will depend on the purpose you’re using it for. As a sauce for pasta, this amount works for six people. For canapés it will go an awful lot further.

For pasta sauce, just add some of the pasta cooking water to the bagnèt verd before mixing it into the pasta. If you want a looser sauce for other things blend in little more olive oil.

You’ll find additional tips and info about this recipe in the main body of the post.

Please note: calories and other nutritional information are per serving. They’re approximate and will depend on serving size and exact ingredients used. Please refer to my nutrition disclaimer for further information.

Nutrition Estimate

Calories: 101kcal | Carbohydrates: 6g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Sodium: 157mg | Potassium: 92mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 1126IU | Vitamin C: 19mg | Calcium: 25mg | Iron: 1mg

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