What Is Cuban Green Sauce? Mojo Verde, Salsa Verde Cubana, and Jalabáo
Mario Cruz"Cuban green sauce" is not one recipe. Depending on who is asking, it means one of four things: mojo verde, the herb and garlic sauce from the Canary Islands that came to Cuba with Canarian immigrants; a Cuban home version of it, cilantro and garlic blended with sour orange or lime and olive oil; the creamy green garlic sauce served at Miami's Cuban-style chicken counters; or Jalabáo, the green Cuban hot sauce we make in Miami from jalapeño and green bell pepper. Three of the four are not spicy at all. Here is how to tell them apart, a five-minute recipe for the home version, and when to reach for the bottle instead.
The four things people call Cuban green sauce
| Sauce | What is in it | Spicy? | Where you meet it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mojo verde (Canarian) | Cilantro or parsley, green pepper, garlic, cumin, vinegar, olive oil, salt | No | Canary Islands, with papas arrugadas |
| Cuban green mojo (salsa verde cubana) | Cilantro, parsley, garlic, sour orange or lime, olive oil, cumin | No, unless you add a pepper | Cuban and Miami home kitchens, over fish and yuca |
| Creamy garlic-cilantro sauce | Mayonnaise or sour cream, garlic, cilantro, lime | No | Miami chicken counters, on the tray next to the rice |
| Jalabáo | Jalapeño, green bell pepper, tomato, onion, mojo criollo base | Yes, 3 of 10 | The bottle on our table |
If you were served a green sauce at a Cuban restaurant and want to make it at home, it was almost certainly the second or third one. If you want the green sauce that is actually a hot sauce, that is the fourth.
Mojo verde: the Canarian original
Mojo is a Canary Islands word before it is a Cuban one. On the islands, mojo verde is a rough green sauce of cilantro or parsley, green pepper, garlic, cumin, vinegar, and olive oil, pounded or blended and spooned over papas arrugadas, the small potatoes boiled in heavily salted water until their skins wrinkle. There is a red version, mojo rojo, and a hotter red one, mojo picón, made with dried red peppers.
Canarian emigration to Cuba was heavy through the 1800s and early 1900s, and mojo came with it. In Cuba the word drifted. A Cuban mojo, the mojo criollo that goes on lechón and yuca, is sour orange, garlic, oregano, cumin, and oil. It is not green, and it is a marinade as much as a sauce. So when a Cuban cook says mojo, they usually mean the citrus one, and when they want the green one they say mojo verde or just salsa verde.
Cuban green mojo: the home version
The Cuban take keeps the Canarian bones and swaps the vinegar for citrus, usually naranja agria, the sour orange that runs through all of Cuban cooking, or lime when there is none. Cilantro does most of the work, parsley keeps it from tasting like a salad, raw garlic gives it a bite, and olive oil carries it. Some families add a little cumin, some add culantro, the long-leaf cousin of cilantro that grows in every Miami backyard, and a few add a jalapeño for a whisper of heat.
It is a sauce for grilled fish, shrimp, roast chicken, boiled yuca, tostones, and a bowl of black beans and rice that needs waking up. It does not keep its color past a couple of days, so make it the day you need it. The recipe is below.
The creamy green sauce from the chicken counters
If the green sauce you are thinking of was pale, thick, and came in a little cup next to grilled chicken, that is the third kind: a garlic and cilantro sauce built on mayonnaise or sour cream with lime juice. It is a Miami fast-casual invention more than a Cuban tradition, but it is what a lot of people picture when they type "Cuban green sauce." It is rich, cold, and not spicy. If you like it, a spoonful of Jalabáo stirred in turns it into something with a pulse.
Jalabáo: the green Cuban hot sauce
Jalabáo (say it jah-lah-BAH-oh) is the one green sauce on this list that brings heat, and even then not much. It sits at 3 on the Barbaro Mojo Cuban heat scale, the mildest bottle we make. The green comes from jalapeño and green bell pepper; underneath them is the same mojo criollo base as the rest of our line, so it tastes like a Cuban marinade with a jalapeño edge rather than a vinegar-forward American hot sauce.
The label reads: distilled vinegar, jalapeño peppers, tomatoes, sweet onion, green bell pepper, mojo criollo (water, salt, orange and lemon juice concentrates, garlic, onions, spices, sugar, and small amounts of food-safe preservatives, potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate, carried over from the citrus marinade), garlic, salt, lemon juice, spices, and xanthan gum to keep it from separating. It is gluten-free and vegan, with no high-fructose corn syrup, no MSG, and no pepper extracts; the heat is from the jalapeños.
It is also the most decorated sauce in our lineup: Best Hot Sauce, Mild, and Best Latin Style Hot Sauce at the 2024 Golden Chile Awards, 2nd Place, Unique Mild/Medium, at the 2025 Scovie Awards, and 3rd Place, Best Cuban Hot Sauce, at Old Boney Mountain's 2024 Hot Summer Night. For a dozen ways to cook with it, see 10 ways to use Jalabáo.
Recipe: Cuban green mojo (mojo verde cubano)
Makes about 1 cup, 5 minutes, no cooking. Serving is 2 tablespoons.
Ingredients
- 1 cup fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems, packed
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley leaves
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1/4 cup sour orange juice, or 3 tablespoons lime juice plus 1 tablespoon orange juice
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 jalapeño, seeded (optional, for a little heat)
Method
- Put the garlic, salt, and cumin in a blender or food processor and pulse until the garlic is minced.
- Add the cilantro, parsley, sour orange juice, and the jalapeño if using. Pulse to a coarse green paste; do not blend it smooth.
- With the motor running, pour in the olive oil in a thin stream until the sauce is loose and glossy. Taste for salt and acid.
- Let it sit 10 minutes for the garlic to mellow, then spoon over grilled fish, shrimp, chicken, boiled yuca, or tostones. Refrigerate up to 2 days.
Want it hotter without changing the recipe? Skip the jalapeño and finish the plate with Jalabáo instead. The two are built on the same citrus and garlic idea, so they do not fight.
Green mojo or Jalabáo: which one to reach for
- Fresh herbs, a marinade, a sauce you spoon on a whole fish: green mojo.
- Something that lives in the fridge for months and goes on eggs on a Tuesday: Jalabáo.
- Guests who say they do not like spicy food: green mojo on the table, Jalabáo on the side. Most of them end up using both.
- Tostones and chifles: honestly, both, and a bowl of each. See every sauce in Cuban cooking for the rest of the family.
Frequently asked questions
What is Cuban green sauce made of?
Most often cilantro, parsley, garlic, sour orange or lime juice, and olive oil, sometimes with cumin. That is the Cuban version of Canarian mojo verde. The creamy green sauce from Miami chicken counters is a different thing: mayonnaise or sour cream with garlic, cilantro, and lime.
Is Cuban green sauce spicy?
Usually no. Mojo verde and the creamy garlic sauce have no chile in them. The green Cuban sauce that is spicy is Jalabáo, a jalapeño and green bell pepper hot sauce that rates a mild 3 out of 10 on the Barbaro Mojo Cuban heat scale.
What is the difference between mojo verde and Cuban mojo?
Mojo verde is the green herb sauce from the Canary Islands: cilantro or parsley, green pepper, garlic, cumin, vinegar, and oil. Cuban mojo, or mojo criollo, is the citrus and garlic marinade made with sour orange, garlic, oregano, and cumin. Same word, same Canarian roots, different sauces.
Is chimichurri Cuban?
No. Chimichurri is Argentine, a parsley, garlic, oregano, and vinegar sauce for grilled beef. You see it on Cuban-Argentine grill menus in Miami, which is why it sometimes gets called Cuban green sauce, but it is not part of Cuban cooking.
Which Barbaro Mojo sauce is green?
Jalabáo. It is made with jalapeño and green bell pepper on a Cuban mojo criollo base, it is the mildest sauce we make at 3 out of 10, and it has won four awards, including Best Hot Sauce, Mild, at the 2024 Golden Chile Awards.