Traditional German green sauce or Frankfurter sauce with seven herbs, sour cream and yogurt. A light and refreshing spring dish.
Frankfurter Green Sauce
Frankfurter sauce is a famous German sauce, eaten in spring, mostly around Easter. Many people have it on Green Thursday before Easter, but we tend to have it later on in spring when the herbs in my garden are finally there again.
What herbs do you need?
- A traditional German green sauce contains seven different herbs: borage, chervil, cress, parsley, Pimpinella, sorrel, and chives.
- For today's green sauce, I bought a mixed bunch containing all these herbs at the supermarket, so although I have made the Frankfurter sauce many times, this was the first time I have actually used all the traditional herbs.
- Not that I have anything against any of them, but since I have so many herbs in my garden anyway, I don't feel the need to buy a pretty expensive bunch just for the luxury of having a couple of extra herbs in the sauce.
- So the idea is you can use all these herbs to make it really original, but don't stress too much if you don't find them all.
- Just take more from the herbs you already have or replace some other with herbs you like and have access to.
- My typical, no need to buy anything herbs, would be lots of parsley and chives, borage, sorrel, a little bit of lovage and sometimes cress.
Dairy:
- Creamy, Greek-style yogurt, full-fat or low-fat. Don't use no-fat yogurt.
- And don't go too much low-fat, generally, for this recipe. A decent amount of fat in the dairy definitely makes the sauce better.
- Sour cream with about 10% fat.
- You can substitute the sour cream with crème fraiche or German Schmand, which will make the sauce creamier and richer.
How to serve?
Serve the German green sauce with boiled potatoes, cooked eggs and a small piece of smoked trout (optional, but so delicious).
More traditional German recipes?
White Asparagus with Sauce Hollandaise
Jägerschnitzel - German Schnitzel with Mushrooms
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German Green Sauce (Frankfurter Sauce)
Traditional German green sauce or Frankfurter sauce with seven herbs, sour cream and yogurt. A light and refreshing spring dish.
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Servings: 4
Calories: 226kcal
Ingredients
- 1 very large bunch mixed herbs like parsley chives, borage, cress, sorrel, pimpinella, chervil
- 200 g/ 7 oz/ ¾ cup sour cream or crème fraiche
- 500 g/ 17.6 oz/ 2 cups full-fat Greek-style yogurt See note 1
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon medium mustard
- fine sea salt to taste
- 4 eggs to serve (See note 2)
- 4 small smoked trout filets to serve, optional
- boiled new potatoes to serve
Instructions
- Clean the herbs and pick the leaves from the stems. Chop them roughly and place them in the food processor.
- Add the sour cream, yogurt, sugar, mustard and salt and process until the herbs are finely chopped and everything is well mixed.
- Pour the mixture into a serving bowl and adjust the taste with more salt and even sugar or mustard if necessary.
- Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.
- Boil the potatoes in their skin. Cook the eggs to your liking, I cook mine for about 6 minutes. Serve the sauce with potatoes and eggs and the smoked trout, if you like.
Notes
- Low-fat is fine as well, but don't use no-fat yogurt.
- The nutrition is only calculated for the sauce.
Nutrition
Serving: 1/4 of the dish | Calories: 226kcal | Carbohydrates: 9g | Protein: 13g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 46mg | Sodium: 147mg | Sugar: 8g
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Anu - My Ginger Garlic Kitchen says
I have never had Frankfurter sauce before, but looking at your delicious pictures I so want this in my life. Love the sound of seven herbs + sour cream + yogurt. Indeed this would make a light and refreshing spring dish.
Adina says
It is indeed a very refreshing dish, perfect for this weather!
Miriam - londonkitchendiaries.com says
Green is such a lovely spring colour - love all the goodness of the herbs in the sauce ♡
Adina says
Thank you, Miriam! Nice of you to stop by!
Nammi says
first time hearing about a frankfurter sauce , I thought it was just the sausage LOL, well thats the fun in blogging world you get to learn new cuisines and new food every day . As for your question about seer fish, I think you can use any nice firm fish that will hold its shape.
Adina says
That's true, you can really learn a lot about new cuisines. Thank you for the info regarding the seer fish, I will try the recipe with some other firm fish.
Kathryn @ Family Food on the Table says
This does look perfect for spring! So fresh and green, and you know I love that you added potatoes! I'm all about the smoked trout too - sounds like a great way to round it out!
Adina says
Smoked trout is not really traditional, but is a must for me, I just love it in this combo!