Name: Easy Cilantro Lime Dressing
Prep time: 10 min
Total time: 10 min
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons lime juice plus zest of 1 lime; 1 cup cilantro leaves and tender stems, lightly packed; 1/2 tablespoon Dijon mustard; 1/2 teaspoon maple syrup; 1/2 teaspoon each garlic powder and onion powder; 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt; 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil; 2 tablespoons lime juice; 1 cup cilantro leaves and tender stems, lightly packed; 1/2 cup Greek yogurt; 1/4 cup mayonnaise; 2 tablespoons olive oil; 1 tablespoon water; 1/2 teaspoon maple syrup or honey; 1/2 teaspoon each garlic powder and onion powder; 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

This easy cilantro lime dressing is fast to whip up and its zesty flavor is perfect for Mexican style salads. Try TWO versions: vinaigrette and creamy!

Here’s a tasty dressing that makes any salad taste like a million bucks: Cilantro Lime dressing! This one features that classic flavor combo made into TWO dressings: a vinaigrette style dressing that’s plant-based, and a creamy cilantro dressing. It’s full of tangy flavor and zing, and Alex and I absolutely adore it. We made both as options to use on our Mexican side salad. It’s perfect for drizzling on Latin style salads, making it a great side for tacos, enchiladas and more. Here’s how to make it!

What’s in this cilantro lime dressing?

Cilantro lime dressing is one of those recipes where you can make it many different ways! Of course since we’re obsessed with keeping things simple, we chose the simplest ways possible. But we couldn’t choose just one! This healthy dressing uses lime, cilantro and olive oil: but we’ve got TWO different spins on it. Here’s what’s in the Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette Dressing! It’s vegan and plant-based, and uses olive oil to get just the right body and flavor.

Lime zest and juice
Fresh cilantro
Dijon mustard
Garlic powder & onion powder
Maple syrup
Olive oil

Here’s what’s in the Creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing! It’s dreamy and creamy, a little like a Green Goddess dressing. If you’d like a vegan version, try our Creamy Cilantro Sauce. This one can also be used as a dip.

Lime juice
Fresh cilantro
Greek yogurt
Mayo
Garlic powder & onion powder
Maple syrup
Olive oil

Creamy cilantro dressing — Creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing!

How to make it!

There are literally two steps to making cilantro lime dressing. It’s so quick and easy! Here’s all you need to do:

Zest & juice the lime. Zest and juice the lime.
Blend! For the vinaigrette style dressing, you’ll blend all the ingredients without the olive oil first. Then add the oil and blend until it’s combined. You’ll have to stop and scrape a few times. For the creamy dressing, you can just blend all ingredients at once!

Want more lime recipes? Head to 15 Zingy Lime Recipes.

Immersion vs standard blender

Since dressing recipes last about 1 week in the refrigerator, you don’t want to make a massive quantity at once. But if you have a standard blender, it’s harder to blend small quantities of ingredients. Have you ever thrown everything in your blender and then the blades whiz but nothing happens? (It’s the worst!) Yep, that’s because you don’t have enough ingredients and liquid to blend in that size of container.

Luckily, this cilantro lime dressing does work in a standard blender! You will have to stop and scrape down the bowl several times to get it to blend well. The vinaigrette style dressing works best in a small blender or immersion blender, making it easy to blend right up! So if you have a small Ninja blender or an immersion blender, this is a great time to use it. But either one works in a standard blender as well.

Don’t have a blender? No problem. Go to our Lime Vinaigrette instead.

Ways to use cilantro lime dressing

This dressing is so versatile! It’s brings a Mexican or Latin style vibe to a salad, which makes it perfect for serving with Mexican recipes like tacos, enchiladas, and quesadillas. Here are a few of our favorite ways to serve it:

Mexican chopped salad: This tasty refreshing salad is a simple side that goes perfectly with Mexican-style recipes like tacos and enchiladas.
Southwest Salad: This main dish salad is an easy lunch or plant based dinner recipe, a mix of sweet potatoes, colorful veggies, and rice.
Best Tossed Salad: Turn this tossed salad Latin-style by adding cilantro lime dressing and tortilla strips.
Tacos (Creamy Version): Use the creamy version as a drizzle on any of our Best Vegan & Vegetarian Tacos.
Nachos (Creamy Version): Try it on our Sheet Pan Nachos.
Fries (Creamy Version): This would be perfect as a dip for Crispy Sweet Potato Fries.

Storage instructions

This cilantro lime dressing stores for about 1 week refrigerated (probably more, but we like to be conservative!). Note that the vinaigrette version will solidify in the refrigerator because of the olive oil. This is okay and it’s still good! Just make sure to bring it to room temperature before serving.

This cilantro lime dressing recipe is…

Vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, dairy-free, and gluten-free.