Cilantro Lime Dressing

Ingredients for Cilantro Lime Dressing

You’ll need a handful of ingredients for this cilantro lime dressing, most notably the two items in the title. Other than that it’s a few pantry ingredients (if you’re like me, of course):

• Fresh cilantro: Tear off handfuls of the leaves and tender stems for this one. Also, here’s how to store cilantro so it lasts for weeks (don’t store it in the plastic bag from the store!).
• Lime juice: Fresh-squeezed juice is a must here.
• Greek yogurt: I love using plain whole milk Greek yogurt for a lighter dressing, instead of all mayo to make it creamy.
• Mayonnaise: Just a bit adds richness and smooths out the tartness of the yogurt and lime, while also helping the dressing adhere to greens.
• Olive oil: This helps to add to the creamy texture.
• Garlic powder and onion powder: These add savory depth.
• Maple syrup, honey, or sugar: Just a touch balances the acidity here, but it won’t taste sweet.

How to Make Cilantro Lime Dressing

For this dressing you can use a standard blender, or an immersion or small blender works even better. Since this dressing only makes ¾ cup, it’s very easy to blend in a small blender. But it does work in a standard-sized blender since there’s a lot of liquid! You’ll still have to stop and scrape a bit to get everything to whiz nicely. Here’s what to do:

1. Add everything to the blender.
2. Blend until smooth. Keep blending until the cilantro is fully pureed and the dressing is pale green and creamy. Store to scrape down the sides as needed; you’ll have to do this more in a standard blender than a small blender.
3. Taste and adjust. Add a pinch more salt or a hint sweetener until the flavor pops.

Variations and Substitutions

I love changing up this recipe a bit every time I make it; here are a few things I like to do:

• Spicy: Add half a seeded jalapeño before blending, or add the seeds if you want it really spicy.
• Use fresh garlic: Use 1 small garlic clove instead of the garlic powder for stronger garlicky notes.
• Try sour cream: Use sour cream instead of the Greek yogurt, or make my cilantro lime crema.
• Make it dairy-free: One reader tried this with unsweetened cashew yogurt instead of the Greek yogurt and mayo and said it was delicious. For a vegan sauce you can also try my creamy cilantro sauce, which is made with cashews.

Ways To Use Cilantro Lime Dressing

There are so many uses for this cilantro lime dressing! Not only does it work on salads, it works as a dip for roasted veggies, or on Mexican-style recipes like tacos, enchiladas, and quesadillas. Here are my favorite ways serve it:

1. Mexican chopped salad: This Mexican Chopped Salad is a simple side that goes perfectly with tacos and enchiladas.
2. Sweet potato fries: These baked sweet potato fries are fantastic with this green sauce, or try it with a baked sweet potato.
3. Tacos: Dollop it onto cauliflower tacos or shrimp tacos.
4. Quesadillas: Opt for cilantro sauce with easy quesadillas or baked quesadillas.
5. Rice bowl: Try it on a rice bowl with black beans and veggies.
6. Baked potatoes: Mexican-style sweet potatoes are delicious with black bean salsa and this green dressing.
7. Roasted vegetables: Roasted vegetables are even better with this as the dipping sauce.
8. Burrito bowls: It’s the ideal drizzle for a burrito bowl.
9. Nachos: These sheet pan nachos love creamy cilantro dressing!
10. Shrimp: Try it in a shrimp bowl or as a sauce for sautéed shrimp.