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This cilantro sauce is creamy, tangy, savory, sweet, and totally delicious! It’s perfect for dolloping on baked potatoes, tacos, roasted or grilled vegetables, and more.
Meet our new favorite sauce: this bright green cilantro sauce! My, is this one tasty. Alex and I created it using soaked cashews blended with a bit of water, along with fresh cilantro and zingy lime. It becomes so intensely creamy that it makes the perfect sauce for dolloping!
Why we love this recipe: This tangy green sauce is a big favorite in our household: it’s perfect with grilled vegetables, roasted vegetables, on Mexican sweet potatoes, or drizzled over power bowls or falafel salad. It’s even pretty mild on the cilantro flavor—so it’s not even offensive to avowed cilantro haters!
Ingredients in cilantro sauce
For this creamy cilantro sauce recipe, you’ll need the following ingredients:
- Raw or roasted cashews (unsalted): Look for unsalted cashews. If all you can find is salted, simply add half the amount of salt in the recipe below, then taste and adjust the salt as needed.
- Lime juice: Freshly squeezed lime juice will give you the best flavor in this sauce. We’re not big fans of the bottled stuff around here: it doesn’t have the right flavor!
- Cilantro leaves and stems: To make this sauce extra simple to whip up, you can use the tender stems in the cilantro too: no need to chop it.
How to make cilantro sauce
This cilantro sauce is based on the concept of cashew cream, a creamy blend of soaked cashews and water. You can use it in vegan recipes as a non-dairy substitute sour cream, heavy cream, yogurt, or mayonnaise. It’s what makes the creaminess in our wild rice soup and many of these cashew recipes.
This cilantro sauce is basically a cashew cream made with cilantro and lime! Here’s how to make cilantro sauce:
- Soak the cashews: Soak cashews for 1 hour (30 minutes if you have a high speed blender). You also can soak them overnight if you think of it, but it’s not required.
- Add seasonings: To a blender, add the drained cashews, cilantro, lime, and kosher salt.
- Blend: Blend until a thick, creamy green sauce forms.
Notes on soaking cashews
To soak the cashews for this cilantro sauce, you simply place them in a bowl and cover them with water. Here are a few tips for soaking:
- Can you soak the cashews any less than 1 hour? Alex and I have tried some shortcuts. The shortest amount of time we can get away with is 30 minutes of soaking time with our high speed blender. Another tip is boiling the cashews for 30 minutes, which softens them faster!
- Can you soak the cashews more than 1 hour? Longer is better for this cilantro sauce. Start the soak the night before and refrigerate overnight.
Ways to eat this cilantro sauce
There are endless ways to use this cilantro sauce — and we have several recipes on our website already that use it! Here are some of our favorite ways to eat it:
- Dollop it on roasted potatoes like in our Mexican Sweet Potatoes recipe! Or it would be delicious over these Roasted Smashed Potatoes.
- Drizzle it over nachos like our Greek Nachos or Mexican Fried Rice Nachos.
- Use it as a taco sauce like in our “Verde” Lentil Vegan Tacos.
- Use as a sauce for seafood like our Baked Salmon or Grilled Shrimp.
There are many more ways to use this cilantro sauce! What would you use it for?
Dietary notes
This cilantro sauce recipe is vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, plant-based, dairy-free, and refined sugar free.
Frequently asked questions
Cashews, when soaked and blended, create a smooth and creamy texture that mimics the consistency of dairy-based sauces.
Yes, soaking the cashews is crucial for achieving a smooth and creamy texture. It helps soften them, making them easier to blend and resulting in a more velvety sauce.
Cilantro cashew sauce can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. It may thicken slightly when chilled, but you can adjust the consistency by adding a bit of water when reheating.
Creamy Cilantro Sauce
This cilantro sauce is creamy, tangy, savory, sweet, and totally delicious! It’s plant-based and perfect for dolloping on baked potatoes, tacos and more.
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 1 cup 1x
- Category: Sauce
- Method: Blended
- Cuisine: Vegan
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw or roasted cashews*
- ½ cup water
- ¼ cup lime juice (juice from 2 limes)
- 2 large handfuls cilantro leaves and tender stems**
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Place the cashews in a bowl and cover them with water. Soak for 1 hour (or the very least, 30 minutes if you have a high speed blender). For preparation in advance, you can soak the cashews overnight, which is even better.
- Juice the limes.
- Drain the cashews. Add the cashews, water, lime juice, cilantro, and kosher salt to a blender, then blend on high for 1 minute. Stop and scrape, then add additional liquid if necessary to come to the desired creamy consistency (we added 2 additional tablespoons; you could add more for a more drizzle-able sauce). Blend for several minutes until creamy and smooth. Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week or in the freezer for several months.
Notes
*This recipe doesn’t call for salted cashews, but if that’s all you can find, add only half of the kosher salt when you first blend the sauce. Then add additional salt to taste.
**The cilantro flavor is fairly mild, so if you’re a big cilantro lover, add another handful or so of cilantro. You may have to add a bit more water too to get the desired consistency.
I’m a big fan of your website and recipes! Our recent favorites have been the tuna Pattie’s and the falafel burgers. I love the Cucumber Dill Sauce! . I’m wondering if you can use Greek yogurt instead of the cashew cream in this Cilantro sauce. Thank you.
Thank you for the kind words! Great question. You could, but it would come out pretty tart (the cashews balance with sweet and savory notes). Instead we’d recommend trying this cilantro dressing recipe that includes Greek yogurt! https://www.acouplecooks.com/cilantro-lime-dressing/
Super yummy. I love this sauce on roasted vegetables; the sauce is so satisfying that it makes a meal.
Why doesn’t the nutritional information include sodium content? I have viewed several recipes – none contained this info. This is a glaring omission. For those of us who are following a heart healthy diet, this is essential information. Please consider adding sodium content.
Hi! We omit the sodium because many ingredients we use such as beans, soy sauce or broth can have vastly different amounts and we don’t want to give false information. Even different brands of kosher salt can vary. 1 teaspoon of Morton kosher salt has 1920 mg of sodium if that is helpful.
This sounds so good! I’ve been discovering the world of plant-based Mexican food and the flavors are fantastic.
I pour boiling water over my cashews and let it sit for 15 minutes. comes out with only a 1/4 tsp or so of “pulp” left without a high speed blender.
This recipe sounds so delicious! Do you think any other nut would work in place of cashews? My husband is allergic so I’m always looking for alternatives. We just got your cookbook and are getting into the delicious recipes!
Hi! I’ve read that raw pumpkin seeds are a good alternative, but I’ve not tried it! Let us know if you do :)
I’ve been looking for sauces to splash on my mostly vegetarian cooking. Many recipes have yogurt or creme. I LOVE nuts so the cashews are perfect. My husband and I ate the full batch within a week, and they added so much to our tacos!
Oh we’re so glad to hear it! It’s easy to find ways to use it up :) Thanks for trying it!
This was totally delicious!! Thank your for sharing. Fresh and perfect for tacos!
So glad you enjoyed it on tacos! Thanks for making it :)