Easy Lime Vinaigrette

This lime vinaigrette is so easy to put together: it takes just 5 ingredients and 5 minutes! Its zingy flavor is perfect for salads of any kind.

Every home cook should have a go-to lime vinaigrette. This recipe is ultra versatile, zingy and tangy, and goes with all sorts of salads. This one is a paired-down version of our cilantro lime viniagrette, a dressing that highlights the bite of fresh cilantro. But if you don’t have any cilantro on hand (or are cooking for a cilantro hater!), this lime vinaigrette is where it’s at. All you need is 5 minutes and 5 ingredients. Ready to get whisking?

Looking for a few variations? Try our cilantro lime dressing or creamy cilantro dressing.

What’s in this lime vinaigrette?

The method for this lime vinaigrette is similar to our easy lemon vinaigrette, inspired by our long-time home cooking inspiration Julia Child. Julia’s dressing called for mashing lemon zest in a mortar and pestle to get a tangy flavor throughout. We’ve simplified the process even further, and adapted it to use lime. Here’s what you’ll need for this lime vinaigrette:

• 1 lime (both zest and juice)
• Dijon mustard
• Olive oil
• Maple syrup
• Kosher salt

How to make lime vinaigrette

This lime vinaigrette is quick and easy: just 5 minutes to whisk it up! When I don’t have lots of time or ingredients on hand, this lime or lemon vinaigrette are where I turn. Here are the main steps for this dressing:

• Zest the lime, and use a knife to grind it into a paste. This part should only take a minute or so. Zest the lime, then use a knife to chop it very finely with a bit of kosher salt. You can use the knife blade to scrape it and help mash it into a paste.
• Whisk in the lime juice and Dijon mustard. Add the fresh lime juice and Dijon mustard.
• Gradually whisk in the olive oil until thickened. Whisk in the olive oil 1 tablespoon at a time until a creamy emulsion forms. Here’s another trick for getting a creamy emulsion…

Making the perfect emulsion

An emulsion is when olive oil and an acid (vinegar or citrus juice) combine into one thickened liquid, instead of separating. How to get a perfect emulsion when you’re whisking? We have two tips:

• Tip 1: Use a medium sized bowl. Using a very small bowl often doesn’t provide enough space for your whisk to move back and forth. It makes it impossible to combine the two liquids. Using a medium sized bowl, you have more room to whisk and it’s easier to whip them together.
• Tip 2: Whisk in little bits of oil at a time until combined. If you try to add too much oil at once, it won’t whisk in correctly. Make sure each little bit is fully combined in before adding more.

A good citrus juicer and zester

Alex and I use citrus all the time in our recipes! Here’s what we’ve found are the best tools for working with citrus:

• Use a juicer. Alex and I use a juicer to quickly juice citrus and keep the seeds out. Here’s the juicer we use: it works great!
• For zesting: a microplane or grater. We use a microplane to make quick work of zesting. If you don’t have one, use a grater. Smaller zesters that are more like bar tools don’t work as well here.

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

Ways to serve this lime vinaigrette

This lime vinaigrette we developed as the simplest dressing option for our latest Mexican side salad. But there are lots of ways to use it! Here are our favorites:

• Mexican Chopped Salad: This tasty refreshing salad is a simple side that goes perfectly with Mexican-style recipes like tacos and enchiladas.
• Best Tossed Salad: Turn this tossed salad Latin-style by adding cilantro lime dressing and tortilla strips.
• Blueberry Salad or Strawberry Salad A lime salad dressing goes perfectly with berry salads like these.

This lime vinaigrette recipe is…

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

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