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Our Creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing packs in bold, fresh flavors that are perfect for drizzling over a taco salad, dipping a crispy taco, or drizzled over avocado toast!
I’ve officially become one of those snobby salad people that just isn’t interested in eating a salad covered in bottled salad dressing.
I mean, I’ll do it if I must, but homemade dressing is the KEY to a good salad. It takes all the fresh, crisp flavors of salad and just amplifies them into infinity.
Our Greek Dressing recipe is perfect over veggies or as a chicken marinade, my homemade honey mustard is our go to dip for french fries, and our avocado ranch dressing is an absolute favorite when it comes to taco salads.
I think you’ll find that once you start making homemade salad dressings, you’ll really struggle to go back to the bottled stuff. Which is juuuuuuust fine, because homemade salad dressing is honestly so darn easy. It’s kind of crazy how popular the bottled stuff is when you stop to consider how simple it is to make your own!
Our Cilantro Lime Dressing is rich and creamy with big, bold flavors thanks to the abundance of cilantro (my love language is cilantro), freshly squeezed lime juice, and a bit of jalapeno to give it a little kick.
This is obviously tasty on a garden salad, but I’ll share some more ideas for you below – beyond just drinking it with a straw which is honestly something I have considered myself.
Ingredient Notes:
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Cilantro – The star of the show! You’ll want a big bunch of cilantro that’s been washed and thoroughly dried. Pop it in a salad spinner or wash it an hour or so before using and let it dry on a tea towel.
Lime – Use fresh limes to get the best flavor!
Jalapeno – We like a bit of a kick with our dressing and end up using about half of the jalapeno. For more spice, use the full jalapeno. You can leave it out entirely or swap in red pepper flakes, if preferred.
Sour Cream – This makes up the base of the creamy cilantro lime dressing. Swap sour cream for an equal amount of mashed avocado, if preferred. If you use avocado, the dressing will brown after about 24 hours in the fridge, so plan accordingly. Mayonnaise or Greek yogurt may also be used in place of sour cream, if preferred.
Olive Oil – Along with the sour cream the olive oil will make up the base of this homemade dressing recipe. This will help us get that drizzly consistency.
What We Love About This Recipe:
- You can make this as spicy or mild as you like! Or even omit the jalapenos if they’re not for you. We love the spicy kick it adds to salads, but it’s just as tasty without.
- The fresh lime juice really brightens up the ingredients and adds a zippy, zesty flavor to the dressing.
- Want more of a ranch vibe to this dressing? Add in some chives, dill, and parsley with your cilantro.
Tools Needed:
Food Processor or Blender – We use our favorite food processor to blend this up. Here’s the one we use. It’s a total workhorse and we use it daily to shred cheese, chop veggies, and blend ingredients together. This personal blender should also work well.
Mason Jars – Perfect for storing the creamy cilantro lime dressing!
Citrus Juicer
Freshly squeezed lime and lemon juice is useful in lots of recipes, and this tool makes it easy and mess free.
How To Make Cilantro Lime Salad Dressing:
Prepare: To get started remove the bottom half of the stems from the bunch of cilantro, leaving just a portion of the stem attached to the leaves. When ready place the cilantro into a food processor or blender!
Lime: You’ll want to use fresh limes to get the best flavor. Juice two limes directly into the food processor with the cilantro. Slice the jalapeno in half and remove the seeds and membrane. You can use as much or as little as you like. Add it to the processor along with the sour cream, olive oil, garlic, salt, and onion powder.
Process: When everything is in you can start processing the mixture until it is smooth and creamy! We like to process it until we have little flecks of cilantro left.
Serve: When you’ve finished preparing the dressing you can serve it immediately or store it in a mason jar in the fridge for up to a week!
FAQ’s:
This creamy cilantro lime dressing is best kept stored in a mason jar or airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.
We don’t find this very spicy at all, but we remove the seeds and membranes from the jalapeno and only use half the pepper. If you’d like less spice, use less of the jalapeno. For more spice, leave the seeds and membranes in and use the full pepper.
If you’re not a fan of sour cream you could use mayonnaise or Greek yogurt to get similar results. You could also use mashed avocado but you’d need to use the dressing within a day or it’ll start to brown.
Serving Suggestions:
This cilantro lime salad dressing is perfect drizzled over a taco salad, but don’t stop there! You can use it in a variety of ways, including:
- Dip for Air Fryer Quesadillas
- Drizzled over avocado toast or as a dip for Avocado Fries
- Drizzled over our Mexican Pizza recipe
- As the dressing in our Southwest Pasta Salad
- As a dip for our Fried Tacos
- Alongside our Chicken Chimichanga
MORE HOMEMADE DRESSING & Sauce RECIPES!
- Fried Green Tomatoes Sauce
- Homemade Chick-Fil-A Sauce
- Keto Ranch Dressing
- Homemade Tartar Sauce
- Alabama White Sauce
- Fry Sauce
- Carolina BBQ Sauce
Creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing
Ingredients
- 1 bunch cilantro
- 2 limes
- 1 small jalapeno optional
- ½ cup sour cream
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
Instructions
- Remove the bottom half of the stems from the cilantro, leaving a portion of stem attached to the leaves. Place the cilantro in a food processor or blender.
- Juice the limes directly into the food processor.
- Slice the jalapeno in half and remove the seeds and membrane. Add to the food processor, using the full jalapeno for a spicy dressing or just a portion for a less spicy dressing.
- Add the sour cream, olive oil, garlic, salt, and onion powder to the food processor.
- Process the mixture until smooth and creamy.
- Taste and season with additional salt, if necessary.
- Serve immediately or store in the fridge for up to 1 week.
Miriam says
I substituted the onion powder with 2 stalks green onion, and otherwise followed the recipe exactly. For my tastes, it was way too salty. I added an extra lime and a drizzle of agave syrup to help balance the saltiness, and it turned out really good! I’ll make this again but start with 1/2tsp salt.
BrownGirl says
This is a new favorite that we’ll make again and again!
Karly Campbell says
I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thanks for the review and rating!
Terryann Kaz says
This is the perfect dressing for fish taco’s!! Put fish in corn tortilla, add shredded cabbage and this dressing. Easy and really good.
Karly Campbell says
Yum!! Love fish tacos…we even make them with fish sticks in a pinch. haha