This tangy cilantro lime dressing is destined for your next taco salad. Enjoy it as a vinaigrette, or add avocado or Greek yogurt to make it creamy!
This cilantro lime dressing is the perfect summer salad dressing – it’s tangy, it’s herbaceous, and it’s so yummy drizzled over summer salads, grilled veggies, and more. The best part about it this dressing? It can be made 3 ways! Once you make the cilantro lime dressing, serve it as-is, add Greek yogurt to make a creamy ranch-like dressing (pictured in the middle above), or add avocado to make a thick, creamy sauce (pictured left above).
Let’s get started!
Cilantro Lime Dressing Ingredients
I make this dressing in the food processor so that the cilantro gets finely chopped and the dressing becomes emulsified. It takes minutes to blend together, and these 7 ingredients make it zesty & bright:
- Cilantro is the star of the show. It makes the dressing super fresh and green.
- Garlic adds a little bite.
- Lime juice makes it tangy.
- Maple syrup or honey calms and balances the sharp, tangy flavors.
- Ground coriander is one of my go-to ingredients when I’m using cilantro & lime, and it gives this dressing extra depth of flavor.
- Sea salt makes the flavors pop.
- And extra-virgin olive oil adds richness and ties it all together.
That’s it! Just pulse it together (I try not to blend it too long so that it still has pretty flecks of green), and your dressing will be ready for salads, burrito bowls, tacos, and more.
Variations of cilantro lime dressing:
I while I love the vinaigrette version of this dressing, I like to change it up from time to time, depending on what I’m craving and what I’m making. I like to make creamy cilantro lime dressing two different ways: with yogurt and with avocado.
A creamy Greek yogurt variation has a similar consistency to ranch or a buttermilk dressing – it’s lightly creamy and not too thick. To make it, simply add 1/2 cup plain whole milk Greek yogurt to the food processor along with the other ingredients.
A creamy avocado cilantro lime dressing is thicker than the Greek yogurt version. I love to serve it alongside burritos as a dipping sauce or put big, thick dollops on a taco salad. To make it, add 1 avocado to the food processor with the base dressing recipe, and blend!
Make it spicy by adding a bit of jalapeño or a few pickled jalapeños.
What to Serve with Cilantro Lime Dressing
This dressing is a great one to keep on hand in the fridge. It adds a bright, zesty pop to simple green salads as well as DIY burrito bowls made with cilantro lime rice, black beans, veggies, pico de gallo, guac, and mango salsa.
It would also be delicious drizzled or scooped onto:
- Portobello Burrito Bowls
- Breakfast Burritos
- Cauliflower Rice Burrito Bowl
- Vegetarian Tacos (use in place of the tomatillo sauce)
- Breakfast Tacos (use in place of the salsa)
- Grilled Vegetable Kabobs
- Avocado Toast
- Oven Roasted Potatoes
- Veggie Fajitas
- Quesadillas
If you love this cilantro lime dressing recipe…
Try more of my favorite sauces like these tahini sauces, this citrus salad dressing, this chipotle sauce, tomatillo salsa, pesto, tzatziki, healthier Caesar dressing, or the carrot ginger dressing in this recipe.
Cilantro Lime Dressing
Ingredients
- 2 cups fresh cilantro
- 1 garlic clove
- ¼ cup lime juice
- 2 teaspoons maple syrup or honey
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
Make it creamy (optional):
- 1 avocado or ½ cup plain whole milk Greek yogurt
Instructions
- In a food processor, place the cilantro, garlic, lime juice, maple syrup, coriander, and salt and pulse to combine. With the blade running, pour in the olive oil and process until smooth.
- Make it creamy (optional) - blend with 1 avocado or ½ cup plain whole milk Greek yogurt
Are you able to make ahead and freeze?
Hi Terra, I think you could but I haven’t tried.
yes
What do you think the shelf life for this dressing would be? I made it a week ago
Hi Julie, I keep it about 5 days.
My husband rated this his new favorite!
I’m so happy to hear!
Amazing! It made my shrimp tacos even better. I did add a little more honey to make it a tad sweeter. Would definitely recommend,.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
LOVED this simple and delicious recipe. I added yogurt which was delish. I spent some time taking the stems off the cilantro, so this not a 5 min recipe. I halved it because I only had one bunch of cilantro.
I think it’s really tasty and very easy to put together. For me, it was a touch too sweet. I’ll cut it to 1 tsp next time and see what how that tastes. I am a not a sweet lover. I think most people will love this. I did add a good-sized jalapeño minus ribs and seeds for some heat. I would rate it a 4.0 as it is written, but 5.0 with the jalapeño and a bit less honey.
May I please know the refrigerator shelf life.
Hi Dana, I keep it up to 5 days – the avocado version, about 2 days.
Where did you get those cute bottles/jars for the dressing? Thanks:)
The two on the left are Weck Jars and the right one is a mini milk jar.
This was delicious! I left out the avocado but did add in half of a green chilli pepper. A big hit, thank you!
Hi Claire, I’m so glad you loved the dressing!
This cilantro & lime dressing was delicious
I love this recipe! So flavorful and amazing on salads. I use avocado and water instead of the olive oil to make this oil free and it is always a crowd pleaser.
I’m so glad it’s been such a hit!
Hi. Made the cilantro
Lime dressing w avocado. Tremendous flavors. Thank you. How long does it keep ?
Hi Nilsa, I’m so glad you enjoyed it! It keeps for a couple of days because the avocado will start to discolor over time.
I have the same question; I gather once the avocado is in, a few days?
Yes – the avocado version lasts about 2 days in the fridge.
Would this dressing still be good if I use green onions as opposed to garlic? If so, what quantity would you recommend?
Hi Chantal, I think green onions might be good here – I’d use 1-2 tablespoons chopped
I made this with avocado to go on a taco salad and it was absolutely delicious. Even my cilantro hating husband really liked it. This will definitely be a go-to dressing for any salad. I think it’ll even work as a refreshing dip.
I’m so glad it was a hit!
This dressing is so good it’s addictive – the combination of sour lime with sweet maple syrup and fresh herbs is just perfect. I used it for every salad I made this week.
I’m so glad you’ve been loving it!
Wow!! So so good. Love this dressing for salads, tacos and beyond. All of your dressings are my go tos. Yummmmmm
I’m so glad it was a hit!
What’s the shelf life
It will keep for about 4 days in the fridge!
This sounded so good; however, my cilantro was looking sad and I only had 1 lime, so I decided to riff on it cuz I needed a dressing 😎 I only had about 1/8 C cilantro, and added about 1/8 C apple cider vinegar to make up for missing lime juice, and about 1/4 C normal yogurt (not Greek). But it was flat, so I added abut 3/4 tsp cumin, and 6 pickled jalapeño slices. Shazam – that did it. I look forward to following the recipe the time but will definitely still include the cumin and jalapeño slices. .
Love the idea of pickled jalapeños here!
This was so good! I needed to use up cilantro and limes that I had from making fajitas, so this was perfect. I cut the recipe in half and then decided to mix it with leftover veggies I had on hand, such as broccoli, radishes, romaine, tomatoes and avocado. I mixed everything together, added a little cumin, and voila, it was delicious. Thank you for a most excellent recipe!
Hi Kim, I’m so glad you loved it!
Do you know how many calories, carbs, etc. per serving?