Cilantro Lime Salad Dressing

Name: Creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Ingredients: 1/3 cup packed cilantro; 2 tomatillos (husks removed and roughly chopped); 1 jalapeno (deveined, seeded, roughly chopped); 2 garlic cloves (peeled); 1 cup real mayonnaise; 1 cup sour cream (may sub Greek yogurt); 1 1/2 teaspoons lime juice (use less if using Greek yogurt); 2 tablespoons ranch seasoning mix ((1 oz. packet) - see DIY NOTES); 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika (optional); Milk as needed

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CILANTRO LIME DRESSING TAKES JUST 5 MINUTES IN YOUR BLENDER AND IS ABOUT TO BECOME YOUR GO-TO INTOXICATING DRESSING!

Cilantro Lime Dressing makes everything better from salads to tacos, to burritos to bowls to grilled chicken or fish. It also makes a fabulous dip for veggies, quesadillas, empanadas, etc. It’s spiked with tomatillos, jalapeno, garlic, cilantro, lime and smoked paprika to create a luscious dressing packed with irresistible tangy, punchy flavor.

spooning creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing out of a jar

So here’s the deal. You NEED this creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing recipe in your back pocket – or better yet – your front pocket – because you will want to shovel everything it touches into your mouth. It simply makes everything 1000X better.

I have actually lost track of how many people have begged me for this creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing recipe. I have made it oodles of times without photographing it, so I finally thought it was time to share this deliciousness with you!

This Cilantro Lime Dressing Recipe will have everyone begging for more

If you aren’t familiar with this Café Rio Cilantro Lime Dressing (also Called Cilantro Lime Ranch, Tomatillo Ranch, Cilantro Ranch), it’s creamy, tangy zippy, sassy, and of course, cilantro-y, lime-y, ranch-y. Does it get any better? There are thousands of copycat recipes out there because it is beloved by thousands.

Most recently, I 12X this this copycat Café Rio Cilantro Lime Dressing for a service auction fundraiser for our church youth in which I was in charge of the menu. We served Café Rio Pork, Cilantro Lime Rice, with tortillas and all the fixings, including this crowning, intoxicating dressing, which makes the meal and marries all the flavors and textures together.

I thought I had made oodles of dressing and was anticipating leftovers – but it ran out well before the night was over with everyone begging for the recipe and insisting it was by far the best copy cat recipe they’ve ever had – their words – not mine 😉.

Cilantro Lime Dressing in a glass jar on a white cutting board

Lime Cilantro Dressing Ingredients

The main ingredients of Cilantro Lime Dressing are:

Sour Cream or Greek Yogurt. I prefer sour cream in this Cilantro Lime Dressing recipe but Greek yogurt works well because we are making a tangy dressing. If the dressing is too tangy by using Greek yogurt, add a teaspoon or so of honey. Fat-free sour cream or yogurt both work great as well, just don’t use regular yogurt because it is not nearly as thick as Greek yogurt.
Mayonnaise. Provides the creamy base of the dressing and binds all of the ingredients together.
Tomatillos. Tomatillos look like green, unripe tomatoes with a dry, leafy husk that wraps around the outside. You will remove the outer husks, wash and dry the tomatillos then roughly chop the tomatillos before adding to your blender. I f you aren’t sure where the tomatillos are at your grocery store, ask someone! They are super easy to use and sooo good infusing the dressing with their bright tanginess.
Jalapeno. Use 1-2 jalapenos. Remove the seeds but do not discard them. I like to taste the dressing after I’ve made it and add additional seeds for more heat. If you don’t have jalapenos on hand you can add a pinch of cayenne pepper.
Fresh Cilantro: You can use the leaves and the stems because the stems contain a lot of flavor and are going to get blended anyway.
Garlic: Fresh garlic is fantastic but you can substitute with ¼ teaspoon garlic powder.
Lime Juice. You can use fresh or bottled lime juice and use more or less to taste.
Seasonings. You can use dry ranch seasoning mix or a DIY ranch made from: dried parsley, dried chives, dried dill, onion powder, salt and pepper.

This combo of ingredients is creamy, fresh and vibrant magic. The dressing is loaded with flavor, but not spice but you can of course add more kick to the dressing with hot sauce or by leaving the seeds in the jalapeno.

showing how to make creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing by adding tomatillos, cilantro, garlic, ranch seasoning, lime juice to a blender

DIY Cilantro Lime Ranch Seasoning

I use a Hidden Valley Ranch packet for a shortcut but you are welcome to use your own DIY ranch seasoning like I did in my Avocado Tomatillo Ranch. You will want to replace the ranch seasoning mix with:

2 teaspoons dried parsley
1 teaspoons dried chives
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried dill
½ teaspoon onion powder

top view of creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing in a blender showing after it was just blended

far away shot of spooning Cafe Rio Cilantro Lime Dressing out of a glass jar with a silver spoon

How to make Cilantro Lime Dressing

Homemade dressings might sound intimidating, but they usually just take 5 minutes! I am a huge fan of dump and blend dressings because they require little chopping but boast tons of flavor.

To make our Cilantro Lime dressing:

Add all of the ingredients to a blender then chop then puree until smooth, scraping sides down as needed. Add milk, a tablespoon at a time to reach desired consistency.
Chill before serving. Dressing will thicken in the refrigerator so you may need to whisk in some milk before serving. That’s it!

Cilantro Lime Salad Dressing Recipe tips and tricks

Dry cilantro. Wash then dry cilantro very well otherwise the leftover water will thin the dressing and make it less flavorful.
You can use some stem. You will use the top part of the cilantro bunch with the leaves and stems – no need to pick off individual cilantro leaves.
Don’t be afraid of tomatillos. If you aren’t sure where the tomatillos are at your grocery store, ask someone! They are super easy to use and sooo good! You will remove the outer husks then roughly chop the tomatillos before adding to your blender.
Customize heat. As written, the dressing is not spicy at all, just flavorful because we are removing the seeds and membrane which contain most of the heat. I would suggest reserving the jalapeno seeds until after the dressing is made then you can taste the dressing and add some/all of the seeds for some heat or just spice it up with some dashes of hot sauce.
Greek yogurt substitute. I still prefer sour cream in this Cilantro Lime Dressing recipe but Greek yogurt works well because we are making a tangy dressing. If the dressing is too tangy, add a teaspoon or so of honey.
Customize tang. The cilantro, tomatillo and ranch mix all add tang to this dressing, so the best way to customize the tanginess is with the lime juice. This recipe only calls for 1 ½ teaspoons but you will be surprised at how much that enlivens the rest of the ingredients. Feel free to add more or less to taste.
DIY ranch seasoning. As previously discussed, you can use the specified seasonings instead of the ranch seasoning mix.
Control consistency. This dressing is wonderfully creamy. I find my blender works so well it thins dressings and sauces out more than others so you might need to add additional milk to reach desired consistency and the beauty is the consistency is 100% up to you!
CHILL! This is the biggest tip I can give you! Once you first make your dressing you are going to taste it at room temperature and wonder what all the hype is about. The fresh, vibrant tanginess only emerges after the dressing is cool, and the flavors melded.
Chill in freezer. If you are short on time, place the dressing in the freezer! You can chill in the freezer for up to 30 minutes to speed up the process then the Cilantro Lime Dressing in the refrigerator.

Cilantro Lime Dressing Recipe Substitutions

If you aren’t familiar with tomatillos, they should easily be found at every grocery store; chances are, you’ve passed them every time you’ve been there! Tomatillos means, “little tomato” in Spanish and are known as the Mexican husk tomatoes but are not technically tomatoes. They look like green, unripe tomatoes with a dry, leafy green husk. Once you peel off the husk, the tomatillo is a bright green which puts the green in green salsa/salsa verde.

You could theoretically substitute the tomatillos in the recipe for about ¼ cup salsa verde but I honestly have not tried this because the real thing is easy, bright and beautiful. If you do choose to substitute the tomatillos for salsa verde, make sure you use a mild salsa verde and you might want to omit the jalapeno.

pouring creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing over a bowl of shrimp, corn, tomatoes and black beans

Other ways to use Cilantro Lime Salad Dressing

As I previously mentioned, this Cilantro Lime Dressing makes EVERYTHING better – NOT just salads!

Salads!Try swapping out the dressings in these salads for this creamilicous Cilantro Lime Dressing!
Bowls or skillets (I looooove this dressing with any type of rice!)
- Chipotle Shrimp Burrito Bowls (coming soon!)
- Mexican Chicken and Rice Skillet
- Barbacoa Beef Taco Bowls
- Cajun Chicken Black Bean Bowls
Burritos
Tacos
Fajitas (remember you can make any of these fajitas into fajita bowls or salads! mmmmmm)
Mexican staples (made into tacos, burritos, burrito bowls, nachos! etc)

How to store Creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing

This Cilantro Lime Dressing stores fabulously well for about 5-7 days, but honestly, it never lasts that long at our house!

Take care to store in a sealable, airtight container.
It will thicken as it chills so you may need to whisk in additional milk before using.

top view of a shrimp bowl with corn, tomatoes, avocado and shrimp drizzled with Cafe Rio Cilantro Lime Dressing

WANT TO TRY THIS CILANTRO LIME DRESSING RECIPE?

PIN IT TO YOUR SALAD, CONDIMENTS OR MEXICAN BOARD TO SAVE FOR LATER!

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Total Time: 5

Prep Time: 5

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Ingredients

1/3 cup packed cilantro
2 tomatillos husks removed and roughly chopped
1 jalapeno deveined, seeded, roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves peeled
1 cup real mayonnaise
1 cup sour cream may sub Greek yogurt
1 1/2 teaspoons lime juice use less if using Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons ranch seasoning mix (1 oz. packet) – see DIY NOTES
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika optional
Milk as needed

Instructions

Add all of the ingredients to a blender puree until smooth, scraping sides down as needed. Add milk, a tablespoon at a time to reach desired consistency.
Chill before serving (a must!). Dressing will thicken in the refrigerator so you may need to whisk in some milk before serving. This Cilantro Lime Dressing stores fabulously well for about 5-7 days, but honestly, it never lasts that long at our house!

Notes

DIY ranch seasoning

You can use Hidden Valley Ranch packet for a shortcut or you’re welcome to use your own DIY ranch seasoning:

2 teaspoons dried parsley
1 teaspoons dried chives
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried dill
½ teaspoon onion powder

Tips and Tricks

Half recipe. This recipe makes a generous amount of dressing so you can easily cut it in half if you prefer – but we always use it all!
Dry cilantro. Wash then dry cilantro very well otherwise the leftover water will thin the dressing and make it less flavorful.
You can use some stem. You will use the top part of the cilantro bunch with the leaves and stems – no need to pick off individual cilantro leaves.
Don’t be afraid of tomatillos. If you aren’t sure where the tomatillos are at your grocery store, ask someone! They are super easy to use and sooo good! You will remove the outer husks then roughly chop the tomatillos before adding to your blender.
Customize heat. As written, the dressing is not spicy at all, just flavorful because we are removing the seeds and membrane which contain most of the heat. I would suggest reserving the jalapeno seeds until after the dressing is made then you can taste the dressing and add some/all of the seeds for some heat or just spice it up with some dashes of hot sauce.
Greek yogurt substitute. I still prefer sour cream in this Cilantro Lime Dressing recipe but Greek yogurt works well in because we are making a tangy dressing. If the dressing is too tangy, add a teaspoon or so of honey.
Customize tang. The cilantro, tomatillo and ranch mix all add tang to this dressing, so the best way to customize the tanginess is with the lime juice. This recipe only calls for 1 ½ teaspoons but you will be surprised at how much that enlivens the rest of the ingredients. Feel free to add more or less to taste.
DIY ranch seasoning. As previously discussed, you can use the specified seasonings instead of the ranch seasoning mix in the post.
Control consistency. This dressing is wonderfully creamy. I find my blender works so well it thins dressings and sauces out more than others so you might need to add additional milk to reach desired consistency and the beauty is the consistency is 100% up to you!
CHILL! This is the biggest tip I can give you! Once you first make your dressing you are going to taste it at room temperature and wonder what all the hype is about. The fresh, vibrant tanginess only emerges after the dressing is cool, and the flavors melded.
Chill in freezer. If you are short on time, place the dressing in the freezer! You can chill in the freezer for up to 30 minutes to speed up the process then the Cilantro Lime Dressing in the refrigerator.
More than a salad dressing! See in the post for the long list of ideas to use this recipe for/on!

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