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This cilantro lime dressing is creamy, perfectly and lightly sweet, and packed with garlic and cilantro flavor that’s fresh but not overwhelming. Absolutely perfect on a Southwest salad or anytime you’re craving loads of Mexican or Southwest summer flavor!
There is nothing like homemade salad dressing to take your salad to the next level, whether it’s for company or just your lunch bag. This salad dressing is so easy to make, yet is absolutely loaded with the flavors of herbaceous cilantro, tart lime juice, the tang of yogurt or sour cream, sweet honey, and just a little spice from jalapeño. It’s thick, creamy, and totally enhances your salad. This easy recipe is super easy to whip up on a Sunday, pop in the fridge, and have perfect dressing all week.
What Makes This Recipe So Good
Mayonnaise – Mayo helps give our dressing a creamy base. Make sure to use a good quality mayo without a strong aftertaste.
Yogurt or sour cream – The second half of our dressing’s base, yogurt or sour cream keeps things creamy, but adds a little tang.
Garlic – A bold flavor that gives an extra layer of savory flavor combined with the sweet.
Jalapeño – A seeded, chopped pepper helps give just a hint of heat to the dressing without overwhelming the other flavors.
Lime juice – The citrusy, tart flavor of lime juice helps bring out the brightness in the other flavors.
Honey – Honey helps adds sweetness to the dressing.
Cilantro – Cilantro is the perfect earthy, minty herb to complement the other flavors and give our dressing one of its signature components.
How To Make It
Add the jalapeño and garlic to a food processor or blender.
Pulse or blend until everything is finely chopped.
Add in everything but the honey and blend or pulse a couple times until everything is nicely blended.
Turn on the food processor or blender and slowly drizzle in the oil until it’s fully incorporated.
Season with some salt to taste before serving.
Chef’s Tips
- Decide how much honey you want to use based on how sweet you want your dressing. Use 2 tablespoons for a nice tangy dressing with just a hint of sweetness, or go up to 4 tablespoons for a sweet and smooth dressing.
- You can keep your dressing in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
More Delicious Dressings & Condiments
- Avocado Salad Dressing
- One Minute Whole30 Mayo
- Whole30 Ketchup Recipe
- Whole30 Ranch Dressing
- Miso Dressing
Cilantro Lime Dressing
Equipment
- Food processor or standard blender
Ingredients
- 1 jalapeño seeded and coarsely chopped
- 2-3 cloves garlic
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- ½ cup yogurt or sour cream
- ¼ cup lime juice
- 2-4 tablespoons honey plus more to taste, 2 for tangy and 4 for nice and sweet and smooth
- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
- ½ cup cilantro leaves packed
- ½ cup olive oil
Instructions
- Add jalapeño and garlic to food processor or blender. Pulse or blend until finely chopped. Add mayo, yogurt or sour cream, lime juice, honey, salt, and cilantro and blend or pulse several times until fully blended.
- Turn on the food processor or blender and slowly drizzle in oil until fully incorporated. Season with salt to taste.
- Honey: Use 2 tablespoons for a nice tangy dressing with just a hint of sweetness, or go up to 4 tablespoons for a sweet and smooth dressing.
- Storage: Keep in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Approximate Information for One Serving
Nutrition Disclaimers
Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.
Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.
To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.
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Absolutely delicious. We all went back for a second helping of salad because this dressing was SO delicious. I used Sour cream and 3 Tbsp. of honey. I dud use 3 garlic cloves but will only use 2 next time. I will make this again and again! Thanks for sharing.
So happy you enjoyed it so much, Robin! Thank you for your kind review!
Can I substitute the mayonnaise?
We haven’t tried this swap, but if you do let us know how it turns out!
Your instructions say to add ginger but there is no ginger in the recipe?
Sorry about that, an older version of this recipe made it to to the site! No ginger in this recipe. 🙂
This is awesome!!! Thank you!
You are so welcome! I’m glad you loved it!
I’m so glad I found your website/food blog! Delicious and nutritious recipes packed full of flavor using actual ingredients I usually have on hand. This cilantro lime dressing is so amazing. I didn’t have the jalapeno on hand, so I used some green chilis instead and it was so amazing I almost drank it.
OMG, that sounds delicious! I’m glad you liked it! I’m definitely guilty of almost drinking dressing, too… ?