Creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing

This creamy cilantro lime dressing takes just minutes to make in a blender and has a bright, fresh taste that’s great for salads, grain bowls, and grilled chicken and meat.

Homemade salad dressings may sound a bit intimidating.

I mean, compared with buying a bottle in the store, it seems like it could be a lot of work. And maybe sometimes it is.

But I opt for the ridiculously easy types of dressings and I don’t think I could go back to store bought.

It’s just worlds better when it’s homemade!

If you’re like me and love being able to control the ingredients in your food, you can check out some of my other homemade dressings.

Homemade Italian dressing is an all around staple in our house and can be used as a dressing or a marinade. 

This soy ginger dressing is absolutely addictive and something I use on salads, grain bowls and all kinds of Asian style dishes.

Blender balsamic blueberry vinaigrette is a summertime favorite and a great way to use fresh blueberries.

And my simple spinach salad includes a recipe for an easy balsamic vinaigrette that's a go-to year-round.

Today, it’s this creamy cilantro lime dressing that is so bright and so fresh!

And so stinking easy to make.

It simply requires you throw all of the ingredients into a blender (or you can use an immersion/hand blender) and turn the sucker on.

That’s it!

Dump everything right on in and blend until it’s all smooth and combined.

You get a fabulous, creamy, homemade dressing that you will want to drizzle on ALL the foods!

I love this dressing paired with my southwestern orzo salad and my southwestern chopped salad. It stands up well to those big, bold flavors!

It’s also great on grilled chicken or steak too. And with these fun turkey burger salad bowls.

(If you love green sauces and herby sauces, also check out this chimichurri recipe.)

OK, let’s get our salad dressing on.

Now, I’ve got some notes and tips coming up below on how to make cilantro lime dressing. Just tryin’ to be helpful.

If you want to jump on down to the recipe, simply scroll right on through the rest of the text. The recipe card is near the bottom of the page, above the comments section.

Ingredient Notes:

• Greek yogurt: I use plain (non-fat) Greek yogurt here to bring a bit of tang to the dressing, and to make it more a little more healthy. You could substitute sour cream if you prefer.
• Mayonnaise: It’s fine to use either non-fat or regular for the mayo; whichever you prefer.
• Jalapeño: You can control the amount of heat in this dressing. If you remove most of the seeds and membranes from the jalapeño pepper, it won’t be spicy at all. Or leave some in if you want a bit of a kick. You could also add a few dashes of hot sauce to spice it up!
• Lime: You’ll need one good size, juicy lime for this. If yours are small, it might take two to get enough juice. (But be sure to zest it first before you cut it!)
• Cilantro: You’ll need a small tight handful to make a packed ½ cup. Make sure it’s cleaned, but no need to chop it since the blender will do all the work.

Also, a note on consistency: this dressing can be on the thicker side.

It’s meant to be creamy and thick and luscious.

However, if you need to thin it out a little to drizzle easier for what you’re making, you definitely can.

Just add a splash of water, one at a time, to the blender until it gets to your desired consistency.

As you might imagine, this dressing pairs fabulously with all sorts of southwestern flavors.

And it even works great drizzled over some grilled chicken or steak to give it a little zing!

I also love using it for grain bowls to bring everything together.

Basically, it's something you might want to make on the regular to have on hand. It just brings the party to the plate!

Last thing, let’s talk about making it ahead and storing leftovers.

You can use this dressing as soon as you make it, or you can put it in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it.

The dressing will keep, in a covered container, in the fridge for 3-5 days. That’s true of the leftovers, too, if you don’t need to use the whole batch at first.

And trust me, you’ll be looking for all kinds of things you can dip in it or drizzle it over.

Blend up a batch today and see how easy homemade dressings can be!

Enjoy!

XO,

Kathryn

This recipe was originally published in July 2015. It has been updated with new photos and additional text for details.