Cilantro Lime Sauce

Cilantro lime sauce is tangy and vibrant. It provides fresh flavors that can complement a wide range of dishes, from meat to vegetables. Do you want to elevate the taste of tacos, salad, or grilled meat? Then, you can pair them with the creamy cilantro lime dressing.

Although preparing the homemade cilantro sauce is not a complicated task, you may require a proper guideline about the recipe. Therefore, in this article, we have come up with an easy cilantro lime sauce recipe for you.

Moreover, we will provide 5 best ideas for using the lime and cilantro dip, which will help you understand how to pair the sauce with dishes. Additionally, you will get 3 super tips for preparing the best cilantro lime crema. So! Don’t miss the end.

Cilantro Lime Sauce Ingredients

Preparing the cilantro lime sauce at home requires a few simple ingredients. If you want an authentic taste, you have to use all the mentioned ingredients in appropriate quantities. Here is the ingredient list;

1. Fresh Cilantro Leaves – 1 cup
2. Sour Cream – ½ cup (Greek yogurt for a healthier version) 
3. Mayonnaise – ¼ cup (Optional, add for extra creaminess)
4. Minced Garlic – 2 cloves
5. Olive Oil – 1 tablespoon
6. Fresh Lime Juice – 1 piece medium-sized lime
7. Salt – ½ teaspoon
8. Ground Black Pepper – ½ teaspoon
9. Water – 1 to 2 tablespoons (Optional, add to adjust the consistency)

How to Make Cilantro Lime Sauce: 5 Easy Steps

The preparation process for the cilantro-infused dip is easy. If you follow our recipe, it will become effortless for you. We have divided the whole recipe into easy 5 steps. Follow the steps to prepare the perfect and authentic Mexican-style sauce of cilantro.

Step 1: Prepare the Ingredients

Initially, you have to collect all the required ingredients. Before starting the cooking process, you need to prepare the cilantro, garlic, and lime juice first.

• First, remove the peel of garlic.
• Then, wash the cilantro, garlic, and lemon.
• After that, roughly chop the cilantro and mince the garlic nicely.
• On the other hand, slice the lime into pieces and squeeze the lime to get lime juice.

Pro Tip 1: Cutting could be easier and perfect with a sharp knife. You can use a chef’s knife and cutting board to chop the cilantro and mince the garlic.

Pro Tip 2: Do you feel squeezing lemon is quite complicated? Let us inform you of the solution. You can use a lemon squeezer or citrus press to release the juice of the lemon.

Step 2: Blend Ingredients

The ingredients are ready. Now, you need to blend the ingredients. This is the most important step in cilantro lime aioli making.

• Take a food processor or a blender.
• Combine the cilantro, minced garlic, sour cream, mayonnaise, lime juice, and olive oil in the blender jar.
• Then, blend them for 5 minutes to get a smooth sauce.

Step 3: Season the Sauce

The sauce is almost ready. It’s time to season the sauce.

• Add salt and ground black pepper to the blender jar.
• Again, blend for 2 minutes to mix the seasoning ingredients nicely.
• In this step, you can check the consistency of the sauce. If the sauce becomes thicker than your desired consistency, then add some water to get the perfect consistency.
• On the contrary, if the constancy of the sauce becomes thin, you can add some extra sour cream or mayonnaise. 

Step 4: Taste & Adjust the Sauce

The tangy herb sauce is ready to enjoy. Yet, we add this additional step to this recipe. This step will help you to get a customized taste according to your preferences.

• Take a spoonful of sauce and taste this fresh herb crema.
• If you want spicy cilantro dressing, you can add some red chili flakes or chili powder to the sauce. Besides, to add extra sharpness, you can add extra black pepper.
• Similarly, for extra tanginess, you can add extra lime juice.
• However, if you are not a tangy lover, you can add some sugar to the sauce.
• So, that’s how you can easily prepare customized homemade cilantro sauce.

Step 5: Serve or Store the Sauce

The delicious cilantro lime sauce is ready.

• Now, you can serve the sauce with various dishes. In the next section, we will discuss some dishes where you can use the sauce.
• Moreover, you can also store the sauce for further use.

Pro Tip 3: The quality of the storage container affects the shelf life of the cilantro sauce. You can use glass food storage containers to store the sauce in the refrigerator. This will keep the sauce fresh for up to a week.

5 Best Uses for Cilantro Lime Sauce

Creamy cilantro lime dressing is a versatile sauce. You can easily pair up this sauce with various fast foods, salads, or main course items. Here, we have presented 5 best uses of this versatile sauce.

• Tacos

Tacos are popular in Mexican cuisine. This fresh cilantro sauce would be the perfect topping for any tacos. Whether you are having chicken tacos or vegetarian tacos, the taco drizzle sauce will be ideal.  

• Chicken

You can enjoy any chicken item with this garlic lime crema. Grilled chicken, roasted chicken, fried chicken, or BBQ chicken are all tasty. But, if you pair these dishes with the fresh-flavored sauce, the taste will increase to another level. 

• Fish

You can pair the zesty lime cilantro sauce with grilled fish or fried fish. The sauce’s zesty and herby flavors will complement the fish’s rich flavor. 

• Salads

The most interesting thing is that you can use this sauce as a dressing for salads. You can pair this sauce with any type of salad, like vegetable salad, fruit salad, chicken salad, etc.  

• Fries

The creamy cilantro sauce could be used as a dipping sauce. You can enjoy fries by dipping them into this yummy sauce.

3 Magical Tips for Preparing Cilantro Lime Sauce at Home

These 3 super tips will help you to get the authentic taste of the cilantro sauce.

• Using Fresh Ingredient

The core flavor of the lime and cilantro dip comes from fresh ingredients. Therefore, you always need to use fresh cilantro, garlic, lime juice, and sour cream. The cilantro needs to be green to get the appropriate flavor and color of the sauce. 

• Adjusting Consistency

The second tip is about getting the appropriate consistency. The thickness of the sauce is an important quality attribute of the sauce. Hence, you need to check the consistency before serving the sauce.

If the sauce becomes thick, you can add some water or milk to get the desired consistency. When the sauce becomes thin, you can add some sour cream to make the consistency perfect. 

• Experimenting with Flavors

Never afraid to experiment with flavors. You can add avocado to the recipe to prepare the avocado-cilantro dressing. Besides, you can add fresh mint leaves to enhance the aroma of the sauce. That’s how you continue to experiment to get extraordinary flavors.

Conclusion

The flavorful cilantro lime sauce is a sauce that you can serve with various dishes. Therefore, if you can prepare the sauce and then store it in the fridge, you could be tension-free for your snack or meal preparation.

Preparing the sauce is an easy task. We hope with our easy 5-step process and magical tips, the preparation process become effortless for you. Now, give the recipe a try in your kitchen. We think you are going to impress your loved one. Happy cooking!

FAQs

Can You Make It Without Dairy?

Yes, you can make cilantro lime sauce without dairy. In traditional recipes, experts use sour cream or Greek yogurt and mayonnaise, which come from dairy. But, there are various non-dairy options of these ingredients that you can use to make the non-dairy version of the cilantro lime sauce.

• A mixture of lime juice with Cashews or almond paste instead of sour cream.
• Coconut yogurt or non-dairy sour yogurt.
• Avocado base cilantro sauce can be a non-dairy option too.

How to Store Cilantro Lime Sauce?

You can store the cilantro lime sauce for up to a week by maintaining a proper storage process.

• Take a glass food storage container with a lid. Sterilize the container and the lid with hot water. Then, dry them.
• Now, pour the sauce into the container and cover the lid.
• Seal the container correctly.
• Then, keep the container in the refrigerator.
• You can stir the sauce with some lime juice before using this sauce.

Cilantro Lime Sauce vs. Chimichurri?

Cilantro lime sauce and Chimichurri are different based on ingredients, consistency, flavor profile, origin, texture, etc.

Aspect	Cilantro Lime Sauce	Chimichurri
Base Ingredients	Cilantro, garlic, lime juice, sour cream, olive oil	Parsley, oregano, garlic, vinegar, olive oil
Consistency	Smooth and creamy	Oil-based thin sauce
Flavor Profile	Fresh, tangy, and creamy with a citrus note	Herbaceous, tangy, and moderately spicy
Origin	Mexican dish	Argentine dish
Texture	Creamy	Chunky

Essential Kitchen Tools

You will require only 6 basic kitchen tools to prepare the cilantro sauce with lime and sour cream.

1. Food Processor or Blender: To blend the ingredients to get a smooth sauce.
2. Juicer or Citrus Press: To make the lime juice from the fresh lime.
3. Bowls: Bowls are to keep the sauce or other ingredients. 
4. Spoons: To check the consistency and taste of the sauce.
5. Knife and Cutting Board: To cut the cilantro and mince the garlic.

Measuring Cups and Spoons: To measure the ingredients accurately.