Name: Cilantro Lime Dressing
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Ingredients: 1 cup Greek yogurt; 1/2 cup sour cream; 1/4 cup olive oil; 1/4 cup lime juice; 2 tablespoons mayonnaise; 1 tablespoon honey; 1 cup cilantro (or more to taste); 1/2 teaspoon salt (more or less to taste); 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder; black pepper (to taste)

This Cilantro Lime Dressing is creamy and refreshing – the perfect sauce for tacos, grilled meats or a delicious dressing for salads! It’s quick and easy to make in just 5 minutes, with simple ingredients.

cilantro lime dressing in glass flask on plate with fresh cilantro and lime wedges

Homemade Cilantro Lime Sauce

This is such a versatile recipe – it doubles as a salad dressing, and as a sauce for tacos, fish, meats… I even use it to dip corn chips, it really is that delicious.
You can make up a batch to store in the fridge for up to 5 days, which makes this a great recipe for easy meal prep.
All of the ingredients are easily accessible and affordable, there’s no need to buy any specialty or expensive ingredients to make your own salad dressing.

Ingredients you’ll need

Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post for quantities!

ingredients for cilantro lime dressing with text labels — Ingredients for Cilantro Lime Dressing: Sour cream, Greek yogurt, lime juice, honey, olive oil, mayonnaise, cilantro, garlic powder, salt and pepper.

Ingredient notes

Greek yogurt/sour cream: Feel free to use all Greek yogurt or all sour cream in this recipe. I like the combination of the two, but the decision is up to you!
Dairy free: For a dairy free sauce that’s still creamy, use 1 avocado in place of the yogurt and sour cream. With the avocado, I recommend using the dressing right away vs storing it for a few days.
Mayonnaise: Technically not necessary, but I like the richness it provides. Feel free to substitute more Greek yogurt or sour cream if you want to skip the mayo.
Lime juice: I highly recommend using freshly squeezed lime juice, it does really elevate the flavor of the dressing.
Garlic powder: I use garlic powder instead of fresh garlic in all of my salad dressings. Fresh garlic, used raw, can be really hard to gauge. It can be very biting and strong, and increase in strength over time if you keep the dressing in the fridge for a few days. Dried garlic powder doesn’t do these things, so it provides much more consistent and also tastier results.

How to make a Cilantro Lime Dressing

Just place all of the ingredients in a measuring jug and blend with a stick blender! You can also use a miniature food processor or a smaller blender if you don’t own a stick blender.

ingredients for cilantro lime dressing in glass measuring jug

stick blender blending cilantro lime dressing in glass measuring jug

Blend the dressing until the cilantro is chopped up and the dressing is creamy.

cilantro lime dressing in glass measuring jug surrounded by fresh cilantro and lime

Recipe tips

For a thick sauce, reduce the olive oil to 1 tablespoon. We use the regular recipe for tacos, but if you prefer a thicker consistency when used as a sauce, go for the 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
Right after blending, the dressing is runnier vs after it has been refrigerated. If it is too thick for your liking after a couple of days in the fridge, you can stir in an extra tablespoon of either lime juice or olive oil.
I do not recommend making the dressing in a regular-sized food processor, there’s just not enough volume. A miniature food processor works much better.
Store the dressing/sauce in a clean bottle or jar, tightly closed, in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Serving ideas

This makes a great sauce for tacos – especially for my crispy shrimp tacos or my Baja fish tacos! It’s also great with oven fried fish or air fryer chicken breasts.

I also use it as a salad dressing when I want to switch up my coleslaw or my Mexican bean salad – or even for a chicken taco salad!

female hands spooning cilantro lime dressing from glass measuring jug

PS If you try this recipe, please leave a review in the comment section and add a star rating in the recipe card – I appreciate your feedback! Follow along on Pinterest, Facebook or Instagram.