Spicy Cilantro Lime Dressing

This is the tastiest cilantro lime dressing you’ll ever make. It’s dairy-free, gluten-free, zesty, fresh, spicy, and addictive. All you need are six ingredients and five minutes.

If you’re used to making your own homemade dressings but struggle for inspiration, I feel you. Apple cider vinegar, olive oil, and lemon juice can only stay exciting for so long. Enter a new way to dress up your greens and grains: This spicy cilantro lime dressing.

How to Make Cilantro Lime Dressing

Six simple ingredients and five minutes are all you need until this spicy, zesty dressing is on the table and ready to serve. Here is what you need.

• Fresh cilantro. Obviously.
• Fresh lime juice. Another obvious one.
• Extra-virgin olive oil. Always use a good quality oil for your dressing. My choice is Kasadrinos Extra Virgin Olive Oil. I usually keep the lime juice and oil ratio to 1:1.
• Jalapeño pepper. Add one or two to give your cilantro lime dressing a kick. I like to leave the seeds in, but feel free to remove the seeds if you’d like a mild dressing.
• Garlic.
• Coconut Aminos. This is the secret ingredient that combines this dressing recipe altogether. A little salty, a little sweet, a little umami, coconut aminos offers a perfect balance to the flavor.

Throw everything in a food processor or blender, blend until thoroughly mixed. You are good to go. It’s that simple!

How to Enjoy This Spicy Cilantro Lime Dressing

This cilantro lime dressing takes a boring bowl of greens to a new level of excitement and satisfaction.

• Toss it with kale, arugula, and/ or spinach, and add some cucumber and hemp hearts. Watch in amazement at how many greens you’ll consume as you fall head over heels in love with this salad dressing.
• It’s the perfect pairing for a Mexican style chicken salad (with black beans, shredded cheese, and grilled chicken), a quinoa Buddha bowl.
• It can even be used as a sauce for these Roasted Cabbage Steaks.

Let’s also not forget the nutritional value this little number offers. In addition to being gluten-free and vegetarian/vegan-friendly, you’ll get a healthy dose of vitamin C, chlorophyll, and beta carotene from the cilantro leaves and jalapeno. With all the stress and pollution we’re exposed to each day, I’m sure we could all use a few more antioxidants in our lives.

Most of the cilantro dressing recipes I’ve come across are creamy because they use Greek yogurt or sour cream. Since this recipe is dairy-free and uses extra virgin olive oil as the base, it’s more like a cilantro lime vinaigrette. The benefit to making a vinaigrette is that it’s lighter, and the leftovers (if you have any) can last up to a week in an airtight container in the fridge.

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