5 Minutes Easy Creamy Cilantro Sauce (2024)

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Cream cilantro sauce takes just 5 minutes to make using simple ingredients. This green sauce has big flavors of cilantro and can be used on everything from salad dressing, to drizzle on tacos, or use it on chimichurri grilled chicken. Use it to jazz up Mexican-inspired food.

Why does this recipe work?

1. Better than the ones you get in some restaurants.
2. Make the best use of fresh summer herbs from your garden or farmers’ market.
3. Has big bold flavors of herbs.
4. It’s slightly different from authentic chimichurri sauce, as it’s creamier and the texture is different too.
5. The freshness of this sauce is unbeatable. The ones served in restaurants lack fresh cilantro flavors due to the excessive amount of sour cream or cream cheese. The homemade version is well-balanced, with the right cilantro flavors.

Ingredients

1. Cilantro: the hero ingredient. Use cilantro with tender stems. Cilantro stem bag flavors in it.
2. Garlic: Too much raw garlic flavor will offset the taste of the sauce, don’t add too much garlic. For 2 packed cups of cilantro use about 2 to 4 cloves of garlic.
3. Jalapeno: Adds mild heat to the sauce. Remove and discard the seeds of the jalapenos if you want mild heat. Feel free to use pickled jalapenos if you can’t get fresh jalapenos.
4. Cumin powder: Enhances the flavors in the sauce. This is an optional ingredient. But we highly recommend you don’t skip it.
5. White vinegar: You don’t need vinegar if using lime juice. I used both. Use either lime juice or vinegar. For 2 packed cups of cilantro, use either ¼ cup lime juice (or) 2 tablespoon white vinegar.

Variation ideas

1. Cilantro – If you belong to the cilantro hater group, you can substitute cilantro with parsley or fresh basil. Note, the flavor of the sauce with different herbs than cilantro will taste different.
2. Greek yogurt – a low-calorie substitution for Greek yogurt is avocados. Adding ripe avocado makes it a creamy avocado dip-like consistency that it thicker, creamier, and super delicious! Other substitutions for Greek yogurt are cream cheese or sour cream and milk together.
3. Jalapenos – substitute jalapenos with red chili flakes. You can also use pickled jalapenos.

Step-by-step pictorial

Step 1: Add cilantro with tender stem, garlic cloves, jalapenos, salt, ground pepper, cumin powder, lime juice, and Greek yogurt into the blender.

Step 2: Blend until smooth. Pour in vinegar (optional) and olive oil in slow streams. Continue to blend until it reaches a smooth and creamy sauce.

Step 3: Taste and adjust the season (salt and pepper) to taste.

Transfer cilantro lime sauce into an airtight glass jar. You can store it in the fridge for up to a week.

Use it on salads, burgers, sandwiches, roasted chicken, chimichurri grilled chicken, or dip for Parmesan baked potato wedges.

Serving suggestions

Use the sauce –

• salad dressing,
• to drizzle over tacos, quesadillas,
• burritos, nachos,
• spreads for burgers, and sandwiches,
• drizzle it over grilled meat or fish,
• stir it with crispy roast potato or roast chicken,
• use it as dipping sauce with your fries, and vegetables.

Tips

1. Use fresh ingredients for the best taste.
2. Cilantro is the main ingredient to make this sauce. I wouldn’t recommend any other herb, but if you are a cilantro hater and have to use some other herbs, try parsley or basil.
3. Tender cilantro stem has loads of flavor in it, use it along with the leaves.

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