Top down view of bright green cilantro lime vinaigrette filling a small dish. A spoon lays beside the dish, as do fresh cilantro leaves, and a squeezed lime.

A guaranteed way to brighten up any dish and give it a fresh, summery, flavour boost is to take cilantro and lime and blend it together! This quick cilantro lime vinaigrette can be drizzled on your salads, fresh bowls, tacos, pizzas... use the leftovers the next morning on a spuds and scramble breakfast bowl... the possibilities are endless! It's:

Simple
Fresh
Tangy
With A Hint Of Garlic
Some Added Spice If You Prefer
And You Can Make It Oil-Free!

Ingredients For Quick Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette

Top down view of cilantro, a sliced lime, a clove of garlic, a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar and a small dish of olive oil on a white tray.

Make this recipe with just 5 ingredients:

Fresh cilantro
A fresh lime (use the zest and juice)
One clove of garlic
A dash of apple cider vinegar
¼ cup olive oil (or use water for an oil-free version)!

If you don't have a fresh lime on hand...

We love having frozen citrus zest and lime juice from concentrate to make recipes like this one possible in the spur of the moment! Check out our pantry and freezer tips page for our tips on stocking your kitchen with easy, thrifty, and versatile essentials that make cooking tasty food always a possibility!

How To Make Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette

There's barely any chopping involved! I love using a small chopper or immersion blender for blending small amounts of ingredients. BUT a larger stand up blender shouldn't have much trouble blending this vinaigrette.

Top down view of all the ingredients in the canister of an immersion blender before blending.

Wash and roughly chop your cilantro. Feel free to use the thin stem as well!
Add it to your blending device.
Zest your lime or scoop out ¼ teaspoon frozen lime zest and add it in.
Splash in some lime juice.
Apple cider vinegar.
Olive oil or water.
Peel and toss in a clove of garlic (no need to chop it at all, other than to trim the end).
Sprinkle in salt and pepper (add some optional spice if you'd like).
And blend!

*If you don't have access to a blender take a look at our Chimichurri for a similar sauce that is chopped by hand and not blended!

Top down view of the blended dressing in the canister of the immersion blender. The blender attachment lays next to the canister.

Recipe Cost

This quick cilantro lime vinaigrette recipe makes approximately ½ cup of the dressing and costs us roughly:

CAD $1.71 using a fresh lime.
And $1.20 using lime juice from concentrate and frozen lime zest!

We love making this vinaigrette when we have purchased cilantro for another recipe, have leftovers, and want to use it up before the cilantro wilts. Make our Thai Mango Salad and use this vinaigrette the next day for another tasty meal! Or, serve our Timely Guacamole on the side of a taco bowl drizzled with this fresh dressing!

Any cilantro stems still leftover... we toss in our frozen veggie scrap bag for tasty homemade veggie broth!

Side view of cilantro lime vinaigrette in a small dish with a spoon. Cilantro leaves and squeezed lime surround the bowl. Salad ingredients can be seen in the background.

Oh... and if you're one of those unfortunate souls like my sister for whom cilantro tastes like soap... give this a try with parsley and switch the lime up for a lemon!

Let us know in the comments below how you use this tasty vinaigrette!

Quick Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette

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Author: Kathryn Alexandre
Total Time: 5 minutes
Yield: ½ cup 1x
Diet: Vegan

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Description

A quick cilantro lime vinaigrette to brighten any dish! Just 5 ingredients, make it oil-free if you prefer, blend, & drizzle! Enjoy!

Ingredients

Units Scale

½ cup packed cilantro (leaves and thin stems)*
¼ tsp lime zest (can use frozen, see our pantry & freezer tips!)
2 - 2 ½ tablespoon lime juice
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
¼ cup olive oil (or use water for an oil-free version)
1 clove garlic (peeled and the hard end trimmed)
salt & pepper to taste
optional: ¼ of a red chilli pepper, sliced and deseeded or a dash of red pepper flakes

*Fresh Ingredients you need that are not part of our pantry and freezer tips.

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Instructions

Add all the ingredients to your blender (I like using an immersion blender when blending smaller amounts). Blend until the ingredients are blitzed together and there are no large pieces of cilantro or garlic.
Carefully taste and adjust to your liking adding more lime juice or apple cider vinegar for tanginess, olive oil or water to thin it out, and salt for more seasoning.
Leftovers keep well in the fridge but the oil may firm up. Bring the vinaigrette back to room temperature and stir to mix the oil back in.
Use as a salad dressing, over roasted vegetables, fresh bowls (like our Seaside "Fish" Taco Bowl), or even drizzle it on a pizza!

Notes

Approximate Cost: CAD $1.71 using a fresh lime. Roughly $1.20 if lime juice from concentrate and frozen zest are used.

We always try to have frozen citrus zest for recipes like this one! Anytime we have a lemon, lime, or orange and don’t need the zest we try to remember to zest it anyway and put the zest in a small container in our freezer. Having lemon and lime juice from concentrate in your fridge is another thrifty trick! Not as fresh but still works well!

If you don’t have a blender take a look at our chimichurri for a similar sauce chopped by hand!