Bright and fresh, this lime Cilantro Vinaigrette is simple and a great addition to any salad. You could also use this as a marinade.

I often use store-bought dressing just because it’s so easy, and there are so many great ones out there. But making dressings is also fun to play with flavors and create exciting combinations in otherwise boring salads.

This Lime Cilantro Vinaigrette is anything but boring. Packed with lots of fresh cilantro, infused with jalapeno and cumin, and a bright acid flavor from a lot of freshly squeezed lime juice.

Great in green salad and grain bowls, you can also drizzle over roasted vegetables, grilled fish, or meat.

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What to Serve with Lime Cilantro Vinaigrette:
Recipe

What do you need to make Lime Cilantro Vinaigrette:

Lime Juice - Lime juice forms the base of the salad dressing and brings a bright acid flavor.
Olive Oil - If you don’t have olive oil, you could use vegetable oil or some other kind of neutral flavor oil.
Fresh Cilantro - Fresh cilantro might be the secret and essential ingredient to the dressing's success. You could substitute or skip most of the ingredients in the salad, but cilantro is the critical flavor for me.
Cumin- Cumin contributes to the flavor profile. It adds an earthy and warm flavor that balances well with the acidity of the lime juice.
Jalapeño- if you like a little spice to the salad dressing, use a fresh jalapeño. I suggest scraping out the seeds and the membranes so it’s not too spicy. If you want to dial down the spice in this dressing, I recommend using four or five slices of pickled jalapeños instead of a whole fresh jalapeño. This way, you’ll get the flavor of the jalapeño just milder.
Salt and pepper- Finish off this salad dressing with salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.

Equipment needed:

To make it as easy as possible, you will want to use an immersion or stander blender. If you don’t have either kind of blender, just chop your cilantro more finely.

More Dressings:

For more delectable homemade salad dressing, don't miss Mustard Shallot Dressing, the pesto vinaigrette of Roasted Sweet Potato and Za’tar Chickpeas Warm Salad (with Pesto vinaigrette), and the rosemary vinaigrette of Winter Salad with Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Toasted Pepitas

How to make the Lime Cilantro Vinaigrette:

Start by removing the cilantro leaves from the stem until you have enough. Next, slice your jalapeño in half and remove the seeds and membranes. Chop the two halves into small chunks. Use an immersion blender to fully combine the lime juice, honey, crushed garlic, cumin, olive oil, cilantro, salt, fresh ground pepper, and chopped jalapeno creating this delicious vinaigrette.

What to Serve with Lime Cilantro Vinaigrette:

Mexican Chopped Salad with Lime Cilantro Vinaigrette - Mexican Chopped Salad is the perfect addition to a Mexican-themed meal and always gets rave reviews. The lime-cilantro vinaigrette is bright, a little sweet, and spicy. This crispy and refreshing salad is also simple and easy to prepare. Packed with various colors and textures, it’s a beautiful dish to bring to a summer cookout or serve with black bean soup.

Bean Salad- drain a rinse three cans of beans. Use whatever you have, black beans, kidney beans, or northern white- or use a combination. You can keep it super simple with the beans or add chop bell pepper or chopped red onion. Simply pour the line cilantro vinaigrette over the beans and let them absorb the flavors for at least 1 hour before serving. Check out some more of my favorite bean salads: White Bean Salad with Shallots and Black Bean and Corn Salad with Honey and Line Dressing.

Southwestern Grain Bowl- over the bed of quinoa, add canned black beans (drained and rinsed), corn, chopped pepper, chopped avocado, and pickled onion. Top with a drizzle of hot sauce and a dollop of sour cream or greek yogurt.

How long does fresh vinaigrette last?

Cilantro is the best fresh, and this salad is great for utilizing this bright and fragrant herb. If you don’t plan on using the dressing right away, you can store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.

If you’ve tried this Lime Cilantro Vinaigrette recipe or any other recipe on BalancingBowls, please let me know how it turned out in the comments below! You can also follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest to see more tasty meals and anything else I’m up to.

Recipe