We’ve posted a lot of Cafe Rio/Costa Vida-esque knockoff recipes that we’ve developed, like the Creamy Lime Cilantro Dressing and the Green Enchilada Sauce. Well, while I was living in Utah, but especially since I haven’t lived close to my favorite Mexican restaurants in over two years now, I have wanted a recipe for their Lime-Cilantro Vinaigrette. See, some people are die-hard fans of their creamy dressing, while others prefer the vinaigrette, and I’m somewhere in the middle. In fact, I used to order a little cup of each because I could never make up my mind.
Well, I searched and searched the internet over and have not found any knockoffs of the vinaigrette. So I decided it was time to make my own. And I failed. A lot. This dressing has been a work in progress for a long time. But, my friends, the stars have aligned and the second I tasted this, I knew it was right. It doesn’t look exactly like their dressing because I emulsify the oil, but I promise, it tastes amazing.
Ingredient Notes
- Oil – This recipe calls for canola or vegetable oil because of its light flavor. If desired, you could use extra light olive oil. Avocado oil and extra virgin olive oil tend to be too strongly flavored.
- Vinegar – Rice or white wine vinegar are tangy without having too much of a bite. White vinegar would be ok, too.
- Lime Juice, Cilantro, and Garlic – Use fresh limes, cilantro and garlic! No jarred juice, or canned or dried garlic.
How to Make Lime Cilantro Vinaigrette
You’ll just need a few ingredients that you may already have on hand–canola oil (olive oil was too strong), rice or white wine vinegar (regular white vinegar would also work), lime juice, sugar, Kosher salt, lots of garlic, and cilantro.
- In the jar of your blender, combine some lime juice, vinegar, garlic, salt, and sugar. Blend on high until everything is combined.
- With the blender running, pour the oil in as a steady stream.
- Add cilantro and blend until the cilantro has broken down but it isn’t completely pureed–you want to see some of the texture of the cilantro leaves. And that’s it!
Serving Suggestions
I love this dressing on just about any salad, but I also love it because it works fabulously as a fresh, bright marinade for just about any kind of meat. It’s great drizzled over tacos, burritos, or any other Latin-inspired dishes. I personally love it on fish tacos!
These Beer-Battered Fish & San Diego-Style Fish Tacos are delicious, but I also love this dressing on grilled fish tacos. To make these, just marinate any kind of mild white fish (like cod, tilapia, red snapper, or mahi mahi) in lime-cilantro vinaigrette for about 20 minutes.
Lightly brush a grill with oil and cook over medium heat for 8-12 minutes (depending on the thickness of the fish) until the fish flakes easily. Flake the fish and season with Kosher salt and a little extra dressing if you like. Serve the flaked fish in either homemade flour tortillas or corn tortillas.
Like with the fried fish tacos, you’ll need to slightly cook the corn tortillas so they don’t overwhelm the flavor of the fish; you can brush them with olive oil and bake them in an oven set to 425 for about 5-10 minutes, cook them in a skillet with some olive oil until they start to brown but are still flexible, or, as one of our readers suggested, run them under some water and then cook in a hot cast iron skillet.
Serve with pico de gallo or mango pico de gallo, cabbage (cole slaw mix), cotija cheese, guacamole, and lime wedges and salt for seasoning.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I make this ahead of time? Absolutely! I’d recommend using the dressing within 5 days after preparing. Store in the fridge in an airtight container.
Did You Make This?
I’d love to hear from you! Snap a picture and tag me on Instagram, then come back and give this recipe a rating!
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Cilantro-Lime Vinaigrette
- Total Time: 5 minutes
Description
A fresh-tasting Latin-inspired vinaigrette, this is perfect for salads or as a marinade for al kinds of meat and fish.
Ingredients
1/4 cup fresh lime juice (about 2–3 juicy limes)
1/4 cup white wine vinegar or rice vinegar
4–5 cloves garlic
1/2 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
2 teaspoon sugar
1 cup light flavored oil (extra light olive oil, vegetable oil, canola oil, etc.)
1/2 cup roughly chopped cilantro, stems removed
Instructions
- In the jar of your blender, combine lime juice, vinegar, garlic, salt, and sugar. Blend until ingredients are completely combined. With the blender running, add the oil in a steady stream. Add cilantro and blend until the cilantro has broken down but still maintains some of its texture. Serve with greens, on any type of Mexican salad, or use as a marinade.
Questions & Reviews
How long will this stay good in the fridge?
A week or so? I don’t have an exact time frame, we always say, “until it smells bad” 🙂
I subbed parsley for cilantro because I don’t care for cilantro and it was delicious. Also I used sunflower oil instead of canola and it came out great!
Made this with fresh lime juice and fresh cilantro – WOWSERS!! We all loved it! Thanks for sharing this great recipe!
I was not impressed with this recipie. I bumped up the cilantro and used the whole bunch, increased the salt to 1 1/2 tsp. and used a full 3 limes. It tasted so much better.
Okay, I am obsessed with Cafe Rio’s vinaigrette and I’ve tried EVERY copy cat recipe on the internet. None of them even come close except yours! Thank you a million!! I am sooo happy I found this! This is how obsessed I am… I made your dressing Friday night. Saturday night I went to Cafe Rio and brought back an extra container of vinaigrette. Compared the way they looked (I didn’t blend mine) and tasted them side by side. I think theirs has less oil and more sugar, but that is an easy tweak, and otherwise it was pretty darn close! Yay!
I just made this for lunch and it was amazing. One question, how should I store it? In the fridge or at room temp?
Definitely in the fridge
I just did this recipe today n it was amazing I just used reg vinegar
I love your wonderful Cilantro-Lime Vinaigrette! Somewhere between reading your recipe and watching a recipe on television I put La Costena Green Mexican Salsa on my grocery list and now can’t find the recipe it goes to! Do you have a recipe that uses this ingredient? I vaguely remember it being mentioned with tomatilas. Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks so much!
Cathy
Cathy, you’re probably thinking of the Creamy Lime-Cilantro Dressing. It uses the La Costena Green Mexican Salsa. I make the dressing to dip with the chicken taquitos from this site. One word — awesome!!!!!
Just tried this and it was amazing! Everyone raved over this dressing! I will definitely be adding this to my repertoire!
Can olive oil be used in stead of Canola oil?
If you use virgin or extra virgin olive oil, the flavor of the oil will be very strong, but if that doesn’t bother you, go ahead. I’d recommend either pure olive oil (which is much milder) or sticking with a vegetable oil.
My mouth just watered!
Oh my. I just made this. It is just right. A hint of tang. A hint of sweet. So many uses. So little time. Thanks!
Awesome recipe! I just made my second batch (doubled) Roasted 8 cloves of garlic instead of raw so the family will try it!
A friend of ours just gave us a bunch of fresh caught mahi.I just recently heard of your website and thought I’d pop on for ideas.This will be perfect w/ fish tacos.Yum.Can’t wait.Ps- love your site!
Seriously…BEST dressing EVER!!! I could literally eat it with a spoon!!
I’m on a diabetic diet..does it really need the sugar?
No, but it helps cut some of the acidity. 🙂 If you want, you could always add a diabetic-friendly sweetener.
I LOVE!!!! this dressing. It has become a new family favorite and the best part is it’s light on calories so I don’t feel bad about having a good tasting dressing on my salads. Thanks so much for this!
This is a phenomenal recipe!!! This is by far my new favorite way to prepare fish. It was hard to keep myself from eating all the fish before getting it into the taco. Fantastic!
I love your blog! I posted this recipe on my community food blog…hopefully you’ll come check it out!
http://www.facebook.com/thefrenchiefoodie
C
I’ve been searching for a milk-less Mexican dressing, thanks for posting this!
Michelle, that’s fine- but table salt is more “salty” than kosher salt, so cut it down. Maybe start with half and then add more to taste.
i only have table salt will this work?
Hi Kate. How long will this last in the fridge? Also, have you tried using this as a marinade for shrimp? Just wondering if it would work well? And if so, how long should I marinate the shrimp? I’m assuming longer than white fish?
Megan–I probably wouldn’t keep it longer than a week. And it would be AWESOME on shrimp. If they’re in their shells, it would be longer (probably the night before), but if they’re out of their shells, it would be about as long as the tilapia.
UNBELIEVABLE!!! I am obsessed with fish tacos and made this vinaigrette, and the fish tacos (with both your mango salsa and pico de gallo recipes) just as recommended above and seriously will never be able to eat a different fish taco again! The flavors are incredible. Can’t wait to try the vinaigrette on something else! Thanks for sharing!
I made this yesterday, snd realized this: i only like ranch on my salads. :-}
Although there was enough of this dressing left over, that i used it to marinade my chicken. AMAZING! this is a keeper!
This was so good!! Loved it!!
This was the best sauce ever! I am on the 17 day diet, and this dressing was perfect for fish and fit the requirements to loose weight. I think this may be the best sauce ever!
Thanks for the recipe! How long will this dressing keep in the fridge?
I have just discovered your web site after reading the article about you in LDS Living. This is a great website! I have loved the recipes that I have tried so far. Thank you for taking the time to share your talents with others!
I made this tonight and paired it with the Cornmeal-Crusted Tilapia Salad (from Cooking Light). EX. CELL. ENT. Thanks as always for such great stuff!