This Creamy Lime Cilantro ranch dressing is a great Cafe Rio Copycat for their Creamy Tomatillo Dressing. There are a lot of recipes out there for this type of thing and a lot of the good ones call for fresh tomatillos. However, after experimenting quite a bit, I decided, in this instance, I didn’t like the fresh tomatillos. For one thing it’s not something I have laying around my kitchen on a regular basis, so I have to plan in advance to buy them. Then I didn’t like the weird, watery texture they added to the dressing. So I started using a much easier substitution: green salsa. This dressing takes just minutes to buzz up in a blender and it’s perfect on salads, drizzled on nachos, as a dip for veggies or taquitos, or Latin-themed grain bowls.
Ingredients Needed
This is just a preview of ingredients and method, keep scrolling for full printable recipe.
- Ranch dressing mix – Just the dry packet of mix, ignore the directions on the package. I only use Hidden Valley brand, personally. That’s not to say another brand might be just great, but that’s the brand I always use! Grab the buttermilk recipe packet if you can, but the regular will work just fine as well.
- Mayonnaise – I personally use Best Foods/Hellmann’s. I suggest using a mayo that you like the flavor of otherwise. I’m not a fan of most light mayo so I don’t think the flavor is optimal, but as long as you like the flavor on its own, it will work just fine here.
- Buttermilk
- Fresh lime juice – I suggest using juice from fresh limes here, as opposed to pre-bottled lime juice, which tends to be bitter. If you don’t have access to fresh limes, I suggest using one of my pantry staples- True Lime. It’s granulated fresh lime and absolutely wonderful. You’ll notice it in my photo below.
- Fresh garlic
- Green salsa
- Cilantro
- Hot sauce
How to Make Creamy Lime-Cilantro Ranch
- This isn’t difficult, you literally just blitz everything up in a blender! It’s so simple, and so fast. Feel free to adjust liquid for consistency and remember that dressing usually thickens a bit after standing. This copycat Cafe Rio Tomatillo Dressing will be your favorite condiment!
Storing and Other Tips
- Store finished dressing in an airtight container in the refrigerator and enjoy within 5-7 days for best results.
- This dressing is obviously awesome on salads, but also as a dip for things like chicken fingers, veggies and steak fries. If you’re making our Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos, this is pretty much required to go along with them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Use salsa verde or tomatillo-based green salsa. In a pinch I’ve even used green enchilada sauce!
Yep. In fact, the flavors develop even more after a few hours in the fridge, making it an ideal dressing to prep a day in advance.
Only if you want it to be! You determine the level of spice with the spice rating on your salsa and any additional hot sauce you might add.
Dairy based recipes like this usually do not freeze well and separate upon thawing. This one is best enjoyed fresh!
Lime-Cilantro Ranch Dressing
Ingredients
- 1- ounce package ranch dressing mix ignore directions on package
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- ½ cup buttermilk plus more if necessary to thin out the dressing
- 1-2 limes enough for 2 tablespoons of fresh lime juice
- 2 cloves garlic roughly chopped
- ¼ cup green salsa
- ½ cup chopped cilantro
- Hot sauce to taste
Instructions
- Place buttermilk, mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons of lime juice, and ranch mix in a blender. Add the garlic and green salsa and blend until smooth. Add the cilantro and pulse until the cilantro is well combined. Add hot sauce to taste. Chill for several hours before serving (if possible).
Notes
- Store finished dressing in an airtight container in the refrigerator and enjoy within 5-7 days for best results.
- This dressing is obviously awesome on salads, but also as a dip for things like chicken fingers, veggies and steak fries. If you’re making our Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos, this is pretty much required to go along with them.
Questions & Reviews
Oh my goodness! I prepared the creamy lime cilantro ranch dip this evening. It was so delicious!!
I had to stop myself from eating it. I also prepared ahead of time the creamy chicken taquitos, to have for dinner the next day. I thought preparing it the day before the ingredients would really make the dish more flavorful. A friend shared the recipe on Facebook, her son had made it. It looked so good I had to try it for myself. The dip/dressing could go with just about anything. I had something similar at a restaurant. This dip/dressing wins hands down! It is so good!
Does it matter if the ranch dressing mix is original buttermilk or milk recipe?
It doesn’t matter, but if you’re using the buttermilk mix then I’d use buttermilk in place of milk in this recipe as well.
I made this today n it was soooo yummy, instead of the hidden valley powder mix I just used hidden valley Ranch dressing n all the ingredients as follow n turned out great..I will also be trying this creamy cilantro sauce when I make some fish taco ill keep you posted!
We have made this twice now. It’s so yummy on the chili lime steak salad. All the family members raved about it including my toddler and almost five year old.
Made it. It was tasty. Very similar to the original.
I made this tonight with the Baked Tequitos – YUM!!!! Even my picky 5 year old ate it up! This is totally going on the rotation! :D…. I think I’m going to go get some of the sauce and try it with carrots, and maybe some chips… 😉
This is the best dressing I have ever tried. I used it on everything from salad to potatoes to meat. Yummy. Thanks
This was very good and I will definitely make it again but I will only use 1 clove of garlic next time. Although it was very tasty, the garlic after taste was SO over powering it was hard to get rid of it. So all in all I highly recommend it but omit from too much garlic.
This one gets the blue ribbon from me! Great recipe, thanks
Forgot to add that I bought a jar of Mayo with lime by McCormick a few weeks ago and when I got it home I didn’t even know why I purchased it, it just sounded good when I saw it…. Well you may have guessed by now, I used it in this recipe! Delicious!
This was so yummy. Took it to a party and it was a hit. BTW… I used fat free mayo and it was still yummy! I may even try using Greek nonfat plain yogurt next time and see if it’s still good! Thanks!