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!
Cilantro-Lime Vinaigrette
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
Just made this tonight, and it’s very good! Tastes so much like the Cafe Rio vinaigrette. Next time I’ll probably use just one or two cloves of garlic—4 to 5 cloves was a bit too much for my taste.
This dressing was delicious! I was looking for a vinaigrette for fish tacos. I did mine in the food processor (no blender to drizzle oil) and it had a creamy consistency. Made Orange Roughy filets in my air fryer. Looking forward to eating this again.
This recipe was really good. Refreshing over crisp lettuce. I added a container of Lime Greek Yogurt to it so it would be creamy. Wow was it good!
Where do you find your cute bottles for your dressing? So fun!
Walmart! Crazy, right?! 🙂
i am unable to find your grilled fish tacos recipe anywhere on here. i click on the word these next to fish tacos i get to a page that says apologizes, the page can not be found, perhaps searching will help. so i then click on a picture for maybe what looks like a grilled fish taco it does not take me anywhere. which is an absolute bummer. because i wanted the grilled fish taco recipe that you are saying you posted on here with this dressing recipe. maybe i am not clicking the picture enough times or i don’t know what i need to do, . i was so looking forward to reading the grilled fish taco recipe. and pinning it on pinterest. would it be anywhere on your pinterest boards?
please let me know.
Hi Heather,
If you ever run into a broken link, just google “our best bites {recipe name here}” and it will pop right up! Here are 3 fish taco recipes for you (the first one is the one you were looking for):
https://fit-over50.news/lime-cilantro-vinaigrette%3C/a%3E%3Cbr /> https://fit-over50.news/2010/05/beer-battered-fish-san-diego-style-fish-tacos/%3C/a%3E%3Cbr /> https://fit-over50.news/2014/09/spicy-fish-tacos/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
So had a bunch of cilantro, what am I going to do with it? Pinter estate, Tada.
Canola oil, check
White & apple cider vinegar, okay
Cilantro yep
Garlic, indeed
Limes, yep
OK, let’s try it.
Oil,garlic, vinegar, salt, lime juice, into blend. Next Cilantro, looks great. Tastes too oily for me, add more lime juice, and zest. Okay not bad, needs something else, fresh black pepper, and how about a couple of spoons of Tequila! Yeah that is awesome.
Forgot, I used agave syrup instead of sugar.
Yum! I love the cilantro/lime vinaigerttes at both Costa Vida and Cafe Rio, and this recipe satisfied my craving! Thank you 🙂
I have made this before and put it on our fish tacos and it was so yummy. I had everything on hand except for the limes but I had lemons so I decided to go for it. Don’t do it!! For some reason using the lemon juice turned it into a mayo consistency! Glad I hadn’t put the cilantro in yet. Off to the store for some lime juice. ha ha
Approximately how long does this dressing last in the fridge before it goes bad?
It’s hard to say–usually when it comes to fresh produce, a week is a good rule of thumb. I wouldn’t keep it for longer than 2. If it starts taking on a weird color or smell, I’d toss it. Wish I could be more specific!
Nope, any of those will work just fine 🙂