Cilantro Jalapeno Sauce
The easiest 5 min sauce ever. And you can use this on anything – from grilled meats to fries and even chips for dipping!
Guys. This sauce. It’s absolutely everything.
It’s just one of those sauces to have on hand so you can use it on every single meal, including snack time.
So if you have some chips lying around, this sauce can work as the perfect dipping sauce.
If you have some leftover chicken from the night before, throw it on a bed of rice with this sauce. You have yourself a mini, and pretty epic, chicken bowl right there.
And as you can see here, fries are also an excellent choice for dipping purposes.
Yes, those are pineapples on my nails. They match perfectly with these waffle fries, right?
No, but really, this sauce needs to be made right now. I promise – you’ll always find a use for it!
Cilantro Jalapeno Sauce
Ingredients
- 4 jalapenos, halved
- 2 cups loosely packed cilantro, stems removed
- ½ cup sour cream
- 2 cloves garlic
- Juice of 1 lime
- Pinch of salt
- ½ cup olive oil
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- Combine jalapenos, cilantro, sour cream, garlic, lime juice and salt in the bowl of a food processor. With the motor running, add olive oil and vinegar in a slow stream until emulsified.
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style=”text-align: center;”>Why It’s A Smart Choice
Herbs are a great way to add a ton of flavor with no added calories. Plus, cilantro is a source of iron, manganese, and magnesium. It’s also a great source for antioxidants and phytonutrients.
Nutritional information provided by Jessica Penner, RD at Smart Nutrition.
I have a few questions. My dad absolutely loves a sauce just like this from our local Mexican restaurant, and I was going to make a jar of this for him for Christmas. I have done two test runs, and each time it comes out runny, almost soup-like. Both times I made it, I cut the recipe in half. I more or less eyeballed the measurements the first time, but the second time I did exact measurements. I’m also making it in a magic bullet, not a food processor, so I can’t add the oil and the vinegar while it’s running. I’ve tried adding more sour cream (even double the amount!) and more cilantro. I found that it was even runny/soupy before I added the oil and vinegar. I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong! I want the sauce to be more of the consistency in your pictures, but I could eat mine like soup! I’ve also tried chilling it overnight, which helped a little, but not much. Any advice would be great, thanks!
Maybe you can try using cream cheese instead of sour cream. Use 1/2 a lime instead of a whole one. Leave out the vinegar. I made this type of dip yesterday and added avocados. You can use 1 or 2 just eyeball it. I also used a bullet. I hope this helps.
I took a chance and at the last minute I quickly made this sauce for a party last night, and I should have doubled the batch! Served it with tortilla chips and it was very yummy and well loved by the party guests. I received lots of compliments. Thanks for the recipe, I will be making this again. I can’t wait to try it on fries, chicken, rice, salad, bruschetta…..so many possibilities.
This looks amazing and I love jalapenos, but I hate cilantro (I call it the real devil’s lettuce).
Do you think I could follow this recipe and just omit the cilantro?
Thank you!
You can try to substitute parsley.
Typically I avoid cilantro. However I LOVE this sauce and put it on everything!
Is there a way to replace or omit the oil?
The oil is actually a base for the sauce so I don’t think it’s favorable to omit completely. But as always, please use your best judgment.
This sauce is unbelievable! I served it with chicken, pasta, and green beans but I think it would be great on pork chops or fish too! Halved the recipe and didn’t use the seeds, it was still wonderful! Thanks for this amazing recipe!
Delicious!! I removed seeds from 3 (out of 4) jalapeno peppers and it still got a pretty good kick. Great for putting on chicken or fish but a little too spicy as a dip (in my opinion). I used whole fat Greek yogurt instead of sour cream as I have that in the fridge and too lazy to go out to get sour cream. I will try add some avocado as another comment suggested to make it into a dip. Thanks for a great recipe.
Hi Chungah, wow, this was fantastic! I modified slightly with 1/2 cup greek yogurt, added some frozen leftover parsley stems, added only 2 jalapenos + 1/4 cup water + 1/4 cup olive oil, may be 4 cups cilantro with stems + 1/2 avocado (to thicken up sauce) and it is yummy. Having with yuca fries tonite for my hubby and I for a post Valentine’s dinner with a couple of lobster tails. Thanks for a great recipe!
I made this last night for the first time and it has changed my life. I will be putting this sauce on everything. It was super quick and easy, and it’s so versatile. This one’s a winner!
WOW Look beatiful , Mexico food Style ?
You should be join Masterchef…
thank so much!!!!!!!!!
Could this be made several days in advance and frozen?
Unfortunately, I cannot answer this with certainty as I have never tried freezing this myself – there were no leftovers left to freeze! Please use your best judgment for freezing and reheating.
How long will this recipe keep in the fridge?
It should keep for a few days but as always, please use your best judgment.
Definitely have to taste this one this week.
Yum! I bought the ingredients and my husband whipped it up while I made chicken quesadillas! Amazing combo and couldn’t get enough of this perfect topper! Can’t wait to have left overs with chips tonight! Thanks for inspiring us with a new twist to our dinners!
Made this last night, this is way too much apple cider vinegar it ruined mine.
Lynne, if the apple cider vinegar is too much for your taste preferences, you can simply reduce the amount to taste.
This was really good, I substituted sour cream for half of a can of coconut milk to make this paleo friendly. We dumped it all over our chicken and vegetable salad and I think this is my favorite paleo dressing to date! My husband went back for seconds, which is the official sign of passing the test. This will probably be a staple in our kitchen now
Is there any way to make this dairy free? Would it work to sub sour cream with mayo for example? Or something else maybe?
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot advise an appropriate substitute that will not alter the overall taste/texture of the dish. But if substitutions must be made, please use your best judgment.
Plain Greek yogurt works well. I generally use Greek vanilla yogurt in recipes calling for sour cream. It sounds a bit weird, but it tastes great all the time, and I’ve not had anyone tell me they didn’t like the taste of the foods.
Made this last night and OMG I’M IN LOVE WITH THIS SAUCE. We cut it to 2 jalapenos with all the seeds and ribs, but I definitely think we could up it to 3 next time because why not. ps. It’s runny right out of the food processor (I like it that way) but it firms up once you put it in the fridge overnight (also good).
I love spicy and I love cilantro, even if my husband claims it tastes like soap (damn his genes!). I can’t wait to give this a shot. Very lively green colour you managed to keep in your sauce!
Yes, I love this. I make a very similar version with Mexican crema instead of sour cream, which has a smoother taste to it. Also, a fun variation would be to use roasted jalapeno peppers. Yum! When I make it, yeah, it pretty much goes on anything. Nice!
Just made this with two roasted jalapeños and two fresh and it’s pretty tasty
What a lovely recipe. Definitely have to try this one out this weekend.