After my love affair with basil vinaigrette last spring, I thought it was only fitting that cilantro vinaigrette be the “it” sauce of this season!
In my quest to make life easier for everyone, including myself, here’s another kitchen shortcut that will save you a hot second or two in the kitchen! Cilantro Vinaigrette can be whipped up in less than 4 minutes and you can use it on just about everything! It makes for the most delicious salad dressing, you can spoon it over roasted chicken, salmon or steak, you can toss it with a bowl of quinoa, pasta or farro, or you could eat it with a spoon straight out of the fridge. No judgement here. And if you happen to have a green thumb (unlike myself) it’s the perfect way to use up all that cilantro while it goes bonkers before going to seed!
Cilantro Vinaigrette
Ingredients
- 1 shallot roughly chopped
- 2 cups tightly packed fresh cilantro leaves stems removed (about 4 ounces)
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Combine all the ingredients for the cilantro vinaigrette in a high powered blender and blend for 60 seconds until very smooth.
- Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed. Serve immediately. Or you can refrigerate the vinaigrette for up to 5 days.
Photo by Matt Armendariz / Food Styling by Adam Pearson / Recipe by What’s Gaby Cooking
awesome!!! This is whole30 approved! And I have a TON of cilantro.
So making this tonight
Love this simple and fresh cilantro vinaigrette!
You must have been reading my mind! I have a BOATLOAD of cilantro in my garden right now and was wondering what I could possibly do with all of it. This is PERFECT!! I will have to freeze some of it for later deliciousness!!
I’m all about the cilantro, but someone in this house (obviously, not me) isn’t a fan. Well, that’s not true. He will eat it in certain things but it has to be chopped up very finely. So, maybe he’d be on board with this vinaigrette. If not, more for me!!!
I recognize this as the dressing from your wonderful taco salad recipe. I made the taco salad a few nights ago and my husband suggested that next time I make more of the dressing so we can use it on other things as well. It really is delicious!
This look so fresh and totally warm weather-like!
I wish “you know who” would eat cilantro. I love it!
This looks like it is so good I would just want to put it on everything!!
Could I use this celantro dressing in egg salad instead of mayo? Of course, the egg salad would be green, but that doesn’t bother me!
Could I use this celantro dressing in egg salad instead of mayo?
yes absolutely!
Cilantro and avocado…rice bowls…grilled everything. I just made a batch of this…and am super excited. Here in Belize, we eat SO much and it almost always has lime as the acid. Love the red wine vinegar. Viva Cilantro!
My dressing turned out a little bitter, any suggestions?
Yummmm. Put this in any grain, veg, meat dish or use as a salad dressing. It’s so freaking good.
This dressing is the only reason I’ll eat salad!
Such a flavorful dressing and/or sauce! Love how versatile it is and gives everything a nice freshness.
This vinaigrette is a staple for cauliflower rice and taco night!
Have you ever tried to freeze this? I have a ton of cilantro and don’t want it to go bad so I wanted to make a big batch of this and freeze some!
all the time! it’s great
How long does this stay good in the fridge?
5 days! Longer in the freezer
Made this last night with the taco salad recipe from your latest cookbook but it was super onion-y. I am determined to try again! When you say one shallot, is it the whole thing or one of the… pods (?) of the shallot?
depends on the size of your shallot! But just 2 tablespoons of chopped shallot will do the trick
The next time I make this, I’m just going to put a straw in the food processor and drink it. It’s that good!
Do you use one shallot bulb or just one clove? Thanks!!!
depends on the size but roughly 2-3 tablespoons of chopped shallot
Looks fantastic! Will confirm today.
Could this recipe be frozen? I have two grocery bags of cilantro to quickly put to good use.
absolutely freeze-able
This is so good and so versatile. It’s great as a salad dressing, dip for crackers and spread on a sandwich.
This is so good! One of my go-tos
We loved this dressing. I made it because I accidentally grabbed 2 bunches of cilantro at the store when I was actually looking to buy 2 bunches of organic parsley for making Tabouleh. (Haha remind me not to shop in hurry.)
My only critique to the original recipe is to recommend folks start with half the salt. I have learned from numerous recipes to start small because you can always add more but you can’t take it out if you use too much. My family thought it was salty enough using just 1/2 tsp. Other than that a great way to use extra Cilantro.
OMG!!! This is delicious!!!
Just make this for the first time, and it definitely won’t be the last. Delicious!
Truly nothing better than cilantro and basil vin depending on the dish!
It’s a go to recipe and has been for years! You are missing out if you haven’t made it already.
I’m one of those weirdos who tastes cilantro like licking a bar of soap. What would be a good substitute for it in this recipe?
One of my favorite Gaby recipes and it’s so easy. I’ve made this many times – USE the STEMS!!