Have you heard of Cafe Rio? I discovered it in college and have had a longstanding love affair with their sweet pulled pork ever since. Our family’s sweet pulled pork recipe for that pork isn’t as good as the true blue original, but it is insanely simple, and it totally hits the spot. (Plus, quite frankly, I have never had a copycat Rio pork recipe that tastes like the original, and I have tried SO many. People need to stop making that outlandish claim!) 🙂 Today, I am sharing with you my copycat version of Cafe Rio’s Cilantro Lime Ranch Salad Dressing. Yum, yum, YUM!
Many recipes for this call for making “homemade” ranch using a packet. I just use the dressing straight from the bottle. It’s so much easier and I can’t tell a difference. (Just don’t use light—full fat, people. Full fat!) Plus I always have bottled ranch on hand, unlike the dry packets of ranch. This cilantro lime ranch salad dressing is great on meat and lovely on salads. Mix some up in a hurry and enjoy!
- 1 cup ranch dressing
- 2 cloves garlic
- ⅛ cup lime juice (or more to taste)
- 1 jalapeno, seeded
- 1 large tomatillo
- ½ cup chopped cilantro (or more to taste)
- Gather your ingredients. Be sure to seed the jalapeno. I recommend using disposable gloves when doing so if you have any on hand.
- Place all of the ingredients in a blender and blend on high until well mixed.
- Taste to be certain you like the flavor. The lime juice and cilantro taste can be adjusted a bit to accommodate for personal preference.
- Pour this over some food and enjoy!
If you enjoyed this recipe then you may also like:
Cafe Rio Copycat Sweet Pulled Pork
Creamy Spinach Tomato Tortellini
Christopher Robin Magic Cookie Bars
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oooo. . . this looks sooo good! My hubby’s favorite Italien restaurant serves a cilantro lime dressing on their salads and I just love it! Can’t wait to give this a try!
Found your site on Pinterest when looking for a copycat recipe for this dressing! Tastes great! We upped the jalepenos bc we like extra spice 🙂 thanks for sharing – can’t wait to try your pork recipe soon.
Glad you found me! I love jalapeño flavor, so maybe I’ll have to try that next time!
WAY too spicey!! I’m sure if ppl want a spicey sauce this is great… And I had my doubts because of the tomatillo and jalepino… But if you’re going to call it something, don’t call it cafe rio sauce cuz theirs is NOT spicey!
Ours has never turned out spicy! (I’m not particularly a spicy food fan. I have a wimpy palate.) Maybe you used larger jalapenos and tomatillos than I do? I’m sorry it didn’t turn out/you didn’t like it! 🙁
Love the Cilantro Lime Ranch Salad Dressing, Amazing thanks so much for the share!
Yay! You are welcome!
Can you tell me how much dressing (when completely made) this makes? (How many cups dressing)?
I’m not sure exactly, sorry! A couple of cups? Most of a fairly large jam jar. We always have extra when we use it for the shredded pork. I will have to measure it next time!
This dressing looks like it has great flavor combinations! Can’t wait to make and try this soon. Pinned. Thanks!
–G
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