Name: Cilantro-Lime Dressing
Prep time: 30 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and coarsely chopped; 1 clove garlic; ¾ teaspoon minced fresh ginger root; ¼ cup lime juice; ⅓ cup honey; 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar; ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste; ¼ cup packed cilantro leaves; ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

After having a delicious TGI Friday's grilled chicken salad, I was determined to figure out the cilantro-lime salad dressing served with it. This is what I came up with. Delicious for a quick summery dinner. Grilled boneless chicken breasts served over a hearty green salad, and this dressing, voila!

Cilantro-Lime Dressing

jalapeno pepper,

garlic

ginger root

lime juice

honey

balsamic vinegar

salt,

cilantro leaves

olive oil

Place the jalapeno pepper, garlic clove, and ginger into a food processor or blender; pulse until the jalapeno and garlic are finely chopped. Pour in the lime juice, honey, balsamic vinegar, and salt, add the cilantro leaves; pulse a few times to blend. Turn the food processor or blender on, and slowly drizzle in the olive oil until incorporated into the dressing. Season to taste with salt before serving.


OH MY GOODNESS!!!  This dressing really is that yummy!  I always get rave reviews when I make it, and everyone asks for the recipe.  My husbands eyes light up when I tell him that we are having out Southwest Chicken salad for dinner with this dressing.  It is way better than anything you can buy in the store.  We do add a little less honey like others have stated.  You can add a little more lime if you want it to be a little more tangy, or a little more vinegar for more of a vinegarette flavor.  One time I put about 4x the vinegar (on accident) and it still tasted great.    We just put the whole thing in our Vita-mix blender in the order it is written and blend it up - it turns out great that way, and you don't have to chop everything.    For our Southwest salad we do 1-2 heads of lettuce, 2 cobs of raw white corn kernels, 1 large can of black beans rinsed, 1 bag of Montery Jack cheese, 1 red onion, grilled chicken breast, and 1 bunch of cilantro.  We have also added tomatoes and avocado if you like them.    Thank you to the poster of this recipe, you did a great job!

This is delicious. I almost didn't review this because I had to leave out the ginger. Ginger has a strong distinct flavor so I feel a little strange about reviewing with such a big change. My husband hates ginger.  I decided to go ahead and review though because it is so good even with out the ginger. I am not  big on sweet dressings so I cut down on the honey a bit just do to personal preference. I have not been able to stop thinking about it. Wonderful flavor!
(update 6-2011) I just finally made this with the ginger and it is even better! Unless you have a ginger hater, put it in!

Followed the recipe exactly - was a huge success!

I marinated chicken with cilantro, pineapple juice, lemon juice, and garlic prior to grilling.  Served chicken over a bead of salad greens.  Drizzled the dressing over everything - was a huge success!  Will definitely make again.

Four stars only because there are some necessary changes. As suggested by several reviewers, I switched the quantities of lime juice and honey so that there was a total of a scant 1/4 c. honey and just over 1/3 c. (three fresh limes' worth) of lime juice. I also added TWO bunches of cilantro. I have never had the original restaurant version that this recipe is attempting to duplicate, but I would argue that it is still just a tad on the sweet side. I think I'll try only 2T of honey next time I make it, but I WILL be making it again as it's really good. It is also really great mixed with a little ranch dressing for a cooler, more soothing dressing if some don't like the peppiness of this one.

I followed the recipe exactly, and it was very good
as written, but it was a little too sweet for my taste.
Made it again and changed the honey to a 1/4 cup,
the lime to a 1/3 cup, left the rest as written, and it
was perfect, to me. This has a very unique taste,
and is so much better than anything you can buy in
the store. Five stars and highly recommended!

AWESOME!! made this dressing and mixed it into a huge bowl of romaine, black beans, monterey jack cheese, avacado, grape tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, and sliced chicken breast for a party and it was a big hit! Everyone loved it. I will definitely make again. 

I had trouble deciding whether to rate this 4 or 5 stars because I had to change it slightly, but in the end it came out great! 

Most crucial change: it NEEDS a generous pinch of salt to bring all of the flavors together.

Also, I ended up doubling the recipe, but I just doubled the lime juice and other ingredients without needing to double the olive oil or cilantro (I ran out)--just added an extra little bit of each.  Good to keep in mind for those of you looking to lower the fat content or if you don't have enough cilantro.  It's still great!

Other changes: I used sugar instead of honey because I didn't feel like using up my honey supply.  This worked very well.  I didn't measure the sugar but just added  more until it tasted right.  And I don't have a food processor, so I chopped everything as finely as I could and shook it up in a jar.

Delicious!  If the cilantro chopping didn't take a year, I'd make it all the time!

I really liked this. Definitely do NOT leave out the ginger. I was skeptical so I added it last. I couldn't detect it, but it made all the difference. I prepared the recipe exactly to start with. This was also too sweet for me; I will start with a couple Tb. next time. I haven't had Friday's dressing, but with about a 1/2 tsp. of sesame oil, it tasted like my local J. Alexander's dressing...yum! I also preferred this with double the cilantro...can't get enough cilantro! Thanks for sharing this!

Delicous!! I am an avid Cooks Illustrated fan, they wrote recently about the flavor packed in the stems of cilantro - I used the whole stem and leaves(big time saver) Just perfect. Unlike parsely, cilantro stems are not bitter.

very good, but does not keep.  The next day it was very sour tasting.

A tangy dressing that’s perfect with grilled chicken salads.

Cilantro-Lime Dressing

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total: 30 minutes

Servings: 2

Author : Lin

Ingredients

Instructions

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