Lime Cilantro Sour Cream

Lime cilantro sour cream is easy to make and has a mild but delicious taste making it the perfect topping! It is made with only 4 simple ingredients and will compliment your meal.

We love sour cream on many different dishes here, especially on tacos and fajitas! Adding cilantro and lime makes it the perfect sour cream sauce for tacos.

Cilantro adds an amazing flavor but we find it gets overpowering quickly. If you are not a huge fan of cilantro, you will love our sauce! It doesn’t have a lot but just enough to give it a little flavor. Of course you can always add more if you prefer a lot.

This recipe originally appeared in our Instant Pot taco rice, but we moved it to it’s own recipe to make it easier for our readers to find. We use it a lot here, including in our easy taco pie as one of the layers.

Ingredients

There are just 4 simple ingredients!

Sour cream – We prefer sour cream, but you can use Greek yogurt in it’s place.

Cilantro – Fresh cilantro is best.

Salt – We use course Himalayan sea salt and grind it, but you can use regular salt or finely ground sea salt.

Lime – We use the juice from half of a lime, but you can use bottled juice as well.

Making cilantro lime sauce for tacos

It is easy to put together and will be ready in 5 minutes, tho we often let it sit in the fridge for about an hour before serving so the flavors blend together nicely.

If you have a mortar and pestle (recommended but not required), you want to grind the cilantro with the salt in the mortar. Here is the one we have and love – mortar and pestle (affiliate link.)

I add the cilantro, salt and lime juice all together in the mortar. Mix until the salt and cilantro are finely ground together into the lime juice.

Pour over the sour cream and stir well. Can serve immediately or chill for an hour for stronger flavor.

What if I don’t have a mortar and pestle

You can still make the lime cilantro sour cream even if you do not have a mortar and pestle. I just love to mix many things together in mine. For the salt, you can use a grinder of any kind or use regular salt.

For the best flavor you want the oils to come out in the cilantro. You can put it in without crushing it, but it’s best to crush it one way or another.

Easiest way – You can put the finely chopped cilantro in the prep bowl and use a spoon to mash it a little bit. You will want to act like you are smearing it into the bowl with the spoon. Be gentle if using a glass prep bowl for this.

Add in the salt and lime juice, mix well. Pour into the sour cream and stir.

Other options for soft fresh herbs when you don’t have a mortar:

Using a knife – Chop your cilantro finely. You can carefully push your knife down on it while it is on the cutting board. You want to move your knife like you are smearing butter on bread while your knife is pressed firmly onto the cilantro. Repeat a couple times. It won’t get as fine as in a mortar, but you will be releasing the oils so the flavor will still be there.

Use a coffee mug – You can use a coffee mug after chopping it as well. It doesn’t need to slam down on the cutting board, you are doing more of a smearing movement.

Frequently asked questions