Perk up your palate with this bright and smoky Cilantro Pepita Dressing! Roasted jalapeño and pepitas with fresh cilantro, creamy yoghurt and salty cheese blend together into a rich, punchy, creamy sauce.
⭐Recipe Highlights⭐
- Versatile Use: Not just a delicious dressing for salad – enjoy as a dipping sauce, in tacos, burgers, burrito bowls and more!
- Healthy Ingredients: Pumpkin seeds, yoghurt, fresh herbs – this sauce is made with vibrant, nutrient packed ingredients!
- Smokey Flavor: Balance out the tangy and bright flavors with the sweet and smoky flavor of roasted jalapeño and nutty pepitas.
Cilantro Pepita Dressing Steps
1. Roast jalapeño & pepitas
- Roast the jalapeño first for about 10 minutes, then add pumpkin seeds.
- After roasting, steam the jalapeño in a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap.
- Cool pepitas & pepper, then peel and deseed the jalapeño.
Why steam the jalapeño in a covered bowl? To keep the heat and moisture in the bowl as it cools. This will loosen up the skin making it easy to peel off.
2. Blend ingredients (except oil).
- Add of the dressing ingredients except the olive oil to a blender or food processor and pulse/blend into a chunky mixture.
Tip: Include The Stems!
Cilantro stems are soft and flavorful. Don’t worry about removing them for this pesto because they are going to get blended up anyway!
3. Add oil – slowly!
- With the motor running on a medium-high speed, slowly add the olive oil in a steady stream into the blended ingredients to create an emulsified, creamy dressing.
What is an emulsion? It’s a combination of two liquids that wouldn’t usually mix together without an additional binder like xanthan gum – think oil and water. If mixed properly you end up with a sauce that sticks together and won’t later separate.
Variations
- Cheese: Ideally I would have used cotija cheese which is basically impossible to find here in the UK. I usually opt to use feta as a simple substitute, but I recently stumbled across a reddit suggestion to use Wensleydale cheese in place of cotija. It’s obviously not the same, but it’s creamy, crumbly and not too salty and not a bad shout! Grated parmesan cheese is another good option.
- Chili Pepper: Use anaheim chilies for less spice or serranos for more spice. Add an extra pepper if you like it hot!
- Yogurt: Use sour cream or mayo instead of yogurt. The copy-cat recipe this one is based from El Torito restaurant actually used 1 cup mayonnaise instead of yogurt.
- Vinegar: Try lime juice instead of red wine vinegar.
- More Garlic: I understand that many people see 1 garlic clove as a laughable suggestion so feel free to add an extra 1-2 garlic cloves.
- Herbs: Swap out half the cilantro for other fresh herbs like parsley, basil or mint.
- Make it dairy free: Use dairy free plain yoghurt and a dairy free feta.
More Homemade Dressings & Sauces
Other salad dressings and delicious sauces to check out:
Enjoy!
Let me know if you try this Cilantro Pepita Dressing recipe! Leave a comment and review with your thoughts. I always appreciate the feedback and serving suggestions that you come up with!
Cilantro Pepita Dressing
Roasted jalapeño and pepitas blended with fresh herbs, creamy yoghurt and salty cheese.
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup raw pepitas (50g)
- 1 jalapeño - leave whole
- 1 bunch cilantro, leaves and stems (about 2 cups or 50g)
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/2 cup plain yogurt (120g)
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar (30ml)
- 2 tbsp water (30 ml)
- 2 tbsp crumbled cotija, feta or Wensleydale cheese
- 1/2 tsp salt + more to taste
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (90ml)
Instructions
- Roast Jalapeño: Preheat oven to 400°F/200°C. Lightly grease or line a baking sheet. Place a whole pepper on the pan then place high up in the oven and roast 12 minutes.
- Roast Pepitas: After 10 minutes remove the baking sheet and add the pepitas. Spread them around the pepper then return to the oven for another 8-10 minutes.
- Peel Jalapeño: Leave the pepitas to cool on the baking sheet. Place the jalapeño in a small, heat-safe bowl then cover with plastic wrap to steam. Let cool about 10 minutes then peel off the blistered skin and deseed.
- In a blender or food processor: add the roasted jalapeño and pepitas along with the cilantro, pepitas, garlic, yoghurt, vinegar, water, cheese, salt and pepper. Blend or pulse into a chunky mixture. Stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add Oil: With the blender running on a medium-high speed, pour oil into the blender in a slow and steady stream (this allows the pesto to emulsify which prevents the oil from separating later). The blender speed can be high speed, but you ideally want to pour the oil in a slow speed. Keep blending until you reach your desired consistency.
- Finish & Store: Taste and season with more salt and pepper as you see fit, then transfer the dressing to a mason jar or airtight container. Keep stored in the fridge up to a week. Mix into salads, on burgers or tacos or a dipping sauce.
Notes
- Feel free to use a different chili in place of jalapeño depending on your spice preference.
- Yield: This recipe makes about 380 g or 1 1/2 cups.
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