I love Cafe Rio Creamy Tomatillo Dressing! And not just on my Cafe Rio salad! I order a side of it to dip my quesdadilla in or to sprinkle some on a taco, or even to eat on a regular salad. When I found myself stopping by Cafe Rio just to get a side (or two) of dressing to use on things I made at home, I decided it was time to learn to make it myself.
I scoured the internet and tried different recipes, but none of them tasted quite right to me. Plus, I hated it when I had a craving for it and couldn’t make it because I don’t normally keep tomatillos around, and it’s not always available at all the grocery stores near me. Looking at a recipe on the blog Our Best Bites, I got the idea to use green salsa in place of the tomatillos so that I wouldn’t have to run to the store every time I wanted to make this dressing. This recipe is really a combination of many different recipes I found on the internet and some serious experimentation!
First, chop up your cilantro. Pour milk, ranch dressing mix, cilantro, green salsa, garlic, and lime juice into a blender and blend until it’s…well…..blended. 🙂 You don’t want any big chunks of salsa floating around. But usually 30 seconds does it with my blender. I don’t level off any of my ingredients, so they are kind of heaping a little over the top of the measuring cup, spoon, etc. You can use any green salsa you want, but I like the La Victoria kind. It’s a little more mild, so if you like it hotter, you can use a different kind. But you can also increase how hot it is by how much El Yucatero hot sauce you add later in the recipe.
I pour this mixture directly into my dressing container, but if you use a cruet or a container where you cannot fit a small whisk or fork to stir, you’ll need to use a different container and then transfer to your container after it’s mixed. Use a spatula to make sure you get all that good stuff out of the blender!
Add the mayo and sour cream and stir until well blended. Then stir in the El Yucatero hot sauce. I cannot stress enough that this hot sauce makes all the difference! Â I tried using other hot sauces, but it just didn’t taste the same! If you can’t find it in your local store, you can order it online. Use more if you like it hotter, and less if you like it more mild. Keep in mind that it gets a little hotter as it sits in the fridge, so if you are making it in advance, you might want to take that into consideration!
Oooh….just look at all that Cafe Rio goodness that you can make right at home!!!
| Prep Time | 10 min |
| Servings |
oz dressing
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- 1/3 c milk
- 2 Tbsp pkg ranch dressing mix
- 1-2 cloves garlic
- 1/8 c La Victoria mild green salsa
- 1/8 c fresh cilantro roughly chopped
- 1 -1/2 tsp lime juice fresh squeezed
- 1/4 c Best Foods mayonnaise (not reduced fat or light)
- 1/4 c sour cream (reduced fat or light is ok)
- ¼ + 1/8 tsp El Yucateco green hot sauce or to taste
Ingredients
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- Place milk in a blender. Add ranch dressing mix, garlic, salsa, and cilantro and lime juice. Blend on high for 30 seconds or until cilantro and green salsa are well blended and no longer in big chunks.
- Pour into container.
- Wisk in mayonnaise and sour cream, scraping bottom and sides well.
- Add hot sauce to taste.
*This is best made the night before or at least a few hours prior to allow seasonings to blend together. This dressing will get spicier the longer it sits in the fridge. If it gets too spicy, add a little more mayo, sour cream and milk to counter the heat, but just add a little at a time so that you don’t dilute the flavor of the dressing too much!
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