Cilantro Garlic Sauce (Pollo Tropical Inspired)
A deliciously creamy garlic sauce made with chopped cilantro, fresh garlic, lime juice, and sour cream. You’ll love adding it to just about anything. This sauce is super easy-to-make and ready in just 10 minutes!

This garlic sauce is no joke, guys. People go crazy for this sauce! And I bet you will too. Ever been to “Pollo Tropical”? Unless you’ve lived in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee or Texas, you have no idea what I’m talking about here.
Pollo Tropical (literally translated to “tropical chicken”) is a Caribbean-inspired fast food concept with meals so flavorful, you won’t even think it’s fast food.
Aside from Pollo Tropical’s citrus-y marinated chicken, mojo pork, yuca fries, wraps, salads, and sandwiches, they have a sauce bar!
Curry mustard, fresh salsa, sweet BBQ (like my guava BBQ sauce!), hot sauce, and the star of our show – cilantro garlic sauce. This is not sponsored, btw, I’m just obsessed.
How To Make Cilantro Garlic Sauce
This sauce is very easy to make. Into a food processor, you add the sour cream, garlic, cilantro, olive oil, and lime. Pulse until smooth and that’s all folks!
I receive a lot of questions regarding the amount of cilantro you should add to this recipe. This is totally based on preference. Some like a more intense cilantro flavor whereas others like it more garlicky.
The recipe below is a guide. Start with 1/4 cup of chopped cilantro and go from there. Also, be careful not to over-salt. I suggest adding salt, a pinch at a time, once the sauce is already smooth.
As far as healthy swaps for this garlic sauce, you can substitute the sour cream for Greek yogurt or mayo. If you’re vegan or dairy-free, you can also use almond or cashew yogurt.
I’ve personally never tried these options so I can’t guarantee results but I don’t think the consistency would differ much.
Recommended For This Recipe
Food Processor
If you are making salsas or sauces or simply prepping ingredients, a food processor is a must have! It chops and blends so quickly, saving you so much time!
What do I need to make this sauce?
All you need is a food processor! If you want to store the sauce in these cute weck jars, click here.
What Can I Add Cilantro Garlic Sauce On?
- Crispy Chicken Tacos
- Spicy Fish Tacos
- Tequila Chili-Lime Tacos
- Lemon Pepper Chicken Wings
- Mojo Marinated Chicken Wings
- Garlic Parm Chicken Wings
- Cuban-Style Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
- Loaded Vegetarian Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
- Tostones
- Broiled Salmon
- Pulled Pork
- Chips (or sweet potato fries!)
- Veggie Platters
- Burritos
- Fajitas
I mean you name it, you can probably add this garlic sauce on top of it!
By the way, this is not the exact recipe from Pollo Tropical but it’s pretty damn close!
This is my version of their cilantro garlic sauce.
I hope you make it and LOVE it!
Cilantro Garlic Sauce
Ingredients
- 12 ounces full-fat sour cream*, sub for Greek yogurt or mayo
- 2 cloves garlic, or more to taste
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro**, stems removed and rinsed
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 lime, squeezed (2 tablespoons lime juice)
- salt to taste, (careful not to over salt!)
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to food processor. Mix until smooth. Serve and enjoy!
- You can use this sauce for tacos, wings, grain bowls, stuffed baked potatoes, burritos, fajitas, tostones, broiled salmon, pulled pork, yuca fries, chips (or sweet potato fries!), veggie platters and more!
Video
Notes
Originally posted on August 2016. Updated photos and recipe in January 2018.
Great Sauce, but, why does the recipe call for omitting the cilantro stems?
Some people don’t like them but you can include them if you want!
Amazing! I added about 6 cloves of garlic and thought it was perfect. We served this with yuca frita, which is also very common in my husband’s home country of Brasil (in Brasil they call is ‘mandioca’). I can’t wait to try more of your recipes!!!
delicious!!! i am a Pollo tropical lover and this was perfect! i used mayo because that was all I had but i imagine it would be even better with sour cream!
So happy you loved it, Arya!
I’ve never even heard of Pollo Tropical but came across this recipe while looking to use up leftover salsa ingredients and I am NOT disappointed! Thank you for taking the time to share this. Wishing you and your family the best.
So happy to hear, JP! :)
This was excellent and so simple to make. I did use eight cloves of garlic though. I dunked my chicken wings and air fryer homemade steaks fries into the sauce.
Mmm.
Love to see it! I love garlic too!
Truly appreciate the way you made wonderful sauce. Everything is so nicely described that really helped me.
Happy to hear that you loved it!
As a miami native that has since left the 305, I miss pollo tropical regularly and am so glad to have found this recipe!! I can recreate my own tropi-chop in the comfort of my home! It’s the best sauce ever – curry mustard too of course ;)
I subbed unsweetened coconut yogurt for sour cream and it was delicious!!
So happy you loved it! :)
Went there today, gonna make the Cilantro Garlic sauce later!!! Thanks a million!!!
I’ve been wanting to make this ever since I first tried it down in Jacksonville several years ago. FWIW, I used two pinches of kosher salt and another pinch of Lawry’s seasoned salt. Also, because I’m terrible at reading thoroughly I used the juice of one lime. It still turned out terrific. Thank you, Jamie!
Can it be frozen?
No, I wouldn’t recommend it because of the dairy.
Look online for how to make yuca fries they are the best!! And that sause!! Thanks!! My family loves it!!! 😋
Jamie Jamie Jamie! You are awesome! I’m home quarantined and always looking for things to cook or bake. So a friend brought me and my son a box of veggies. Well we are running over with veggies, so I passed the box along to my neighbor but kept the cilantro, because I love it, but never cooked with it before. I start looking for recipes. After reading a few I stopped on yours when it read similar to Pollo Tropical’s dip which I can eat a ton of it. I had to sub a lot, like canola oil for virgin olive oil, and lemons for limes. I only had about 8 oz of sour cream. So off I went and after blending everything it was very runny, because I didn’t have enough sour cream. I grab the Blue Plate mayo and put some in. This sauce is amazing! I can only image how awesome it would have been if I had all of the right ingredients. Thank you thank you thank you!
Haven’t tried this yet because I don’t have a food processor. Can I use a blender? Thanks!
I think that could work!
Oh man, now I want Pollo! I’ll definitely be making this for dinner sometime. Homemade tropichop??? Thanks!
Hope you love it, Gina! :)
I just got the sauce prepared and found it better than I expected.
It’s delicious! Thanks for sharing.
That’s what I do too. I DROWN the Tropi-Chop in the sauce. I can’t have enough of it. It’s SOO good. I’ll be trying your recipe over the weekend to pour over some BBQ chicken and steaks.
What are tropi chops
If you ever have leftovers of this and having a nice Indian curry for dinner, please add this to the side to dip curry covered meat or naan bread. It is so good together!
I made this today to serve on chicken tacos and it was DELICIOUS! It was definitely the star of the show! I used all of the ingredients listed except I finely chopped the garlic and cilantro and whisked it, instead if using my food processor (same result and one less thing to wash). I will try it on other foods for sure! Pollo Tropical does have good sauces! I like their food too. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
So glad you loved it! :)
We eat this stuff fairly often so I’m familiar with the sauce (love it). I made this recipe and it just wasn’t quite right, as I do believe it is normally a mayonnaise based sauce. However it was great to have a starting point to work with so thank you! I found that the garlic and cilantro ratio was great, but I used mostly mayo ( Maybe about a cup) with probably two good dollops of sour cream. No olive oil and a little bit less lime juice. It was pretty darn close.
Can’t wait to make this! Just one question….12 oz sour cream is 1.5 cups…how can the final recipe only yield 1 cup? Just want to make sure i have enough.
Yep! 12 ounces of sour cream is correct. :)
This sauce is amazing!!! I have never eaten at Pollo Tropical even though we have them here in Florida. However, my husband had these amazing chicken wings at a restaurant called Southern fresh, and they came with a cilantro cream sauce. I found this recipe and this sauce is even better. I could literally eat it on anything! Thank you so so much for posting it :)
So happy to hear that, Maureen! Glad you and your hubby LOVE it!
Oh my, this sounds amazing and I’ll be making this very soon. Sounds like with this sauce and the Guava BBQ sauce I’ve got my new summer sauces all lined up!
I LOVE cilantro and don’t think I’d ever think I’d used too much. But could you help me out with the measuring technique? I always get confused with measuring herbs. Do you measure the herb after the chopping or chop after tamping the herb into the measuring cup? ( I’ve always thought if you follow the first method you’d end up with more of the herb than the other. ). Thanks for the help!
Hi Kathryn! Definitely measure the herbs after chopping. Hope that helps! :)
I LITTERALY drive 45 mins to get my weekly fix of cilantro garlic sauce with a side Tropi-chop…. notice I said the Tropi-chop as the condiment because the main course in my dish is the sauce. I LOVE YOU FOR THIS RECIPE! Super easy and quick and taste was damn near spot on!
This made my day! Thank you Antwoine!
I see this has some olive oil in it.
I do not want it to be to oily.can I just
Use maybe a teaspoon of olive oil?
Please let me know.
Hi Heather! I’ve never used one teaspoon of olive oil before so I don’t know how it will turn out. Adapt at your own risk. :)
Sauce came out great. “Added a little more garlic because I love it.” Marinating chicken with this sauce, and have plenty left for dressing chicken after cooking. Will be serving with black beans and rice…
Great to hear, Rob! :)
Haven’t tried this yet, but it sounds incredible. I wonder if NF Greek Yogurt would be a good substitute? I’ll have to try it both ways ?
Hi Danielle, I’ve tried making this with Greek yogurt and it tastes ok, but honestly it tastes better with full fat sour cream. :)
Hi! Your recipe sounds wonderful and I actually made the same mistake thinking the base of the sauce was sour cream. But my child is allergic to dairy and I found out from emailing the company for the allergen menu that it is not made with dairy. I actually think the base of the sauce is mayo….because it’s not egg-free. Food for thought??…maybe you can do a dairy-free post of your recipe :)
Just found this site. Can’t wait to try this. Just want to give you a shoutout for giving an actual measurement
for the lime juice. Don’t know how many recipes say “juice of 2 lemons” but never quantify the measurement.
Brava!!
Thank you!!!
I like that I went looking for a garlic cilantro sauce, and you were the first to pop up! Seriously??! Amazing! I’m so happy for you!
Yay! So happy to hear that! xoxoxox
So hooked with this dressing. I put it on my chicken or turkey sandwiches instead of mayo and its soooo tasty. ??
Thank you!! It really is delicious!!
Try your cilantro garlic sauce. OMG!better tjan the original. Love it.
So happy to hear you enjoyed it! :)
What is considered a serving size? I follow Weight Watchers and that information would be helpful. Thanks, it looks/sounds yummy!
Hi Beverly! This recipe makes 1 cup so the serving size all depends on how much you use on a dish. There are calorie calculators online that can give you exact nutritional facts. Hope that helps!
So excited to try it. We love cilantro and garlic in my house! Curious, can I make ahead of time? And if i have left overs how long will it stay good in the fridge or is this one of those must be eaten same day recipes? Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Priscila! You can definitely make it ahead of time! In my opinion, it actually tastes better the next day, after all the flavors have settled in together. Because of the dairy, I wouldn’t keep it in the fridge longer than 7 days. Thank you + Hope that helps! :)
Any idea how to make Pollo Tropical’s fresh salsa? The red salsa. I have not found the recipe online and I know it has tomatoes onions and cilanto but what else?? It has a sort of sweet taste. Please help!
Hi Nicole! I’m not familiar with their salsa however a simple restaurant-style salsa would consist of adding chopped tomatoes and onions, cilantro, lime juice, garlic, salt, pepper, and a pinch of sugar into a food processor and blending it until desired consistency. Aside from that, the only other “sweet, red sauce” at Pollo Tropical that I know and love is Guava BBQ sauce which you can find my version of here: https://asassyspoon.com/guava-bbq-chicken-wings/ Hope that helps!
I love cilantro as well, but, a bunch of it sounds overwhelming for the small amounts of other ingredients. Do you have a more precise measurement, I.e. – 1/4 C. Chopped Want to make it but not ruin it, thanks
Hi David! Since it’s really up to preference, you can start with a 1/4 cup chopped cilantro and add more after you taste it. I’ve made this recipe several times and never measure the amount of cilantro. It comes out perfect every time. Have fun + Enjoy! :)
I had some leftover sauce from PT and put it on cold cooked quinoa with gomasio. Yum! Thanks for the recipe. Now I won’t have to drive 30 miles.
Awesome! Glad I could help! Enjoy. :)
I used to love Pollo Tropical, but I went today and they are started to get cheap here in Texas. They put NEXT-TO-NOTHING meat on it, and I was paying $25 for rice, seemingly. Know what I mean. They should really make a GOOD BOWL for $25 bucks for two people. No, we left hungry, so now, I’m just going to copy them and make it at home.
I’ll try this recipe, and I plan to find way to make the Tropi-chop bowl and everything else on the menu that I like. But, this is really what I love.
I just don’t like paying LOTS-OF-MOOLA for next to nothing to eat.
Anyway, SassySpoon, thanks for posting …
appreciated, David
This was the best comment I’ve ever received lmao THANK YOU! Hope you enjoy it!
I haven’t got any limes on hand right now, only lemons. Do you think lemon would be suitable?
This recipe is awesome! It tastes exactly like the real thing. I didnt use a food processor but it still turned out really good. Would recommend a food processor because mine has random kicks of garlic, which wouldnt happen if i had used a food processor. But even with that it basically turned out awesome instead of perfect and it required a little more work to turn the cilantro and garlic into a paste but overall a great recipe and something ill use for a long time to come. Thanks!!!!
This was a big hit at my house on Christmas day!! Even my son loves it and he hates cilantro. Making more for new year’s eve