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.
Oh man, now I want Pollo! I’ll definitely be making this for dinner sometime. Homemade tropichop??? Thanks!
Hope you love it, Gina! :)
Haven’t tried this yet because I don’t have a food processor. Can I use a blender? Thanks!
I think that could work!
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!
Look online for how to make yuca fries they are the best!! And that sause!! Thanks!! My family loves it!!! 😋
Can it be frozen?
No, I wouldn’t recommend it because of the dairy.
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!
Went there today, gonna make the Cilantro Garlic sauce later!!! Thanks a million!!!
I subbed unsweetened coconut yogurt for sour cream and it was delicious!!
So happy 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 ;)
Truly appreciate the way you made wonderful sauce. Everything is so nicely described that really helped me.
Happy to hear that you loved it!
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!
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! :)
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!
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!!!
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!
Delicious. I made it for dinner as a dip for boiled shrimp. My husband raved about it, so much that he dipped his bread in the sauce too. I will definitely use it for tonight’s taco dinner. Thank you for the recipe.❤️
Yum! Thank you for sharing, Janice!
Absolutely decadent! I made the sauce with full fat Greek Yogurt, 4 cloves of garlic (was very garlicy) and a lot of cilantro (it was a green sauce!) and used it to top fried chicken thighs with buttery white rice. Delicious!
Thank you!!
So happy to hear you liked it, Mike! Thank you for your comment!