Name: Shrimp Taco Sauce
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Cuisine: Mexican Inspired
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro; 1/4 cup plain whole milk yogurt; 2 tablespoons mayonnaise; 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar; 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder; 1/4 teaspoon onion powder; 1/4 teaspoon cumin; 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

Do your tacos need a sauce? This shrimp taco sauce is like a creamy ranch dressing but with cilantro and cumin. And it’s GOOD.

Are you a shrimp taco fan? Because we’ve got a shrimp taco sauce that will blow your mind! This creamy cilantro sauce is kind of like ranch dressing, except it’s made with chopped cilantro. It comes out creamy and tangy, a little rich from the mayo and a little creamy from the yogurt. It’s got the perfect blend of spices and will make your tacos taste DIVINE. Are you ready for this? Let’s go.

Related: Dairy free? Try our Creamy Cilantro Sauce.

How to make shrimp taco sauce

Alex came up with the idea for this tasty shrimp taco sauce: he modeled it off of our Healthy Ranch Dressing recipe. If you haven’t made that healthy ranch dressing, run don’t walk over to that recipe and make it now! The combination of using yogurt for a healthy spin and a little bit of mayo for richness makes the ranch taste both light and satisfying at the same time. And the spices are the perfect blend to make even just crisp romaine lettuce taste AMAZING. It’s honestly one of my favorite recipes that we’ve created, and we make it constantly.

All that to say, of course a taco sauce that’s like ranch? It’s bound to be an instant hit in our household: and it was! This shrimp taco sauce is just like our healthy ranch recipe, but it uses fresh cilantro instead of dill and adds cumin for a Mexican-style vibe. Pair with juicy, savory shrimp and it’s out of this world good! And another plus: it takes only 5 minutes to make. You don’t even need to dirty a blender for this one!

Here’s how to make shrimp taco sauce:

Finely chop cilantro.
In a small bowl, whisk it together with Greek yogurt, mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar, garlic powder, onion, powder, cumin, and salt.

And that’s it! Store it refrigerated until it’s ready to use. If you’re wondering if this shrimp taco sauce can be made without mayo: sorry, but no! The mayo adds just the right savory richness — and it’s only 2 tablespoons, so it’s a relatively low amount per serving.

This shrimp taco sauce makes enough for 8 tacos: enough for 4 servings! Get ready, because you’re about to WOW the judges with this one.

Video: How to cut cilantro

Ever wondered the best way to chop cilantro? You’ll need to finely chop cilantro for this shrimp taco sauce recipe, and this method for cutting cilantro is slick and simple. Also, have you ever had issues with cilantro going bad in the plastic bag from the grocery store? We share our favorite herb keeper, too. Here’s our step by step guide for how to cut cilantro, including a video of me cutting cilantro in our kitchen.

How to serve it?

This shrimp taco sauce is of course best on our incredible Shrimp Tacos! But we can think of quite a few other ways to serve it:

Use it as a dip or drizzle for Garlic Grilled Shrimp or Grilled Shrimp Skewers
Drizzle it over our Baked Salmon Recipe
Add it as a quick sauce for our Quick Shrimp Couscous
Use it on vegetarian tacos, like our Crispy Cauliflower Tacos or Loaded Quinoa Tacos
Slather it on a Falafel Burger and serve it on a bun

This shrimp taco sauce recipe is…

Vegetarian and gluten free. For dairy free, try our Creamy Cilantro Sauce instead.