Lime Crema

This lime crema is what takes your food to next level! This rich, creamy, and zesty dip is what you need to drizzle over everything from tacos and fajitas, to soups and salads. All it takes is just 4 ingredients, and 5 minutes to make this tasty crema.

What is crema?

A staple in the Mexican cuisine, crema is prepared from heavy cream and buttermilk. The result is very similar to what is sold in the supermarkets as “sour cream”. It’s super smooth, rich, and creamy.

Crema is often flavored with things like garlic, lime, and salt to be drizzled as a topping over Mexican foods such as tacos, fajitas, enchiladas, taquitos, you name it!

This lime crema is probably my favorite dip! I always make dips to go with my food. Dips are one thing that usually need just a few simple ingredients, and 5 minutes to make, but they always take your food to the next level!

I prefer making my own homemade sauces from scratch as they’re healthier than store-bought sauces, and they always taste much better! I make my own buffalo wing sauce, yum yum sauce, ginger sauce, and even bang bang sauce. They’re all so easy and quick to make.

This lime crema needs just 4 simple ingredients, and I usually make it to go along with Mexican food. But because it’s SO good, I tend to make a large batch to have leftovers so I can enjoy it as a salad dressing on the next day, and it also makes a perfect dip for chips.

How to make lime crema

You will need:

• Sour cream. I strongly recommend using sour cream, but if you prefer Greek yogurt or creme fraiche then that works too.
• Lime. You will use the juice and zest so pick a fresh one!
• Garlic. Fresh garlic tastes best here, but you can substitute fresh garlic with garlic granules if you have to. For every 1 garlic clove, use 1/4 teaspoon of garlic granules.
• Salt.

In a mixing bowl, combine all of the ingredients together and whisk until smooth and creamy.

The consistency will be thick, but the kind of thick that can be drizzled over tacos and that’s exactly how you want it to be.

This recipe is quite flexible so you can adjust the amounts of the ingredients used to your liking. Add more garlic if that’s your thing, and less lime juice if you prefer.

Cilantro lime crema

Another variation of this lime crema is to add cilantro to the mixture as well. Add 1/4 cup of finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves to the sour cream and the rest of the ingredients, and whisk until well combined.

It will add a herby flavor to the crema and make it green in color.

Storing

Store the lime crema in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Substitutions

You can substitute sour cream with creme fraiche, or Greek yogurt.

Drizzle lime crema over:

• Cauliflower tacos
• Chickpea fajitas
• Baked chicken fajitas
• Air fryer chicken fajitas
• Instant Pot fajitas
• Instant Pot burrito rice
• Vegan chili