What Goes Well with Cilantro?

What is Cilantro (Coriander)?

Coriander is a diverse plant that is a member of the Apiaceae family, commonly used for its leaves and also its seeds.

When you’re consuming the coriander leaves as a herb, it is also commonly known as Chinese parsley (as they are related) or cilantro, which is the Spanish translation.

If you’re using coriander seeds, which you can get as whole seeds or in a ground form, it is a spice and is called coriander seeds. It would seem cilantro refers only to the fresh herb.

Coriander has a long history and is believed to date back as far as Persia almost 3000 years ago, adorned in the hanging gardens of Babylon to provide the surroundings with it’s lovely fragrance.

What Does Cilantro (Coriander) Taste Like?

Flavour: Coriander has a fresh and lemony flavour. Well, that is for those who like them.

Some people have a natural aversion to coriander and believe that it tastes like soap due to an issue with genetics. So strong their dislike for this herb that you can find Facebook groups dedicated to how much they hate it!

Texture: Coriander leaves are tender and delicate while it’s stalks are chewy and stringy with a bit of crunch.

What Goes Well with Cilantro (Coriander)?

Fruit and Vegetables
Avocado, broccoli, cauliflower, coconut, corn, dragon fruit, fig, honeydew, Jerusalem artichoke, jicama, kohlrabi, mango, orange, papaya, pineapple, rockmelon, strawberry, sweet potato, turnip, zucchini.

Herbs, Nuts and Dairy
Basil, cumin, chervil, curry, sesame, saffron, pepper, thyme.

Protein and Other
Beef, buffalo mozzarella, chicken, fish, pork, veal.

How to Use Coriander in Salads?

We use coriander leaves in salads as they are. We tend to roughly chop them and add it to the other ingredients or we carefully pick whole leaves for garnish.

We also like adding coriander leaves in our salad dressing where we give them a good blitzing to create herbaceous recipes.

Salads and Side Dishes with Cilantro (Coriander)

Vegan Couscous Salad with Blistered Tomatoes

It’s incredible how everyday ingredients such as tomato and basil can make for such a flavoursome salad recipe. Complement this vegan couscous salad with balsamic blistered tomatoes for an easy side dish any time of the week.

Grilled Courgette and Broad Bean Salad

This Broad Bean Salad with creamy avocado dressing is the ultimate green salad. Rich in nutrients and packed with healthy vegetables, you can have it as a bowl for lunch or as a side salad.

Wombok Salad Recipe with Red Cabbage and Apple

Super fresh Asian wombok salad packed with crunch and spicy tang. One of our favourite potluck or BBQ side dish, we adore the combination of wombok with red cabbage, apple, fresh herbs and homemade fried crispy noodles. A crowd pleaser for sure.

More Ingredient Pairing Ideas

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