Ranch Dressing

This homemade ranch dressing tastes better than anything you’ll get from the store, and only takes a few minutes to make. It’s creamy, and loaded with herbs. It’s perfect on salad, with vegetables, chips, you name it.

This homemade ranch dressing is the best salad dressing. It can be whipped up in only a couple of minutes. It’s similar to our ranch dip, but its a little thinner, with added buttermilk to make it extra creamy, and smooth, and so delicious.

This homemade ranch dressing is the best salad dressing, and it can be whipped up in only a couple of minutes. It’s similar to our ranch dip, but it’s a little thinner with added buttermilk, to make it extra creamy, and smooth, and so delicious.

How do you make Homemade Ranch Dressing?

Whisk together mayo, sour cream and all the herbs and spices. Slowly add in the buttermilk until the mixture is smooth, and you have reached your desired consistency.

Store the dressing in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before serving, to let the flavors meddle nicely, then serve as desired.

Can I substitute fresh herbs for the dried herbs?

You can use fresh herbs instead of the dry herbs as called for, but dry herbs have a more concentrated flavor so you’ll need more of the fresh herbs than the dried herbs as called for. You typically need about 3x as much fresh herbs as dried herbs for the same amount of flavor (or 1/3 if you’re converting a recipe from fresh to dried). So you’ll need about 1 1/2 teaspoons each of the chives, parsley, and dill, all minced as finely as you can.

Tips for making Homemade Ranch Dressing?

• Use full fat for the most flavor. Full fat sour cream, and mayonnaise will give you the best creamy dressing results.
• You can substitute Greek Yogurt for the Sour Cream, it will add a bit more tang, but will also lower the calories a bit, and add a little bit of protein to the dressing.
• You can substitute regular milk for the buttermilk.
• If you like a little bit more tang in your dressing you can add a squeeze or two of fresh lemon juice. I sometimes add a couple squeezes from a half lemon to mine.
• Everything in this recipe is to taste, so I’d recommend adding what the recipe calls for and then tasting the dressing, if you want a bit more salt add it. If you want a bit more dill, or chives, add those, etc.
• The dressing is thin enough to pour, but if you want it even thinner you can add more buttermilk/milk to the dressing. Just make sure to counter balance any extra substance with a little extra seasonings too. (Also, blending the dressing up in the food processor or blender helps to thin it a bit more than whisking does).

How to Use Ranch Dressing?

Ranch is delicious on everything, but here are a few of our favorites:

• With pizza
• On your favorite salad – I love it on our crispy chicken salad, don’t forget the seasoned croutons on top
• On baked potatoes, potato skins, or french fries
• In our chicken bacon ranch pasta or on pasta salad
• On Sandwiches or Wraps
• On Tacos
• With Chicken Wings
• With Chips
• With Cut up Veggies – try carrots, celery, tomatoes, broccoli, cucumbers, etc.

How to Store Homemade Ranch Dressing?

 

Store the ranch dressing in a covered container in the fridge. It should stay good for up to 2 weeks, just watch the expiration on the buttermilk and sour cream, incase those were to go bad before that, then the dressing would too.

This ranch dressing is so good, you’ll practically want to eat it by the spoonful – but I recommend keeping some chopped carrots and celery close by instead.

It’s perfect served over your favorite salad, with pizza, or on a sandwich! It’s so creamy, packed full of that perfect ranch flavor, and so delicious! You’ll never want to buy a bottle from the store again.