A tasty, simple, fast ranch dressing, made with wholesome ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry or fridge.
A Little History
Ranch dressing is the most consumed dressing in the United States, originally made with a combination of buttermilk, mayonnaise and herbs. Buttermilk based dressings date back to the 1930’s.
There is just something magical about dipping vegetables into a bowl of ranch dressing. In fact, a delicious dressing typically encourages a person to eat so many more of those deliciously crunchy vegetables.
When I was younger, my mom bought the huge Costco size bottles of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing. We ate carrots and ranch anytime we were hungry. I think most of us ate carrots only because it meant we could dip those crunchy orange sticks into ranch dressing.
Ranch Dressing Rashes
As we got older, my mom started to notice that the delicious dressing we were eating our carrots with, gave several of us kids a red rash around our mouths. It looked like extreme chapped lips that extended way beyond our normal lip line.
Have you ever seen that on a kids face before? It is a sign of an allergy. Skin reacts to something that you are eating and gets irritated with the hope that you will stop eating it. Our bodies are amazing like that. So, if you or anyone you know has a lovely red rash around their lips, have them take note of what they have been eating.
The Hunt For a Good Recipe
I searched and searched for a good, satisfying homemade ranch dressing. I have made my share of yucky versions.
This one I really like because first off, it tastes good and second, it is very simple and uses items I usually always have on hand.
There are a few things that I change depending on the different types of foods that we are eating at any given time. I will tell you those adaptations in the notes.
Homemade Ranch Dressing
1 cup mayonnaise (homemade version here)
1/2 cup buttermilk (see notes)
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
2 pinches thyme
Put all ingredients into a small bowl. Stir until well combined. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to use. Lasts one week in the fridge. Can easily be halved or doubled.
Tweak it Notes
- MAYONNAISE – Choose a mayonnaise that you like the flavor of. If you make your own, you get to control the ingredients. If you don’t make your own, choose one with whole ingredients and a good quality oil. Chosen Foods makes a great healthy, mayo with no added junk.
- EGG FREE – Make this Simple Homemade Mayonnaise recipe and follow the direction in the notes for the egg free version.
- DAIRY FREE – I make this recipe with cashew sour cream in place of the dairy sour cream. This recipe from Cookie and Kate is wonderful. The buttermilk can be replaced with 1/2 cup almond milk and 1 tablespoon vinegar or more cashew sour cream.
- SALT – Use a good quality salt with minerals.
- DIP VS. DRESSING – the buttermilk and sour cream can be increased or decreased based on the thickness you need. If I want a dip for veggies, I skip the buttermilk all together and use all sour cream. If I want a dressing, I typically make it just as written above but if that is too thick for your preference you can add more buttermilk and less sour cream.
