This Easy Homemade Buttermilk Ranch Dressing is fresh, cool, creamy, tangy, herby, garlicky, and perfect for drizzling over your favorite salad, dipping veggies, or however you like to use ranch!
One taste of this homemade ranch salad dressing, and you’ll never want to go back to the bottled stuff ever again…especially when you find out how incredibly easy it is to make!
So you like ranch dressing, right? Doesn’t everyone??
According to Wikipedia, ranch has been the best-selling salad dressing in the United States since 1992 (and in case you were wondering, it was Italian before that).
It’s good for so many things: all types of salad, of course (green salad, potato salad, pasta salad, slaw), dipping veggies, chicken wings, chicken nuggets, and lots more. My brother even dips his pizza in it!
But here’s the thing. Some ranch is super delicious, and some of it is…well, it just isn’t.
If you buy ranch, there’s a big difference in flavor between the stuff in the bottle and the kind you make from the packet of powdered mix. To me, they don’t taste the same at all (the packet is so much better).
And then, my friends, there’s homemade ranch. We’re talking knock-your-socks-off deliciousness!
You’ll crave it. You’ll look for things to dip into it or pour it on. And you may never buy ranch dressing ever again.
It takes just 5 minutes, tops, to gather and measure your ingredients and whisk them all together.
Then comes the hard part: having a little patience while the dressing sits in the fridge for at least 4 hours (overnight is even better) so that all those yummy flavors can meld together.
But your patience will be rewarded with some of the best (if not the best) ranch dressing you’ve ever tasted!
Ingredients you need:
- Mayonnaise
- Sour cream
- Buttermilk
- Garlic powder
- Onion powder
- Dried dill
- Dried chives
- Dried parsley
- Seasoned salt
- Black pepper
Here’s a look at how to make Easy Homemade Buttermilk Ranch Dressing:
Tips & Tidbits:
- Use good mayonnaise. It really makes a difference. My favorite is Hellmann’s (#notsponsored).
- You can use plain Greek yogurt instead of sour cream.
- Buttermilk adds a delicious bit of tang to the dressing, but it might not be an ingredient that you normally keep in stock. If you don’t use it often, you might feel like the rest of the carton will go to waste, but it doesn’t have to!
- You can freeze the extra buttermilk to use another time. I freeze it in ice cube trays where each cube is about 2 tablespoons. Once frozen, I put the cubes in a freezer bag (they should last up to 3 months). Then I can just pull out as much as I need for a recipe, thaw it, give it a stir, and I’m good to go.
- Instead of using buttermilk, you can make a buttermilk substitute using regular milk and either white vinegar or lemon juice. For this recipe, put ½ tablespoon of either vinegar or lemon juice in a measuring cup and add enough milk to make ½ cup. Stir and let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes.
- I use dry herbs for my dressing because I want it to be as simple as possible using ingredients that I always have on hand so I can make it any time (I make it a lot!).
- You can use fresh herbs if you’d prefer. The standard ratio of fresh herbs to dry herbs is 3:1. So, instead of 1 teaspoon of a dried herb, you would use 3 teaspoons of the fresh herb. This is just a guideline, of course, and you can adjust amounts according to your own tastes.
- Want to make it a thicker homemade ranch dip instead? Omit the buttermilk, use ½ cup of mayonnaise, ½ cup of sour cream, add a teaspoon of lemon juice and the herbs and spices.
One of my favorite ways to enjoy this dressing is on the Classic Chef Salad that I made earlier this week. It’s sooo good (and I’ll admit I probably put a little more dressing on there than I should, but I can’t help it)!
This stuff might just make everyone – even the kids – want salad and veggies more often!
I hope you try this Easy Homemade Buttermilk Ranch Dressing recipe and love it as much as I do. Thanks for visiting today!
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Easy Homemade Buttermilk Ranch Dressing
Ingredients
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- ¼ cup sour cream
- ½ cup buttermilk
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon dried dill
- ½ teaspoon dried chives
- ½ teaspoon dried parsley
- ¼ teaspoon seasoned salt, or to taste
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper, or to taste
Instructions
- Place all of the ingredients in a bowl.
- Whisk/stir until well-combined. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.
- Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours to allow the herbs to rehydrate and the flavors to blend together (overnight is even better!).
Notes
- If you don’t have buttermilk, you can make a buttermilk substitute using regular milk and either white vinegar or lemon juice. For this recipe, put ½ tablespoon of either vinegar or lemon juice in a measuring cup and add enough milk to make ½ cup. Stir and let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes, and then it’s ready to use.
- Want to make it a thicker homemade ranch dip instead? Omit the buttermilk, use ½ cup of mayonnaise, ½ cup of sour cream, add a teaspoon of lemon juice and the herbs and spices.
- Store your dressing in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Assuming you start with super fresh mayonnaise, sour cream, and buttermilk, it should last up to a week.
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