Make this homemade buttermilk ranch dressing recipe and you’ll be wondering why it took so long! With just a few fresh produce and pantry ingredients, you’ll be ready for salad dressings, veggie dips, ranch marinades and more.
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Did you know that ranch dressing is the most popular type of salad dressing sold in America?
What is ranch dressing?
According to Robb Walsh of the Houston Press, ranch likely started out as buttermilk dressing, a cowboy favorite because buttermilk was widely available early in the last century.
Ranch dressing is essentially an herb-infused buttermilk mayonnaise dressing. It was popularized by Clorox when they found a way to make their Hidden Valley brand shelf stable.
(According to Slate, bottled ranch dressing has a shelf life of up to 150 days, or about 5 months. Scary idea, don’t you think?)
The ingredients for easy ranch dressing
Ranch dressing is super easy to make, especially if you have leftover buttermilk from baking or from making pancakes or soda bread.
The base is just buttermilk and mayonnaise. Everything else is basically just adding to taste – some dry mustard, salt and pepper, a little paprika, herbs like chives, onion greens, parsley and/or dill.
Add some crumbled blue cheese and you have a delicious blue cheese dressing!
How Long Can You Store Buttermilk Ranch Dressing?
Your homemade dressing will keep refrigerated in an airtight container for up to a week.
Ways to use homemade ranch dressing
- Pasta salad with corn, bacon and buttermilk ranch dressing
- Sheet Pan Ranch Pork Chops
- Buffalo Cauliflower Tacos with Ranch Sauce
- Coleslaw and kale salad with cumin ranch dressing
- Slow Cooker Honey Buffalo Chicken Wings
From the editors of Simply Recipes
Homemade ranch dressing
If you need to substitute fresh herbs for dried herbs, use a third of the amount of dried herbs instead of fresh herbs.
ingredients
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1 Cup well shaken buttermilk
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1/2 Cup mayonnaise
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1 teaspoon lemon juice
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1/8 teaspoon paprika
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1/4 teaspoon mustard powder
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1/2 teaspoon kosher Salt
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1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
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1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
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1 teaspoon chopped fresh chives
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1/4 teaspoon dried dill (or 1 teaspoon freshly chopped)
method
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Mix the ingredients:
In a medium bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and mayonnaise until fully combined. Add the other ingredients and adjust the taste.
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Save on computer:
Can be kept covered in the fridge for 1 week.
| nutritional information (per serving) | |
|---|---|
| 71 | calories |
| 7g | Fat |
| 1g | carbohydrates |
| 1g | protein |
