Homemade Ranch Dressing

This super delicious and creamy Homemade Ranch Dressing is so easy to make at home! Use fresh herbs if you have them on hand, or dried herbs that are likely in your pantry! This is an extremely versatile dressing for dips, salad dressing, adding stir-ins to, or for seasoning tasty meals!

Looking for more great salad dressing recipes? Try my Homemade Blue Cheese Dressing or Creamy Caesar Salad Dressing (no anchovies)!

Homemade Ranch Dressing Recipe

Classic ranch dressing is a staple in most homes, and for good reason! The creamy, tangy, and very tasty salad dressing ( or dip ) is so versatile and just as suited to dipping fresh veggies, buffalo wings, or pizza into as it is to topping a fresh salad!

One of the best things about ranch dressing, is that the herbs in ranch dressing are common pantry staples that most of us have in our spice racks or cabinets ( in my case ). Fresh herbs are equally wonderful, when available, but either way this homemade ranch dressing takes just minutes to prepare!

How to Make Homemade Ranch Dressing

To make your ranch dressing, add the mayonnaise, sour cream, and buttermilk ( or buttermilk substitute ) to a medium sized mixing bowl and whisk until smooth. Add the seasoning, including: dried parsley, dried chives, dried dill, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Whisk again until thoroughly combined. *Using the best quality mayo makes a big difference. I use Hellman's brand olive oil based mayo, and I know that Duke's brand is popular in the South.

Once the seasoning has been mixed in, taste and adjust to your liking. Remember that once the dressing has been refrigerated, the flavors will blend together better. *I like to use a food processor or Nutri bullet blender to reduce my spices to a fine consistency.

Ranch Dressing Without Mayonnaise {No Mayo Option} or Without Sour Cream

You can easily skip the mayonnaise in your ranch dressing by increasing the sour cream and buttermilk amounts ( to ¾ cup amounts each ). If you don't want the sour cream taste too tangy, then increase the buttermilk only.

Plain Greek yogurt can also be used as a substitute for mayonnaise or sour cream, and regular milk can be substituted for the buttermilk. If using milk, you get your best creamy ranch results from a higher fat milk, half & half, or heavy cream.

This easy ranch dressing can also be made without sour cream by using increased amounts of mayonnaise and buttermilk ( to ¾ cup amounts each ). To my taste, the mayo is too heavy in this option that is why the equal part buttermilk is needed. The tanginess from the buttermilk offsets the mayo flavor, which regular milk would not be able to do as well.

Ranch Dip Using Cream Cheese

This is one of the best rich and tasty veggie dips out there, but you can also add some shredded cheddar cheese and bake for a hot dip for easy entertaining! Use one brick or 8 ounces of cream cheese, softened at room temperature, with ½ cup of sour cream.

Mix the cream cheese and sour cream until smooth, then add the seasoning as directed below. Refrigerate and serve chilled.

Ranch Dressing Using Cottage Cheese {Healthy, High Protein Ranch Dressing Option}

This recipe variation is a staple in our home! Greek Yogurt is a next best option for higher protein amounts, but the flavor of cottage cheese works wonderfully. My only requirement here is that the cottage cheese ( I always use small curd ) MUST be broken down using a food processor or Nutri bullet.

Pulse, blend, mix until smooth and the curds are no longer visible. Then add your milk of choice to thin to your desired dressing or dip consistency and season as directed below in the recipe card.

Note that one crushed garlic clove can be used rather than the garlic powder. Carefully crush the clove, sprinkle it with sea salt and work into a paste before adding it to your base ingredients - then omit the garlic powder and salt in the recipe.

To substitute fresh herbs for any of the dried herbs in this recipe: the general rule of thumb is three times the amount of the dried herb. Since dried herbs have a more concentrated flavor, you need to use roughly 2 - 3x the amount of the same fresh herb. So in this recipe, for example, you would triple the dried parsley amount for substituting the fresh herb and use 3 teaspoons rather than the one called for in the recipe card.

Add a splash of these great flavor stir-ins to this basic homemade ranch dressing recipe for even more tasty flavor:

• Fresh Lemon Juice
• Worcestershire Sauce
• Apple Cider Vinegar
• Adobo Sauce ( from chipotle peppers )
• Ground Mustard
• Smoked Paprika
• Dill Pickle Juice ( our personal family favorite )

Or try some of these variations to your ranch dressing:

• Blue Cheese Ranch - add 2 ounces of blue cheese crumbles and mash them in until nice and creamy
• Cilantro Lime Ranch - Fresh lime juice ( and zest ) with 2 tsp dried cilantro or 1 to 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• Buffalo Ranch - add 1 to 2 tablespoons of buffalo hot sauce ( a hot sauce like Franks Red Hot Sauce, combined with melted butter in a 2:1 ratio, or twice as much hot sauce as melted butter )
• Sriracha Ranch - add 1 to 2 tablespoons of sriracha sauce
• Chili Ranch - add 1 to 2 tablespoons of chili paste (such as Sambal Oelek)
• Chipotle Ranch - finely chopped ½ chipotle pepper with 1 tsp of the adobo sauce

Storing Homemade Ranch Dressing

Your homemade ranch should be stored in an air tight container and kept refrigerated. Stored properly, mixed ranch dressing will last up to one week.

The ranch dressing tends to thicken the longer it is refrigerated. Simply add some buttermilk ( or buttermilk substitute ), milk or water to return your ranch to dressing consistency.