Buttermilk Ranch Dressing

I use ranch dressing as a dip for my fries (I am not a fan of ketchup), I also use it to dip other fried foods too, as well as raw veggies and breadsticks. I drizzle it on pizza, use it in place of sour cream by mixing it with a little hot sauce and put it on tacos. I occasionally even use it to dress a salad! While blue cheese may be my favorite salad dressing flavor, ranch is generally what I have in the fridge because of how versatile it is. But every now and then I get some ranch dressing served to me in a restaurant and it strikes me that the stuff I have at home is not even close to being as good. The difference? It’s not from a mix or a bottle.

Yes, I am guilty of buying salad dressing out of convenience. Like a lot of people, I got used to it and just accepted it as the norm. Just matter of factly grabbing a bottle or packet mix of the Hidden Valley stuff as if it is THE way. Well, I suppose it is if it is what most people are doing? But I know it doesn’t have to be that way. If I bother to make my own from scratch every now-n-then, I am always happy I did. The flavor of the homemade stuff is why I started liking it, to begin with and I find it takes just a few minutes more than a packet mix. I’m not saying the stuff is horrible, I’m just saying that homemade is better and if you bother you’ll probably think so too.

My recipe is fairly inexpensive to make, I tend to have all of the ingredients all the time, with the exception of the buttermilk. If I know I’m going to need it for something else too, I splurge and buy a small carton of it. If you don’t want to buy buttermilk, just make up some soured milk (see notes below the recipe).

Ingredients

• 1c buttermilk
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 TBSP apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp Worcester sauce
• 1 tsp dry parsley
• 1 tsp dry chives
• 1/2 tsp dry dill
• 1/4 tsp granulated garlic
• 1/4 tsp granulated onion
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

1. Place all of the ingredients in a deep mixing bowl or a large measuring jug and whisk until smooth.
2. Taste and correct the seasoning if needed.
3. Pour into an airtight container (I use a mason jar) and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving (overnight is better!).
4. Can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Makes a little over 2 cups

Notes

• To make soured milk, just use 1 cup of regular milk and stir in 1 tablespoon of vinegar. Then let it stand at room temperature for 5 minutes. Any vinegar will do, but I like to use apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar.
• For this recipe, you can make soured milk with a non-diary milk.
• Omit the sour cream and replace it with a 1/4 cup of mayo, use a soured non-dairy milk in place of the buttermilk to create a dairy-free version.