Homemade buttermilk ranch is super creamy and garlicky and surprisingly easy to make. Made with just a few base ingredients and fresh or dried herbs and seasonings, this buttermilk ranch recipe tastes like your favorite restaurant ranch and much better than most store-bought options.
Ranch dressing is easily the most popular salad dressing in the US, and this buttermilk ranch recipe makes a perfectly creamy dressing for your salad or as a dip for appetizers at your next party. The whole recipe comes together in a matter of minutes and should last at least a week in your fridge.
Homemade buttermilk ranch is not only simple to make but is free of the preservatives and unknown ingredients found in the commercially produced bottles. Making it yourself also allows you to customize the flavor and ingredients to your liking. Adjust the base ingredients for a thicker or thinner ranch, add more black pepper or a pinch of cayenne for a spicier kick.
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🥗 What is Ranch Dressing?
Ranch dressing is a decidedly American invention and not found a lot outside of the US. When you do find the dressing abroad, you’ll typically see it advertised as “American Dressing.” Buttermilk ranch is a rich, creamy, and somewhat savory dressing that combines buttermilk, seasonings, and herbs with mayonnaise and/or sour cream.
The original ranch dressing was invented by a plumbing contractor named Steven Henson while working in Anchorage, Alaska. In 1956 he and his wife moved to Santa Barbara, California and bought a guest ranch in San Marcos Pass. Renaming the ranch to Hidden Valley Ranch, he served his dressing at the steakhouse on the ranch. It quickly became popular, and he sold jars of it on request. By the mid-1960s, the popularity grew into a thriving business and the rest is history.
🥘 Ingredients for Buttermilk Ranch
Homemade buttermilk ranch dressing can be made with as many fresh or dried ingredients as you prefer. Fresh herbs are great if you have a home herb garden, or you can keep the dried herbs on hand to make homemade ranch whenever you would like.
Buttermilk – A good, full-fat buttermilk not only makes this dressing thick and creamy but adds a lot of flavor to it as well. You could also substitute with kefir if you prefer. You could technically make a buttermilk substitute with regular milk and a bit of vinegar or lemon juice, but I’m not a fan of doing that when the buttermilk is part of the flavor component.
Mayo – Use a bit of your favorite mayonnaise or use an easy homemade mayonnaise. This emulsification helps to thicken the ranch dressing.
Sour Cream – Optional, but I like the additional tang from sour cream, and it helps to keep the dressing thicker when refrigerated compared to just buttermilk.
Acid – A bit of vinegar or lemon juice works great here. I used my homemade mayo which has lemon juice in it already, so I just added a bit of white wine vinegar to this ranch. Feel free to adjust this to your taste.
Herbs – The main herbs typically found in ranch dressing include parsley, dill, and chives. These can be all fresh, dried, or a mixture as I use here.
Seasoning – I use a combination of garlic powder, onion powder, sea salt, fresh ground black pepper, and a pinch of MSG. You could also substitute fresh garlic and onion, and the MSG is optional but often found in many of your favorite commercial ranch dressings.
🔪 How to Make Homemade Ranch Dressing
All of this can be combined in a mixing bowl with a whisk, but if you have one, I recommend a stand mixer for the best smooth and creamy ranch.
In the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, or in a mixing bowl with a whisk, add the buttermilk, mayonnaise, sour cream, and vinegar and mix until smooth and creamy. Mix for about 2-3 minutes on low speed with the stand mixer.
Add the rest of the ingredients to the creamy mixture and whisk until fully incorporated. Mix on low speed for 4-5 minutes with the stand mixer.
Once super creamy and smooth, transfer to a mason jar or another airtight container and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight for the best flavor. This gives everything time to mellow and the flavors to fully infuse. The dressing will thicken a lot more after refrigerating as well.
💭 Frequently Asked Questions
If your ranch dressing feels a bit thinner than you like, you can decrease the amount of buttermilk you make it with and increase the mayonnaise and/or sour cream. You can also add more mayo to thicken an already made ranch dressing.
I do not recommend freezing ranch dressing. With the different types of dairies involved, thawed ranch will not retain a pleasant taste or texture and will likely separate as well.
Regular ranch may or may not contain buttermilk and can be made with just mayo and/or sour cream. While regular ranch dressing may also contain buttermilk, it’s considered “buttermilk” ranch when the buttermilk makes up most of the base ingredient by volume.
❄️ Storing Buttermilk Ranch
Once finished being made, transfer homemade ranch dressing into a mason jar or another airtight container and store in the refrigerator. Kept refrigerated, homemade buttermilk ranch should last at least 1-2 weeks.
While the ranch should last that long when stored properly, it will also depend on the expiration date of the buttermilk you use and how fresh the mayonnaise is if it was homemade.
While ranch dressing can technically be frozen, I do not recommend it. Because of the dairy used to make the ranch, the flavor and texture will not be good once thawed and its likely to break and separate as well.
📋 Recipe
Homemade Buttermilk Ranch Dressing
Ingredients
- ½ cup buttermilk
- ½ cup sour cream
- ¼ cup mayonnaise, up to a ½ cup for a thick ranch
- 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar, or white distilled
- ½ teaspoon dried chives, or 1 tablespoon fresh
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, or 1 teaspoon dried
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill, or ½ teaspoon dried
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder, or 2 mined cloves
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon MSG, optional, ½ teaspoon sea salt if omitting
- ¼ teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper, or more to taste
Directions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, or in a mixing bowl with a whisk, add ½ cup buttermilk, ½ cup sour cream, ¼ cup mayonnaise, and 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar and mix until smooth and creamy. Mix for about 2-3 minutes on low speed with the stand mixer.
- Add ½ teaspoon dried chives, 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill, ½ teaspoon onion powder, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, ¼ teaspoon sea salt, ¼ teaspoon MSG, and ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper to the creamy mixture and whisk until fully incorporated. Mix on low speed for 4-5 minutes with the stand mixer.
- Once super creamy and smooth, transfer to a mason jar or another airtight container and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight for the best flavor. This gives everything time to mellow and the flavors to fully infuse. The dressing will thicken a lot more after refrigerating as well.
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