This homemade Buttermilk Ranch Dressing is fresh, creamy and takes just minutes to prepare. The herby Ranch flavor is a classic choice for a green salad or serve it as a party dip with veggies and chips.
For more creamy dressing inspiration, check out my Basil Buttermilk Dressing and Avocado Ranch Dressing.
Salad season is officially here and to kick things off, I’m sharing this no-fuss recipe for creamy, fresh Buttermilk Ranch Dressing.
My herb garden is already flourishing which means I’ve been using less and less bottled dressings on salad night. It’s just so easy to whip up my own homemade salad dressings with ingredients I have on hand.
Keeping a batch of this yummy dressing in the fridge is a sure-fire way to ensure your family will eat more salads and veggies.
Table of contents
Recipe Highlights
- Fresh Ingredients: This classic Ranch is fresh, creamy and doesn’t include any of the unusual additives you find in store-bought dressings. Your own creations made with fresh ingredients are so much better than anything you can buy at the store.
- Salad Dressing or Dip: You can easily control the consistency and turn this dressing into dip. Cut up a variety of fresh veggies and keep them in the fridge and you can have a convenient, wholesome snack anytime. It’s also super tasty as a party dip with chips.
- Easy to Customize: You can keep it simple or get creative with a variety of add-ins. See the variations below for some ideas.
Ingredient Notes
- Creamy base: Reduced fat buttermilk, mayonnaise, and regular or light sour cream.
- Fresh garlic: It’s important to use a fresh clove of garlic for the best flavor.
- Dijon mustard: A quick way to add a punch of flavor. I add a little Dijon to most of my salad dressing recipes.
- Dry seasoning: Onion powder, kosher salt, and freshly ground black pepper.
- Fresh herbs: Chopped fresh chives or Italian parsley leaves and chopped fresh dill.
- Lemon: The juice from half a lemon.
How to Make Buttermilk Ranch Dressing
- Crush the Garlic: Grab a heavy knife with a wide blade – a chef’s knife works best. Place a single garlic clove on a cutting board and place the flat side of the blade over the clove with the sharp side facing away from you. Use your free hand to press down hard on the flat edge of the blade until the clove is crushed. Sprinkle the crushed garlic with sea salt and use the blade of the knife to work it into a paste. I usually peel my clove of garlic but you don’t need to. It’s easy to pick out the peel after crushing the clove.
- Make the Dressing: Scrape up the garlic paste and transfer it to a small mixing bowl. Add all of the remaining ingredients and whisk the mixture well.
Storage Tips
Transfer the dressing to an airtight container (a mason jar works perfectly) and let it chill for several hours to give it a little time to reach it’s full flavor potential. It should stay fresh and tasty for up to one week if stored properly in the fridge.
Tips for the Best Buttermilk Ranch Dressing
Fresh Garlic vs. Jarred Minced Garlic: When garlic is used in a recipe that isn’t cooked, like salad dressings and dips, fresh is best. However, I’m definitely in favor of using jarred, minced garlic in recipes where it is sautéed or cooked along with other ingredients. In my opinion, the convenience of the jarred variety outweighs the minimal difference in quality in these recipes.
Fresh Herbs vs. Dried Herbs: If you’d like, you can substitute dried herbs for the fresh herbs called for in this recipe. Just remember that dried herbs pack more punch than fresh, so a little goes a long way. The general rule is to use three times of fresh vs. dried. For instance, if the recipe calls for 1 ½ teaspoons of fresh dill, this translates to ½ teaspoon of dried dill.
Consistency: As written, the recipe yields a nice, pourable salad dressing. It can thicken a bit after chilling it in the fridge so just add a little additional buttermilk to thin it, it needed. If you’d like to serve it as a party dip, add additional sour cream to thicken it as much as you’d like.
Variations
With some simple add-ins you can take this classic Buttermilk Ranch Dressing some really delicious directions. All of these variations work really well on salads, as a dip for veggies and chips. or on wraps.
Cilantro Lime Ranch: Substitute lime for the lemon juice and stir in a couple of tablespoons of chopped cilantro.
Blue Cheese Ranch: Stir in about ¼ cup crumbled blue cheese.
Sriracha Ranch: Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of Sriracha. Taste and add more, if desired.
Buffalo Ranch: Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of Buffalo wings sauce – like Frank’s Red Hot. Taste and add more, if desired. I like to top this variety with some chopped fresh chives.
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Buttermilk Ranch Dressing
Ingredients
- 1 clove garlic
- ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt, plus additional, to taste
- ½ cup reduced fat buttermilk
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- ¼ cup sour cream, regular or light (increase to ½ cup for dip)
- ½ lemon, juiced
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon fresh chives or Italian parsley leaves, chopped (or 1 teaspoon dried)
- 1 ½ teaspoons fresh dill, chopped (or ½ teaspoon dried)
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder, (increase to ½ teaspoon if using parsley instead of chives)
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper, or to taste
Instructions
- Place the garlic clove on a cutting board. Place the blade of a heavy knife, like a chef’s knife, flat on top of the clove (sharp side facing away from you). Press down using the heel of your hand on top of the blade. Once the clove is crushed, sprinkle it with salt and use the flat blade of your knife to mash it into a coarse paste. Use the knife to scrape the garlic paste into a small mixing bowl.
- Add the remaining ingredients, using as much sour cream as needed to reach either a salad dressing or dip consistency, and whisk well to combine. Taste and season with additional salt, if needed.
- Transfer the dressing/dip to an airtight container (like a mason jar) and pop it in the fridge for at about 3 hours to allow the flavors to come to life. It should stay fresh and tasty for up to one week if stored properly in the fridge.
Notes
- Cilantro Lime Ranch: Substitute lime for the lemon juice and stir in a couple of tablespoons of chopped cilantro.
- Blue Cheese Ranch: Stir in about ¼ cup crumbled blue cheese.
- Sriracha Ranch: Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of Sriracha. Taste and add more, if desired.
- Buffalo Ranch: Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of Buffalo wings sauce – like Frank’s Red Hot. Taste and add more, if desired. I like to top this variety with some chopped fresh chives.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated using generic ingredients, and is an estimate not a guarantee. For more accurate results, please refer to the labels on your ingredients at home.
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This post was originally published on September 12, 2019. It has been updated with new text and images.
