Buttermilk Ranch Dressing Recipe
This homemade buttermilk ranch dressing recipe comes together with simple spices from your pantry. It is fantastic as a healthy salad dressing or as dip for veggies.
Years ago, Clean Eating Magazine had a section in it for clean eating salad dressings. My eyes and ears really perked up when I saw this buttermilk ranch dressing recipe. Of all the things I sorely miss, it’s ranch dressing. I mean, there’s just NOTHING you can’t put it on. I even tried it on vanilla ice cream once, and it wasn’t half bad. Don’t judge.
Is Buttermilk Dressing The Same As Ranch Dressing?
Technically, no. Buttermilk dressing is an old cowboy favorite from a bygone era. However, the ranch dressing we know today is a direct relation. At some point, somebody added mayonnaise and herbs to buttermilk dressing to make the ranch dressing we know today.
Do You Need Mayonnaise For Ranch Dressing?
This recipe omits mayo strictly for the purpose of being a healthier dressing. That being said, there are healthy mayonnaises out there that could work perfectly well here. Mayo will thicken the dressing a bit as well as add some flavor nuances that are specific to ranch dressing.
Is it the same without it? Yes and no. It will still taste like ranch thanks to the herbs and buttermilk. The difference is the thickness (fat content) and richness that ranch can sometimes have with the addition of enough mayo.
Should you wish to add it here, simply add equal amounts of buttermilk and mayonnaise. You can, over course, experiment with ratios. You can start out with just a tablespoon or so, and move up from there until you have a flavor you like.
How To Make Your Own Ranch Mix
If healthier eating is your goal, I strongly suggest making your own ranch mix. It’s a simple process of mixing some standard herbs together in a bowl.
Store-bought ranch mix is filled with lots of unhealthy and even synthetic ingredients and preservatives that are very highly processed and developed to be addicting for many people. And while using your own mix might taste slightly different, with time, you won’t miss the old stuff at all. In fact, you’ll come to prefer your own mix like I have. These days, the store-bought stuff makes me want to gag.
And don’t be afraid to make a good-sized batch of ranch mix! Dressing and dip are not its only use. Homemade ranch mix is fabulous on chicken as well!
Here’s the recipe for making your own homemade ranch mix in minutes.
How To Make Ranch Dip
Okay, so you made ranch mix and ranch dressing, but now you want a ranch dip. Not a problem! For dip, I highly recommend using less buttermilk and more yogurt so you get the thicker consistency. And when it come to dip, a little added (healthy) mayo can be a good thing too. Consistency is key and really the only difference between dressing and dip in this case.
How To Make Buttermilk
Making buttermilk is not difficult or time consuming. In fact, it’s pretty darn simple. So if you don’t want to buy a whole carton to make a small amount of dressing, here’s how to make buttermilk from scratch.
Buttermilk Ratio
1 Tbsp. of acid + 1 cup of full fat milk
Choices of acid:
Lemon juice
White vinegar
Ranch Dressing Ingredients
For the herbs, I recommend using the dried herbs as indicated. However, if you prefer fresh herbs and have them handy, the suggestions below are on the low side on purpose. You can adjust up from there to suite your tastes.
5 tbsp. buttermilk – This is the regular, full fat buttermilk you buy in a carton at the store. You can opt for low fat buttermilk if you wish, but it will be more processed and make a much thinner dressing.
3 tbsp. plain Greek yogurt – Here again, I opt for full fat so that the consistency is not so different from a store bought ranch. However, if fat content is a thing for you, you can certainly use a lower fat Greek yogurt. Just keep in mind that the lower in fat a food is, the more heavily processed it is.
¼ tsp. onion powder – You can also use onion granules if that’s what you have.
¼ tsp. dried dill – Or use 1 tsp. fresh dill if you prefer. But shop it fine.
½ tsp. dried parsley – Here again, you can try about 1 tsp. of finely chopped fresh parsley if you prefer. I like the curly parsley better than the flat leaf (Italian) parsley for this recipe.
½ tsp. dried chives – Or for fresh herbs, chop fine and use 1 tsp. or more to taste.
½ tsp. salt – I used a pink Himalayan salt. But use what you have on hand. Avoid coarse salts.
½ tsp. ground, black pepper – Or more to taste
How To Make Ranch Dressing
Using a whisk, mix all ingredients together in a bowl until smooth and evenly blended.
Buttermilk Ranch Dressing Recipe Notes
The one thing about the recipe that I didn’t care for was the use of fresh herbs. Now, before you cross your eyes and say “whatever, Tiffany”, it’s not that I don’t like fresh herbs. Quite the contrary. I love them. I just don’t use them much in the winter months. They are a total summer thing for me. Don’t ask me why. They just are. And I hate buying bundles of herbs at the store. They are super expensive, and I inevitably end up throwing away a huge portion because I only needed them for one single recipe. So I adapted the Clean Eating Magazine recipe to use entirely dried herbs out of my pantry.
I might not pour it over vanilla ice cream ever again (okay, so maybe it wasn’t that great), but you can bet I’ll be pouring it on a lot of other things in the near future.
How Long Can You Store Homemade Ranch Dressing?
On average, this dressing will keep for 4-5 days. This is why I formulated the recipe to make a smaller amount than I normally would.
Need Supplies?
More Healthy Homemade Salad Dressing Recipes
Buttermilk Ranch Dressing Recipe
Buttermilk Ranch Dressing Recipe
Equipment
- Small to medium mixing bowl
- Whisk
Ingredients
- 5 tbsp. buttermilk
- 3 tbsp. plain Greek yogurt
- ¼ tsp. onion powder
- ¼ tsp. dried dill
- ½ tsp. dried parsley
- ½ tsp. dried chives
- ½ tsp. salt
- ½ tsp. ground, black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Using a whisk, mix all ingredients together in a bowl until smooth and evenly blended.
Notes
Nutrition
Recipe from the Gracious Pantry® archives, originally posted 3/12/10.
Hi! A friend just directed me to your website because I just started this whole “clean food” journey. I’m taking the gradual route, both because of budget restrictions and also so my husband doesn’t leave me! haha I am VERY excited to have found your blog and can’t wait to make my way through your recipes!
Hi Jessica!
I’m so excited for you! What a wonderful journey you have ahead of you!
Gradual is good, so long as the rate of change stays steady.
I’d be willing to bet that your husband will really like many of the clean eating dishes you’ll be cooking. Healthy food is very tasty if prepared correctly. So don’t give up. My husband was convinced he wouldn’t like it either. So I just didn’t tell him that the meals I was cooking were clean. He never new the difference. He just loved what I cooked and never questioned it. In this case, what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him! lol
Good luck with your new lifestyle! I’m always here if you have questions or just need to chat.
Take care,
Tiffany
Thank you! I am so excited that I found your blog! I feel that you are a little more practical with your recipes on how to make things that you have enjoyed before and making them clean. I have always been a picky eater and just don’t know if I can do such elaborate dishes like I found in the eat clean recipe book Tosca Reno. I am in love with the ranch dressing! I just made it tonight and I am excited that I can still eat it, but eat it clean. I am new to all of this clean eating and trying very hard to keep up. I have struggled this first week to be all clean eating, but I did better than I thought I would. I am loving how I feel though…much, much better! 🙂 I gotta keep it up !
Hi Angie!
Welcome! I’m so happy my blog has been of some use to you! The first week can be tough. So don’t be to hard on yourself. You’ll get the hang of it. The most important thing is to always have some clean foods with you so you never have to compromise.
Good luck!
Tiffany
Thank you for this recipe! I am trying to eat and feed my family more “clean” foods, but it is definitely a struggle. My son has limited himself with the vegetables he will eat. If he has some ranch dressing to dip his veggies in, then we can expand his list of veggies he will eat (I hope). I am going to make some and let you know how it goes. Thanks!
Daphne – Great! I can’t wait to hear!
I made it today! It is totally yummy and really does taste like ranch (I have tried other recipes and they didn’t really). I posted about it on my blog and gave you a shout out. Hope that’s okay. Come check it out! http://foodjunkiefromtexas.blogspot.com/2010/06/clean-eating-ranch-dressing.html
Daphne – Of course it’s okay! Thanks for the shout out! I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Just tried this and it is delicious! Although next time I make it I will probably use less dill. Thank you for the recipe using dried ingredients, try as I might to use fresh herbs I can never use them fast enough and it’s just a huge waste of money. Thanks again!
Monique – Fresh herbs were in the original recipe. So they will work very well. Thanks for trying my recipe!
Thsi is a staple in our house now, Thanks Tiffany
Trude – Fantastic!! I love it to. Although I did update the recipe with a little less dill. It was a bit overpowering. But I do love it. Thanks for trying my recipe!
Hey I love your website, I used to eat clean and then stopped because of my hetic schedule. I am getting back into it because of alot of recent health problems. So I am excited about this recipe. Do you know how long it stays good in the fridge?
Shea – It would have about the same shelf life as the buttermilk on it’s own. I’d say, probably about a week or so. Welcome back to clean eating!
I swore I had looked through pretty much every recipe you have on here…apparently not, because I missed this one!! SO excited to try it though! I love to make a big chicken salad full every veggie I have in the house, but I really don’t like using just olive oil/vinegar etc. as dressing, so it always felt like a step back when I used just regular ranch. This will be great!!
Jen – I’m flattered! Hope you enjoy it!
Ohhhh I’m so excited about this!!! I LOVE ranch!!
Thanks!
Jaren – You’re welcome! Enjoy!
I just started CE on Jan1 and a still struggling to get enough protein and fewer carbs (diabetic), Thanks for your website! Awesome dressing….I used it for the Clean Eating Chicken Apple Salad instead of the vinegarette! I love your site and log-on at least once a day looking for recipes.
Marie – Thanks so much! I’m pre-diabetic and one tool I’ve found to be absolutely vital is MyFitnessPal.com. It’s an eye opener!
Haven’t made this yet but just bought the buttermilk to try it. We love Ranch dressing! I wonder if using “yogurt cheese” (yogurt that has sat overnight in a colander/cheesecloth to seperate the liquid out) instead of just yogurt would help thicken it up. I might try it that way and see what happens…
Stacey – It could work, but there would be a stronger “tang” to it, I would imagine. If you have any Xanthan gum, that works beautifully!
Delicious! Tried this today for my buffalo pork (because I didn’t have chicken) salad. It’s awesome! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Christine – That’s wonderful! I’m happy it worked out!
Hi Tiffany, I saw your recommendation for My Fitness Tracker and ended up joining. I’m curious as to how you track your meals on there since it seems to only have 4 meals per day?
I tried making the ranch dressing today but didn’t have all of the ingredients on hand so I used rice milk with lemon and drained yogurt. It was good but I want to try it the way you wrote it as I’m sure it would be a lot better.
Sharon – I changed mine to 6 meals a day. Go into your account and you can change it.
I am so glad we found a clean recipe for ranch dressing! We can’t wait to try it! My kids LOVE RANCH dressing and I am very pleased they can have still have it! In fact yesterday I cheated and had a dab of Hidden Valley Ranch that was lurking in my fridge yet, with my veggies. It tasted totally fake now that I have been clean for nearly a month.
Emily – Isn’t that amazing how that happens? The second you get the crud out of your diet, it’s so easy to detect in foods that aren’t clean!
Hi Tiffany, I’m so glad I came across your interesting and helpful blog.
This Ranch dressing sounds very yummy. My problem though is that I live in Greece and it’s very difficult not to say impossible to get buttermilk. If I substitute it with low fat milk would that be ok?
WWCook – Yes! In fact, if you add just 1/2 tsp. of vinegar to the milk and let it sit for about 10 minutes, it will taste just like buttermilk!
Dumb question – is buttermilk dairy?
LN – Yes, it is dairy.
Any suggestions for a non dairy sub?
LN – You could try making hummus with the ranch spices, but I’m not sure how that would taste. I’ve never tried. Another option is to use a non-dairy milk and add 1 tsp. of white vinegar. Then add some xanthan gum for texture. Again, I’ve never tried. Just guessing. Sorry!
Made it as to put on some turkey burgers I made last night! It’s really good! Can’t wait to use the leftover on a salad!
Lynn – Oh, that WOULD be good! Yum!
I didn’t have buttermilk or Greek yogurt, so I put some of my favorite yogurt (Lowfat milk and the cultures, nothing else mmmm) in a strainer lined with a coffee filter. Drank the whey. Yeah I actually like it. I used that in place of the Greek yogurt and thinned it with a little skim milk to a pourable but still thick consistancy. I forgot not to double the dill but we both like it a lot anyway. My friend can’t eat salt since she had a blood pressure emergency earlier this week so I left out the salt. It needed a little something so I added about 1/8 tsp of chipoltle and a little more onion powder. It turned out very well. Thank you.
Jodi – Tremendous! Glad it worked out!
Ranch lovers unite!! Thanks so much tiffany! 🙂
Naomi – LOL! You’re welcome!