Homemade Ranch Dressing and Dip Recipe | Valerie's Kitchen (2024)

This Homemade Ranch Dressing and Dip recipe takes just minutes to prepare and can be made with either dried or fresh herbs. It’s easy to customize with a variety of add-ins and is a sure-fire way to ensure your family will eat more salads and veggies.

Even though summer is generally thought of as “salad season” I’m sharing this no-fuss recipe for creamy, fresh Homemade Ranch Dressing and Dip with you all just as we head into fall. There’s just no reason why we shouldn’t eat salad every day or at least several times a week ALL year long.

I’m bound and determined to get an herb garden going at our new house one day soon but until then, I’m off to the store to buy fresh herbs every time I need them. If you’ve ever added up the cost of making homemade dressings with fresh herbs, you know that it ends up being less expensive to just buy a nice bottle of prepared dressing at the store.

The good news is that you can create this delicious Homemade Ranch Dressing using dried herbs you’ve already got on hand. In fact, I almost always have everything involved in this recipe stocked in my kitchen so I can easily whip it up anytime. If you’ve got fresh herbs on hand by all means use them! This recipe works wonderfully with either.

This classic Ranch is fresh, creamy and doesn’t include any of the unusual additives you find in store-bought dressings. Making it at home also allows you to control the level of seasoning and and the consistency. You can keep it simple or get creative with a variety of add-ins.

How to Crush Garlic

The first step is to crush a clove of garlic. Have you ever crushed garlic? Let’s do it.

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.

Scrape up the paste and transfer it to a small mixing bowl.

All of the remaining ingredients go into the bowl and are whisked together with the crushed garlic. Sour cream (I always use the light variety), buttermilk, mayonnaise, a touch of fresh lemon juice, and the herbs – parsley and dill – along with some onion powder, garlic powder, and little fresh ground black pepper.

I almost always have fresh parsley on hand but when I went to make the batch of dressing pictured in this post – POOF – my fresh parsley was nowhere to be found. This batch was made entirely from dried herbs and it was perfect.

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 four to five days if stored properly in the fridge.

Fresh Herbs vs. Dried Herbs – How Much to Use

Dried herbs pack more punch than fresh, so a little goes a long way. If you are looking at a recipe that calls for dried herbs and you want to substitute fresh, the general rule is to use three times the amount called for. For instance, if the recipe calls for 1/2 teaspoon of dried parsley this translates to 1-1/2 teaspoons fresh.

You can easily control the consistency. Add less buttermilk if you want it thicker to use as a dip and more if you want a nice, pour-able salad dressing. It may thicken a bit after it sits in the fridge so you can always add additional buttermilk to loosen it up later, if needed.

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.

Variations

With some simple add-ins you can take this classic 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 1/4 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.