It’s no secret we Midwesterners LOVE our ranch dressing. We put it on everything from salads to pizza. My Homemade Pantry Ranch Dressing is zesty and creamy as a ranch dressing should be. All of the ingredients can probably be found in in your pantry or fridge making it something you can whip up at a moments notice.
This recipe came to be because I ran out of ranch a couple of years ago when I was scheduled to host my husband’s clients at home for dinner. I’d added ranch to my grocery pick-up order with all of the other ingredients needed for the dinner, but, somewhere along the way, that bottle of ranch disappeared and I found myself without a salad necessity. This would not do, especially for this group of true Midwestern Minnesota clients.
If you’ve read some of my other blog posts, you may be noticing a theme. If I can save myself from having to make the long drive back into town to the store by making it from scratch, I will try! And, that’s how my Pantry Ranch came to be! We haven’t purchased a bottle of ranch dressing since.
If you really want to go for homemade, check out my recent How-to-Do blog post: Make Easy Homemade Mayonnaise.
What makes this ranch dressing so special?
- The not-so-secret ingredient in this ranch dressing is pickle juice. Most homemade ranch dressings call for vinegar, but I don’t always have white vinegar in my house, but I do always have a jar of pickles. I really love using a spicy dill pickle juice for this recipe for an extra zesty dressing. No more wasted pickle juice!
- If you google homemade ranch recipes, almost every recipe will call for fresh herbs. While those dressings are no doubt delicious, I don’t always have access to fresh herbs and holy smokes fresh herbs can be expensive at the grocery store. This recipe gets the job deliciously done with dried herbs and spices.
- Save on the plastic! I found these fantastic glass dressing bottles on Amazon. They are the perfect size, fit easily in your fridge, very reasonably priced, and have a wide enough mouth they’re easy to clean.
- If you’re missing an herb or spice in the recipe don’t be afraid to make a swap. You could swap basil for the oregano, add more black pepper if you don’t have white pepper, or swap the crushed red pepper flakes for 1/2 the amount of cayenne if you like it EXTRA zesty.
Modifications for different dietary needs or desires
It only takes some super simple modifications for this recipe to be made to meet a variety of dietary categories. Everybody deserves to have ranch dressing in their life, right?
- Fat-free – skip the mayonnaise and use a full cup of 0% fat Greek yogurt
- Dairy-free – sub your favorite dairy free sour cream or plain yogurt for the Greek yogurt
- Vegan – sub cashew sour cream for the sour cream, vegan mayo for the mayo, and leave out the Worcestershire sauce
- This recipe should be gluten-free, but you’ll need to check all of your ingredients if your on a strict gluten free diet
- Pickle haters – white vinegar will work if you must skip the pickles
Alden’s Homemade Pantry Ranch Dressing
Equipment
- measuring spoons
- mixing bowl with pour spout
- fork or whisk
- glass dressing bottle or mason jar
Ingredients
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- ½ cup greek yogurt or sour cream I use 0% fat greek yogurt
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons dill pickle or spicy pickle juice
- 3-4 dashes worcestershire sauce
- 2-3 dashes of your favorite hot sauce I use the green Tobasco
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic, approximately three cloves prepared garlic works great here!
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon ground white pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoons dried dill
- 2 tablespoons dried parsley
- ½ teaspoon salt + more to taste
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flake optional
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients together in a liquid measuring cup with a pour spout
- If the dressing is too thick, adjust consistency by incorporating additional liquid one measure at a time until desired consistency is achieved, depending on your tastes as follows: buttermilk – 1 -3 teaspoons OR pickle juice – 1-2 teaspoons OR water – 1-3 teaspoons
- Transfer the dressing to a glass container and refrigerate for 1-2 hours prior to serving for the best flavor
- Will keep for up to two weeks in your refrigerator
Notes
- The measurements in this recipe are approximations. When I make Pantry Ranch, I don’t measure a single ingredient exactly, I just eyeball the ingredients with a few simple tricks. For dried herbs and spices, a teaspoon is about what will cover the bottom of the lid of it’s jar. For liquid ingredients, using an moderate pour,1 second gets me a tablespoon of liquid.
- Simple modifications can be made to meet a variety of dietary desires
- Dairy-free – sub your favorite dairy free sour cream or plain yogurt for the Greek yogurt. Mayo is dairy-free.
- Fat-free – skip the mayonnaise and use a full cup of 0% fat Greek yogurt
- You can thin the dressing using additional pickle juice, water, or fat-free milk or buttermilk or leave it thick for more of a dip like consistency.
- Sweet or bread & butter pickle juice is not recommended.
Nutrition
What’s your favorite food to put ranch on? Happy ranchin’!
Discover more from THE HONEY, I'M HUNGRY BLOG
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
[…] Alden’s Homemade Pantry Ranch […]