Buttermilk Ranch Dressing

The BEST homemade buttermilk ranch dressing!  Buttermilk and loads of fresh herbs are the stars of this easy homemade sour cream based dressing - you will never go back to store bought again!

Creamy dressings are probably my favourite dressings of all time.  I mean there's nothing wrong with a good vinaigrette, but the creamy stuff is what my dressing dreams are made of.  The queen of all the creamy dressings is ranch dressing. More specifically, buttermilk ranch. It's the perfect complement for everything from salad, to dipping veggies to pizza.

This ranch dressing is everything a ranch dressing should be: creamy, tangy, and full of fresh herbs. It comes together in minutes so it's easy to prepare, and the taste is just so much better and fresher than anything store bought.

Why you are going to love this!

• Fresh & flavorful - the flavor from the fresh herbs take this dressing over the top and makes it so much better than any ranch dressing that comes from a package.
• Quick & easy - just chop some herbs, dump and stir!
• Family favourite - ranch dressing is a much loved favourite in households everywhere. Use it for salads, sandwiches, as a veggie dip or as a flavour enhancer anywhere you would use sour cream.
• Real food recipe - store bought dressings may be convenient, but they are usually filled with chemicals and low quality ingredients. Making your own ranch dressing from scratch is healthier for you.

Ingredients

• buttermilk - an authentic ranch ingredient giving it some tang. If you don't have buttermilk you can substitute with yogurt or 1 Tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice with enough milk added to it to equal 1 cup.
• sour cream - I use more sour cream in my ranch dressing than most recipes. I love the extra tang it brings to it over the traditional mayo as a secondary ingredient.
• mayo - I like to use just a bit of mayo round out the flavour a bit.
• chives, parsley, dill - the stars of the dressing. The amounts and proportions between these herbs is not important. Use as much as you like of any or all of them to customize the flavour to your tastes. Fresh is always better than dried for the best tasting dressing.
• lemon juice - again for the tang, and to enhance the flavour of the dressing with a bit of acid.
• garlic & onion powder - bring a bit of umani to the dressing. I love using garlic powder here instead of fresh because I don't like a strong garlic flavour in my ranch dressing.

How to make it

This dressing is so flavourful and SO easy to make!  Like all my favourite recipes, the key to the flavour is starting with fresh ingredients - specifically fresh herbs and the more the better.  I like a balance between the parsley, chives and dill, but feel free to adjust this depending on your tastes!

1. Add the ingredients to a medium sized bowl and stir it with a spoon until all the herbs and flavourings are distributed evenly through the dressing.

How to use it

Ranch is such a versatile dressing, and besides making a great salad it goes great with so many other things!

• Use it as a dressing and make our chicken bacon ranch salad.
• Swap out the sour cream and seasonings in this recipe for ranch dressing and make creamy ranch mashed potatoes
• Top some buffalo chicken nachos with it.
• Try it drizzled over blackened fish tacos!

Tips and tricks:

• For the best flavour make your dressing a few hours ahead of time. letting the dressing sit in the refrigerator for a couple of hours gives the flavours from the herbs and spices time to blend in with the dressing base.
• If you would like to lighten this dressing up, switch out the sour cream for Greek or Skyr yogurt
• The herbs are flexible - if you don't have dill, don't sweat it!  Add more parsley and chives etc.
• This dressing will stay fresh in an airtight container for up to a week.
• To make ranch dip - leave out the buttermilk and double the sour cream

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