I haven’t bought bottled salad dressing for the past three years now, and this recipe has been a favorite of ours for the past several years. I love being able to whip up a fresh, homemade delicious dressing, ready to serve over the day’s salad.
The addition of homemade yogurt is a frugal ingredient, and adds nourishing probiotics and healthy dairy fats. (Commercial versions typically contain an odd assortment of chemical preservatives/flavors, machine-processed fats, artificial sweeteners or corn syrup, MSG, etc. Ew.) Many ranch dressing recipes call for mayonnaise, but this one doesn’t!
Our oil & vinegar-based “Perfect Salad Dressing” is still a favorite, but we’ve also had some requests for my homemade ranch dressing. So, here it is!
This dressing is delicious served on a green salad, cobb salad, or on taco salad meals, or even as a dip for French Fries! You can also use it in recipes that call for bottled ranch dressing as an ingredient.
Ranch Dressing
1/3 Cup Buttermilk (or Whole Milk + 1/4 tsp. Vinegar; White Wine or Apple Cider Vinegars are good)
1/2 Cup Plain Yogurt
2 cloves crushed or minced Garlic or approx. 1 tsp. Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp. Lemon Juice (more or less, to taste)
1/2 tsp. Sea Salt
1/2 tsp. ground Celery Seed
1/2 tsp. organic Evaporated Cane Juice Sugar or Maple Syrup (or warmed Honey, thinned enough to stir in)
1/4 tsp. freshly ground Pepper
1/2 tsp. dried Parsley
Dash of PaprikaCombine all ingredients well with a small French whisk or in a blender. Taste, and adjust seasonings as desired. Refrigerate. Best if made an hour or two before serving, so that flavors can meld, but can be served immediately if you’re running short on time!
Variation: To serve as a dip, use strained yogurt (“yogurt cheese”) or sour cream, and only mix in a little buttermilk until it reaches your desired consistency.
Adapted from The Whole Foods Market Cookbook
Do you make your own Salad Dressing?
This post is linked to:
Tasty Tuesday
Tempt My Tummy Tuesday
Real Food Wednesdays at Kelly the Kitchen Kop
Hearth & Soul Hop
looks like a fantastic recipe!
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You had me at “french fries”! haha, j/k… I stopped buying ranch because I know I can make it myself (without msg, corn syrup, etc) but I don’t have a good recipe. And yours doesn’t start with mayonnaise! I wrote it down; it’s going on the inside of the cupboard where all the important recipes are!
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Michele Reply:
January 11th, 2011 at 9:22 am
@wendy, Thanks! Enjoy! Adjust it as you make it, so that it tastes just the way you want it (more or less garlic, salt, etc.).
I like fries, too.
Blessings,
Michele
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That salad looks great! Miriam@Meatless Meals For Meat Eaters
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how long will it last in the fridge?
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Michele Reply:
January 11th, 2011 at 9:21 am
@loridean, It will actually last awhile, since yogurt keeps pretty well. I make it in small batches, so I don’t keep a lot around, but I would guess it lasts a week or two.
Blessings,
Michele
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I also make my own dressings. I store them in quart canning jars. I like your recipe and will have to try it!
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My kids are addicted to Ranch dressing – I’d love to try a homemade version! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
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Michele Reply:
January 11th, 2011 at 9:23 am
@Melinda, It’s definitely a “kid food” isn’t it?
Enjoy!
Blessings,
Michele
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Thanks for sharing this recipe! I can’t wait to try it. I have been sticking mainly to vinaigrettes because they have identifiable ingredients. This sounds good, as well as healthy.
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I just love your Ranch Dressing. Thank you for sharing and you have a great week!
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My kids love ranch dressing, I hate the store bought kind – I can’t wait to try your recipe I think we will all be happy with it! Thanks for sharing this with us at the Hearth and Soul Hop!
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Michele, you provide such tasty recipes!
I made this dressing yesterday and couldn’t find enough salad to eat it on . . . YUM! The kids and I loved it.
Thank you!
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So excited to try this recipe! How long does it keep? a week? 3 days?
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Michele Reply:
January 13th, 2011 at 11:52 am
@Steph (The Cheapskate Cook), It will actually last awhile, since yogurt keeps pretty well. I make it in small batches, so I don’t keep a lot around, but I would guess it lasts a week or two in the fridge.
Thanks!
Michele
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[...] Homemade Ranch Dressing (no weird ingredients – yay) from Frugal Granola [...]
Looks wonderful. I am on a salad kick right now so will stock up to make your dressing this weekend.
You might be interested in trying my husbands ginger salad dressing. It is to die for! you can find the recipe on my blog here: http://www.adoctorandanurse.com/healthy-recipes/eat-your-leafy-greens/
Thank you for sharing. Jana
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Ok! This looks really good! I must try this! Thanks for posting!
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Oooh, I have to try this. Ranch has been one of the store bought hold outs in our fridge b/c hubs likes it on his salad, but I cringe every time I get it out. And the kids are obsessed with ranch, but I hate letting them eat it.
I love that this doesn’t have mayo in it, because one reason I’ve avoided making my own ranch is that I feel like then I have to make my own mayo, because if I use store bought mayo that just kind of defeats the point, doesn’t it? And making homemade mayo just kind of overwhelms me. Anyway… thanks so much for sharing this and I can’t wait to try it!
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Does anyone have a recipe for powdered Ranch dressing? I use Hidden Valley ranch packets in many recipes, but would love to be able to make my own homemade! I’ve tried making it myself before, but it ended up tasting awful.
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Michele Reply:
January 16th, 2011 at 8:34 pm
I mixed up one like this recipe, adding in my homemade yogurt: http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1815,148163-251207,00.html
Blessings,
Michele
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[...] Homemade Ranch Dressing recipe (without mayo!) — I am definitely going to try this. [...]
Ooh.. This sounds so good and easy.. I don’t make my own salad dressings other than the basic oil-vinegar ones but you’ve changed that.. Am gonna try this out this week for sure.. Thanks!
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how many serving doe sthis make
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