Ranch dressing on salad. In a sandwich. As a dip. On pizza. Yum, yum.
Ranch dressing is perhaps one of the most important condiments in this great country.
However, it’s not always filled with good-for-you ingredients.
For one thing, most homemade ranch is made with mayonnaise. Now don’t get me wrong, I love mayo. But it does usually contain refined oil, unless you make it yourself with olive oil (which I have yet to try), so I eat it in moderation.
This recipe uses sour cream instead of mayo, and if you ask me, it’s way more delicious than store-bought ranch!
Speaking of which… just in case any politician out there needs some material for their next filibuster , I would like to now list out the ingredients in a popular ranch dressing from your local supermarket:
Soybean Oil, Water, Egg Yolk, Sugar, Salt, Cultured Nonfat Buttermilk, Natural Flavors (Soy), Spices. Less than 1% of Dried Garlic, Dried Onion, Vinegar, Phosphoric Acid, Xanthan Gum, Modified Food Starch, Monosodium Glutamate, Artificial Flavors, Disodium Phosphate, Sorbic Acid and Calcium Disodium EDTA as Preservatives, Disodium Inosinate and Disodium Guanylate.
And now, I would like to list the ingredients in this easy recipe:
Sour cream, garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, chopped fresh dill, chopped fresh parsley, vinegar, buttermilk.
Mine is better. Not that this is a competition. (But if it were, I would win.)
There are only three easy steps to making this dressing. I don’t usually measure all these ingredients precisely, but if you are a numbers-only person, please refer to the recipe card at the bottom.
First, make a paste from one clove of garlic and some salt.
This is super easy- all you do is mash the garlic slightly, sprinkle the salt over it, and use the tines of a fork to mash into a consistent paste. (You will probably have to mash for about a minute to get it just right).
Then, add the garlic paste in a bowl to all of the other ingredients except for the buttermilk.
If you are using this is a dip, you are done! If you want it to be thinner and more dressing-like for a salad, add some buttermilk while stirring constantly until it is the desired consistency.
Note: I did not have buttermilk when I made mine, so I just used regular whole milk. You can also use a mixture of whole milk and plain yogurt as a substitute for buttermilk.
Store in your fridge for about one week.
Here’s the printable recipe for this yummy homemade ranch dressing with no mayo!
Ranch Dressing / Dip (no mayo)
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups sour cream
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoons white vinegar
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- approximately 1/4 cup buttermilk to thin dressing out optional
Instructions
- Make paste out of the garlic by mashing the clove with the side of a large knife, adding salt on top, and using a fork to mash together until a past-like consistency. Add to medium-sized bowl.
- Add sour cream, herbs, pepper, vinegar, oil, and cayenne pepper to the bowl. Mix.
- At this point, you will have a thick ranch dip. To make a thinner dressing, add buttermilk a little at a time, stirring constantly, until you have reached the desired thickness.
Notes
- If you don't have buttermilk, you can use regular whole milk or a mixture of whole milk and plain yogurt as a substitution.
- The provided nutrition information does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. Feel free to calculate it yourself using this calculator or by adding the recipe to Yummly.
Nutrition
Nutrition Information Disclaimer
The provided nutrition information is my best estimate and reflects one serving of the recipe (total servings indicated at top of recipe card). It does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. I use an automatic API to calculate this information. Feel free to calculate it yourself using one of these tools:
Summer
Overall good, my mom really liked it so that’s why I gave it 5 stars. Me personally I would rate it a 3, it is good, I’m just not a big fan of the taste.
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad your mom liked it, and thanks for leaving her review lol! Feel free to adjust the recipe to suit your tastes – I personally like to use very little fresh garlic in it and will often use herbs that I just have on hand. Hope that helps!
Laura Formby
I’m dong true keto and my doctor does not want me using buttermilk or milk. How would I thin this recipe down for a dressing? Would heavy whipping cream still be too thick?
Elizabeth Lindemann
Heavy whipping cream would definitely work to thin this out, but I’d double check that you can have it with a “true keto” diet as cream is similar to milk in that it has carbs! If not, you might just want to try water to thin it out, or even a little oil or combination of oil and water. Hope that helps!
Kirsten
Hi, haven’t made yet. Why are the ingredients in decimal instead of fractions?
Elizabeth Lindemann
When you adjust the servings on the slider bar (it appears if you hover over the servings in the recipe card), the ingredients are changed to decimals, so I think maybe you adjusted the servings by accident! If you reset it back (it’s 18 servings) that should take care of it. But just in case, here are the ingredients and their amounts:
1 1/2 cups sour cream
1 clove garlic
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons white vinegar
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
approximately 1/4 cup buttermilk to thin dressing out
Cheryl Buchanan
I don’t eat ranch dressing, however my husband does. He has chronic kidney disease and off the shelf dressing is a no-no due to all the preservatives. Today I read labels until I was blue in the face. Nothing was safe for him. Some even had titanium in the ingredients! I have that in my knee joints so I don’t believe it should be in food UGH, I will try this recipe to save his health….. also the smell of mayo sickens me so there is no chance I would mayo ever.
Elizabeth
Hope your husband likes it!
Tracy
I was really excited to make this. I’ve been looking at homemade ranch recipes for a few days since my son had a lot of dill in his garden and I had buttermilk to use up. It was nice to find a recipe that doesn’t have mayo, as my family isn’t a fan. I followed the recipe exactly. Something just tastes really off to me though. I’ll let it sit in the fridge for a bit and try it again before I throw it out.
Elizabeth
Oh no, sorry something tasted off to you! Not sure what to suggest… it might just be a matter of personal taste preference (and I hope it wasn’t because one of your ingredients went bad!). Better luck next time :-)
Ann
I used oregano, marjoram, basil, and some dried chives from the garden for the herbs, LOTS of fresh ground black pepper and red pepper flakes. Balsamic vinegar was added for a hint of sweetness along with some ACV plus lemon zest. Delicious!
Add some really hot horseradish to this and you have a great condiment for beef and lamb!
Thanks!
Ann
I don’t know if you have made it… get some fresh horseradish root and make horseradish from scratch. The result is very rewarding!!!
Elizabeth
Love these suggestions!! I was just saying the other day how I wanted to use horseradish more often. This is a great place to start ????
Christine
Definitely going to try! What is the serving size here ?
Elizabeth
Hope you like it! If you’re asking ME what a serving size is, I’d say as much as you want to eat (I don’t pay much attention to serving sizes!). But a quick google search told me that the norm for ranch is 1-2 tablespoons. Sorry I can’t be more help!
Melissa Robbins
Can I use cucumber to thin instead of milk
Elizabeth
I’ve never thought of that as an alternative! It would be similar to a tsatziki sauce, which is usually relatively thick. I think it would be delicious, but I don’t know how well it would thin out, unless you keep the liquid from the cucumbers in the mix.
Ann
Mince it really fine (unless you make it in a blender) but remove the seeds. Cukes have lots of water so I it should help thin out the dressing as well as add a nice flavor. Actually, start with a tzatziki sauce and add the other ingredients. Since yogurt can be used instead of sour cream …
giramuk's kitchen
I have been looking for a good ranch dressing to try, and this sounds perfect!! I like that I can sub Mayo for Sour cream! My husband isn’t a big fan of Ranch Dressing, but he’s only had store bought – so can’t wait to make this!
Elizabeth
Hooray! I hope you like it! :-)
Eco Friendly Homemaking
I really want to try this dressing soon!
Elizabeth
Hope you do! Come back and let me know how it turns out! I made a whole other batch for this week- we go through it so quickly :-)
Kathleen Givens
What if you used fat-free Greek yogurt instead of sour cream?
Elizabeth
I think it totally would work! You can basically use Greek yogurt and sour cream interchangeably in most recipes and as a substitute for mayo.