Homemade Ranch Dressing

For a long time I've been under the impression that ranch dressing was a magical concoction that I'd never be able to make myself. Oh, how I was wrong! Not only is it possible, but it's easy to make your own delicious, healthy ranch dressing.

Check this project out on Make: Projects!

Step 1 Ingredients and Tools

Ingredients:
.5 cup mayonnaise
.5 cup whole yogurt
.25 cup 2% milk
2 tbsp. chopped celery leaves
1.5 tbsp. chopped fresh dill
1.5 tbsp. diced onion (sweet or red)
1 clove garlic, diced
1 tsp. dijon mustard
2 tsp. lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

Tools:
medium mixing bowl
whisk
measuring cups
knife
cutting board
food processor (optional but nice)

Comments

[Spookeriffic]

Love this recipe, but I think I'm going to give it a try with Greek Yogurt. It's been an experiment I've been wanting to try...

[kules1]

awesome! exactly what I needed--so tired of wanting my late night grub and being told that restaurants don't serve ranch with my fries or pizza. tonight i made my ranch following your recipe. so yum and so easy! thanks

[smccomb lallithan]

My 8 year old daughter loves ranch dressing, does anyone know if ranch can be canned. wasn't sure if the heat would spoil the mayo.

[Nabil]

Totally recomended!! I served it with buffalo wings and celery sticks and it was a blast! (still full)

[blauschmetterling]

How long does this last in the fridge? I'd love to try, but I don't have a lot of free time so I would probably make a big batch at once. If it doesn't last to long do you think I could freeze some?

[bekathwia]

About a week. Not sure about freezing, give it a try!

[ANTQNUT]

Can this stuff be made vegan?

[bekathwia]

I wad vegan for 6 years, and I never found a ranch dressing I liked. You should be able to try it with the Silk plain yogurt and vegannaisse, though, so let me know if it works out for you!

[Spartan857]

Holy crap is this stuff good! I bought the stuff to make it earlier, mixed everything together and its the best ranch I've ever had, makes wishbone taste like crap! I added some bacon bits to it, even better!

[crickle321]

Your salt container looks good. Are you an Alton Brown fan?

[bekathwia]

You betchya!

[Scarletti24]

Oh darn. I was all set to comment on the Alton Browness of the salt container then I saw crickle's comment. Heh Any who, very cool recipe. I might try it out with my spinach dip. I've been looking for more ways to make it more homemade and less bottled and packaged ingredients. Where did you find that salt container BTW??

[crickle321]

Heh, it's funny how so many people associate that salt bowl with Mr AB. You shouldn’t fret about your comment though. After I entered my comment I found that RichardBronosky already alluded to the item seven hours previous to mine. Bekathwia- lovely instructable :)

[bekathwia]

http://catalog.fullpond.com/altonbrown/category.aspx?CatalogName=General&CategoryName=All+Merchandise =D

[Scarletti24]

Thanks. I'm putting in an order for the salt cellar and the plunger!

[Punchabearinnamouf]

Damn it I was thinking about making this instructable!

[julibelle]

did you know that there really is a 'Hidden Valley Ranch'? The actual home of the original Ranch dressing. It was a working/guest ranch in foothills of Santa Barbara. The dressing was so poular, the Rancher and his wife used to make their own packets of (gasp!) dry ingredients and sold them at our local Jordano's markets. A 'food scout' discovered them and the rights were sold to the Kraft Co in the late 60's.... "Making' Ranch dressing by mixing the buttermilk + mayo + packet was probably my first solo cooking experience. Yours sounds delicious too!

[fritsie123]

The dressing is nice enough, but please also tell about the homemade beer! :-) Also, what are the vegetables on the picture? I can see sugar snaps and celery, but what are those white carrotty things? Really hope you will make an 'ible about the beer!

[FaithHopeLove]

I think they are parsnips .... looks very much like them

[bekathwia]

I can assure you they are carrots, just yellow ones is all. They're very flavorful!

[bekathwia]

There's a rollover note on that picture showing which veggies are which. The snow peas are from our garden, and we got the yellow carrots from our local Community Supported Agriculture pickup.

[mdeblasi1]

With regard to white carroty things, I never pass up a chance to lobby for parsnips, the most wonderful vegetable that no one knows about. They taste like parsley, very herbaceous. yet crunchy. Sometimes the cores get tough, you can use those in soup and stew. Give them a try with some of this delicious ranch dressing.

[DeliciousMystic]

I also would like to give a nod to parsnips.. cut into sticks toss with olive oil or butter and garlic.. sprinkle with parmesan.. bake at 350.. you will love me for this.. :)

[Nesagwa]

Throw a few in with your potatoes for mashing.

[Mechroneal]

Great Instructable! Is this similar to ranch 'Dip', which is slightly thicker than dressing and less tart? I am not a fan of the dressing (Ranch in general), but I love dip!

[bekathwia]

Yep, you can just leave out the milk to make it thicker! Tastes the same.

[greenapplefancy]

This looks terrific and I love the yellow carrots! I very rarely get a ranch I really love from a bottle, so I'm excited to try this.

[aeray]

I like to use buttermilk, particularly the Bulgarian kind, to give it a little extra tang.

[kehumbert]

Thank you for the recipe! I quit buying ranch because of the MSG - now we can make our own! :)

[RichardBronosky]

She stole Alton Brown's salt! ;-)

[elchupahueso]

I see somebody watches Good Eats. :)

[genuineleathersoul]

nice

[squishpink]

fantastic!

[Dandeman321]

Looks delicious! I've always wondered what went into ranch. I'll have to try this out. Nice instructable!

[MetroChumpy]

Can't wait to try this, it's impossible to find yummy store-bought ranch!