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Homemade Ranch Dressing

History of Ranch Dressing

Homemade ranch dressing.

Exploration in the kitchen is fun, especially when it comes to customizing recipes to suite your tastes.  One of my favorites is the simple, but loveable ranch dressing.  Whether you drizzle it on a salad, dip veggies in it, add it to a burger, or use it as a cooling sauce for your hot wings, ranch dressing is an American staple.

Made with buttermilk, the dressing was developed by Steve Henson and his wife Gayle who served it to their guests in Santa Barbara, CA, at their dude ranch that they named, yes, you guessed it, Hidden Valley Ranch.  The Henson’s expanded to selling packets of seasoning, and then in 1972 opened a factory to mass produce it.

Shortly after that, Clorox bought the Hidden Valley Ranch brand for $8 million.

How much do we love ranch dressing today?  It is No. 1.  It’s shipments are double that of its closest competitor, blue cheese.

One of the initial reformulations Clorox made on the seasoning packet was to add buttermilk flavoring so that only milk was needed to make the dressing.

As a result, the packet and bottled dressing have lost their pizzazz.

Make Your Own Ranch Dressing

Ditch the packets. Nothing beats making this dressing from scratch.

Add a jug of buttermilk to your shopping list this week.

Time to make your own and make it your own!

In addition to buttermilk, this dressing needs mayo, sour cream, herbs, and garlic (my personal favorite!).  Experiment with the ratios, the herbs, and the garlic to make your own personal version.  Who knows, it might be worth millions one day!

Homemade Ranch Dressing

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This dressing is addictive and will forever break you of buying the packets of seasoning that you mix with milk – this is a good thing. Because nothing beats homemade ranch dressing from scratch!

• Prep Time: 0 hours
• Cook Time: 0 hours
• Total Time: 0 hours
• Yield: 1 3/4 cups 1x

Ingredients

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• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 1 tablespoon chives, chopped
• 1 tablespoon dill, chopped
• 1 tablespoon parsley, chopped
• 2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• dash of cayenne
• salt
• pepper

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Instructions

1. Mix together all the ingredients in a medium bowl.
2. Taste and adjust the seasoning as needed.
3. Add any additional herbs or spices to sway the taste to your liking.
4. If the mixture is thick, add more buttermilk.
5. Drizzle, dip, and pour to your heart’s content.

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 2 Tablespoons
• Calories: 450.09 kcal
• Sugar: 2.32 g
• Sodium: 343.65 mg
• Fat: 48.06 g
• Saturated Fat: 11.47 g
• Trans Fat: 0.3 g
• Carbohydrates: 3.3 g
• Fiber: 0.24 g
• Protein: 1.85 g
• Cholesterol: 45.63 mg