This classic homemade ranch dressing recipe is the best ranch dressing you will ever taste! Creamy, tangy, and bursting with herbs, this ranch salad dressing will quickly become a family favorite.
A simple, made-from-scratch, homemade salad dressing will turn any salad into a delicious dish, bursting with flavor! We especially love this recipe in the spring and summer, when fresh vegetables and greens abound.
This homemade ranch recipe is absolutely a game changer. The combination of sour cream and milk is a creamy base with the perfect consistency, and fresh ingredients make a huge difference.
Use this homemade version to top salads with sourdough croutons (or gluten-free croutons!). It is also a delicious dipping sauce. I’ve heard those in the South love ranch for French fries, fried chicken, and chicken nuggets. Us Midwesterners love it for dipping pizza!
The classic ranch flavor in this dressing is so much better than the bottled stuff! Skip the hidden valley ranch and whip up your own homemade ranch in no time with simple ingredients, minimal time, and bold flavor..
If you love making your own salad dressings, try some of my other favorite recipes – lemon vinaigrette, blueberry vinaigrette, or a simple honey mustard!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Simply delicious – This homemade ranch dressing recipe is truly much more delicious than the store-bought stuff! You get all the delicious ranch taste but none of the added ingredients found in store-bought ranch.
Easy to make – No special equipment or fancy ingredients are need to make your own ranch – just a blender or medium bowl and whisk. This is a great recipe for kids to help because it’s so easy!
Customizable – Want more garlic flavor? Prefer to use plain greek yogurt? Like the taste of real buttermilk? Make the original recipe the first time. Then, switch those things out the next time!
Ingredients
Mayo – I love using homemade avocado oil mayo. You can use homemade mayo or store-bought jars, whichever you prefer.
Sour cream – I sometimes make my own sour cream. Store-bought will work well, too.
A full ingredient list with exact amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
Tools You May Need
Storage container – I like to use mason jars.
Mason jar straw lids – These are my favorite way to easily pour right from the mason jar lid.
Recipe Modifications and Variations
Buttermilk ranch dressing – Switch out the regular milk for buttermilk.
Mexican ranch dressing – Switch up the original dressing with this Tex-Mex inspired variation.
Kefir ranch dressing – One of my favorite homemade dressings, this kefir ranch is a delicious way to add beneficial bacteria to your favorite foods.
How to Make Ranch Dressing
Step 1: Place all ingredients into a blender or bowl and combine until smooth and creamy.
Step 2: Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to two weeks.
Tips
- You can use dried herbs or fresh herbs. Whatever you have on hand will work great.
- Use a bit less milk for a thicker ranch (or a thicker ranch dip) or a bit more for a thinner dressing.
- If you have a basic Oster blender, you can just put the ingredients in a normal mouth mason jar, screw the blender base onto the jar itself, and blend it right in the mason jar.
Recipe FAQs
Ranch dressing can sometimes have a long ingredient list, but usually includes a creamy base of mayo, milk, and sour cream, plus dry herbs. Like the best recipes I know, this one is simple and streamlined.
The key is using good quality ingredients. A combination of parsley, onion, and garlic gives that restaurant ranch flavor.
You simply blend up mayo, sour cream, milk, herbs, and lemon juice. The good news is that is it so easy to make from scratch and to your desired consistency. Any home cook can do it!
This recipe is good when in the fridge for up to two weeks.
More Recipes from the Farmhouse
- Homemade Herbed Butter
- Homemade Fermented Ketchup
- Easy Avocado Aioli
- Southwest Chicken Salad
- Chicken Salad With Grapes & Pecans
- Healthy Tuna Salad
If you try this recipe and love it, I would love it if you could come back and give it 5 stars! Tag me on Instagram @farmhouseonboone.
Homemade Ranch Dressing
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup mayo
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley , or 1 teaspoon fresh
- 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- cracked pepper to taste
- 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions
- Place ingredients into a blender or bowl and combine until smooth and creamy.
- Store in container in the fridge for up to two weeks.
Notes
- You can use dried or fresh herbs. Whatever you have on hand will work great.
- Use a bit less milk for a thicker ranch (or a thicker ranch dip) or a bit more for a thinner dressing.
- If you have a basic Oster blender, you can just put the ingredients in a normal mouth mason jar, screw the blender base onto the jar itself, and blend it right in the mason jar.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hi Lisa!
Thank you for all of these great recipes. What are your thoughts on honey? Is there raw honey vs. Manuka honey vs. other kinds. What kind do you tend to use?
Tiffany
I tend to use raw honey. We purchase it in bulk from a local amish store.
We tried the honey mustard dressing tonight. It was fabulous! Thank you for sharing!
So glad you enjoyed it! Have a great rest of your week!
I just made all three of these dressings! I was excited to substitute the honey with “dandelion honey” that I made earlier this year!
I am blown away by the ranch!!!!! Oh my goodness!!!! It’s a little runnier than the traditional store-bought that we’re used to…. But nothing that we can’t adjust to. The taste is wonderful!!! I’m very picky with my ranch and truly can’t say Enough about this one!!! Thank you for sharing!!
Homemade is always better in my opinion! Love that you used dandelion honey! Thank for sharing!
Is this prepared mustard or ground mustard? I love honey mustard!
I use prepared mustard for this recipe.
Anchovy paste in a tube is nice for Caesar dressing. Keep in fridge, keeps months.
I add parsley to all my dressings. I don’t ever buy fresh herbs and can’t grow any in my situation (nope, 3 windows in whole place and none are conducive to plants). But I buy 1 lb Mylar bags of parsley and put it in everything as parsley is rly good for you. Tuna, egg or chicken salad. Any entree, eggs, soups/stews. Only desserts escape parsley!
A little mustard helps bind any dressing too. I use dijon for this.
So perfect! Thank you.
I assumed that ACV was apple cider vinegar.
Interested in knowing what the ACO is in the lemon recipe. Not sure if it’s an avacado.
Thanks
ACV is Apple Cider Vinegar
EVOO was tripping me up and then I realized it is Extra Virgin Olive Oil 🙂
Have been using the ranch dressing for some time now and just love it!
I go through it so fast as I have a salad for lunch every day. Have gotten rid of all my other salad dressing only use this one 😊👍! Thank you for giving us this one👍
Awesome! So glad to hear that Anita!
These salad dressings sound wonderful. I started with the lemon. Wow! I am going to make a new one each week!
You are incredible!