Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Homemade Ranch Dressing and Dip

Homemade ranch dressing is very easy to make and tastes so much better than the store-bought kind.  Ranch is of course delicious on salads, but it is also great on as a dip for veggies, pizza, sandwiches, and even hard-boiled eggs. Give it a try!

Homemade Ranch Dressing and Dip
½ c. sour cream or milk kefir
½ c. mayonnaise, preferably homemade*
Heaping 1 Tb onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder or 1 clove minced garlic
3 Tb dried parsley
2 Tb finely grated Parmesan
¼ tsp pepper
Yogurt, buttermilk, or kefir, optional
1-2 Tb flax oil**, optional

Combine all ingredients and stir well.  For dressing, add a little yogurt, buttermilk, or kefir to thin to desired consistency.  Chill for at least 1 hour, or preferably 3 hours.

Tasty Tip: The onion powder is key to this recipe.  If, after being chilled for a few hours, the dressing doesn’t taste quite ranch-y enough, add more onion powder.
Preservation Tip: Using homemade mayo helps the ranch keep longer, not that it stays around long at our house anyway. Regardless, it will last for at least a week in the fridge.

*If you're using store-bought mayo, try to avoid soy and preservatives.  The kind we used to buy is Hain’s safflower mayo.
**Only a small amount of flax oil is needed as it is very high in omega 3's. Make sure you buy flax oil that is refrigerated, as the high omega 3 content makes flax oil go rancid easily. Also, keep your flax oil refrigerated and never heat it.

This post is part of Monday Mania at The Healthy Home Economist, Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade, Pennywise Platter at The Nourishing Gourmet and Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop

10 comments:

Laura said...

Great Post. I love the ranch that I make at home currently... but yours sounds really tasty. I am definitely open to trying out a new recipe. I need to make a new batch soon anyway, I'll let you know how it goes :)

Emily T. Thomas said...

I recently saw a link on whole food nutrition for penzey's ranch spice blend...all natural. Your recipe looks just like mine, minus the homemade mayo - I just use Hain all antural. can't do it all!Blessings!
LIB
http://bit.ly/9JkHLA

annies home said...

I should totally try this recipe my kids love ranch dressing and this is so much better for them

Melissa @ Dyno-mom said...

Ranch is definitely a kid pleaser, thanks for the recipe! I am in from Real Food Weds.

Lauren said...

Bookmarked; looks lovely!

Shu Han said...

wow it's a lot simpler than I thought! I've got a ton of eggs to use up, and am planning to hardboil a few, so this sounds like a great dressing for egg salads (:

Danielle said...

I'll have to try your recipe - I've never used mayonnaise in mine, and it always seemed to lack something in the flavor department. Not that the kids noticed! Thank you for the inspiration.

Heather said...

Made this for lunch today. Super yum. I didn't even mind my daughter eating it by the spoonful. Thanks for sharing!

Liz said...

We made this last night and really enjoyed it. Thanks for the recipe!

Hibber said...

I made this for salad. I reduced the onion powder by a lot. Good.