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GET IT NOWOf all the dressings out there, ranch is my absolute favorite. And to say I’m in love with this homemade ranch dressing recipe is the understatement of the decade. It’s probably the best condiment I’ve ever made from scratch, and I always have a jar in my fridge. It’s the tangy, creamy, dreamy puzzle piece to complete my meals.
But it’s not just me. Ever since I posted my ranch dressing recipe back in 2017 (on the 2nd anniversary of Wholesome Yum!), what I’ve heard from readers has blown me away. Many people have told me that it tastes like Hidden Valley. Others argue that it’s even better. Some just call it the best ranch dressing. My favorite of all is those who say they make it every week. I get it, friends… me, too. If you don’t do that yet, make it with me and you will! 😉
Why You Need My Ranch Dressing Recipe
- Readers say it tastes better than Hidden Valley – And I agree. The flavor and texture will knock your store-bought favorites out of the park. It’s tangy, herby, smooth, rich, and creamy… in all the right ways.
- Make it in 5 minutes – One of the reasons this ranch dressing recipe is a staple in my kitchen is it’s so quick and easy to whip up!
- Clean, simple ingredients – With no sugar, corn, soy, or preservatives, my ranch is your feel-good alternative to store-bought. And for my low carb friends, you’ll be happy to know that this is keto friendly, too. (I even included it in my first keto cookbook.)
- Tastes great on everything – I use it as a dip, dressing, sauce, and even a marinade to enhance meals with its fresh, homemade flavor. It’ll cling perfectly to everything it touches, from crisp veggies to hot wings.
Ingredients & Substitutions
Here I explain the best ranch dressing ingredients, what each one does in my recipe, and substitution options. For measurements, see the recipe card.
- Mayonnaise – I usually whip up my own homemade mayo using avocado oil, but feel free to grab any store-bought mayo you like. It works just as well!
- Sour Cream & Lemon Juice – Traditional ranch contains buttermilk (or buttermilk powder), but I don’t usually have these on hand, so my homemade ranch dressing recipe uses sour cream and lemon juice to create the same tang. You can also substitute the sour cream for plain Greek yogurt, and the lemon juice for white vinegar.
- Dried Herbs – For that signature ranch flavor, you’ll need dried parsley, dill, and chives. Got only fresh herbs? Simply triply the amount — measure in tablespoons rather than teaspoons to keep things easy. I find it doesn’t last quite as long using fresh herbs, though.
- Spices – A mix of garlic powder, sea salt, onion powder, and black pepper does the trick. Fresh garlic (2 minced cloves) and freshly ground black pepper are amazing if you have them! And you can throw in a pinch of paprika for more flavor if you want.
- Milk Of Your Choice – This thins the dressing to just the right consistency. I usually use store-bought almond milk for here, but it’s amazing with my homemade almond milk, too. If nuts aren’t your thing, any milk will do — regular dairy milk, coconut milk, hemp milk, or even something creamier, like half and half or heavy cream for extra richness.
VARIATION: Want a dry ranch dressing mix?
It’s just as quick and easy to make a dry version with similar ingredients! See my ranch seasoning recipe for instructions.
How To Make Ranch Dressing
I have step-by-step photos here to help you visualize the recipe. For full instructions with amounts and temperatures, see the recipe card.
- Combine the ingredients. Whisk the ranch dressing ingredients together in a medium bowl. Add the milk last, gradually, until you reach the consistency you like.
- Chill to develop the flavors. This is optional, but enhances the flavor if you have time. Once I’ve made the ranch dressing recipe, I find that refrigerating it for at least an hour makes it taste better. But you can totally enjoy it right away, too!
My Recipe Tips
- Adjust the amount of milk based on how you’ll use it. I like to make my ranch a little thicker for a dip, or thinner for a salad dressing.
- The amount of milk you need can vary depending on your mayo. Some brands are very thick, while others are on the thinner side. So again, just adjust the thickness to your liking.
- Homemade ranch dressing is usually thicker straight from the fridge. This is normal, and not a problem! I don’t usually need to do anything, but if it’s super thick, you can always thin it out with more milk as needed. (Seeing a pattern in my tips yet?)
Storage Instructions
You can store homemade ranch dressing in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 10 days.
I don’t recommend freezing it, as it will become a separated mess. Just don’t.
I like to store this dressing in a mason jar for easy mixing and just spoon it out, but you could also use a glass salad dressing bottle or a plastic squeeze bottle.
Ways To Use It
I put this stuff on everything! Whether you’re using it as a dip, condiment, casserole enhancer, or you know, an actual salad dressing… I’m willing to bet that my recipe for ranch dressing will quickly become your go-to. Here are some ways I use it:
- Salad – The obvious! It’ll jazz up any salad like no other. It’s amazing on my BLT salad, adds oomph to my hearty chef salad, and is pretty much the champion dressing for a classic Cobb salad.
- Veggie Dip – When I want to use this ranch dressing recipe as a dip, I just make it a little thicker. It’s perfect for dunking fresh vegetables, like carrots, celery, and broccoli. I’ve also enjoyed it with fried zucchini, zucchini chips, and kale chips, and it makes up the base for my crack dip recipe.
- Wings – You’ll spot this dip in dozens of my pictures for wing recipes, because it’s the perfect sidekick for so many of them! Keep it simple with my air fried chicken wings or oven baked wings, or amp them up with different sauces. Try my garlic parmesan wings, lemon pepper wings, or the classic, buffalo wings. I even serve this sauce with my buffalo cauliflower and air fryer chicken tenders!
- Casseroles – My all-time fave is my chicken bacon ranch casserole, but homemade ranch dressing also works well with the buffalo flavors in spaghetti squash casserole.
- Soups – You might not think of ranch for soups, but it adds an extra layer of flavor to my taco soup, or drizzle it on top of buffalo chicken soup.
- Chicken – It’s for more than just wings! I use it to top my buffalo chicken salad or dunk bacon wrapped chicken tenders. And you can’t make my cheesy bacon ranch chicken without it.
- Pizza – Drizzle it on chicken crust pizza, or make a BBQ chicken pizza using your favorite BBQ sauce and ranch on top. Remember those rectangle school pizzas we all used to douse in ranch? This is like the grown-up, way tastier version of that!
Ranch Dressing Recipe (5 Minutes)
Make this creamy, dreamy, tangy homemade ranch dressing recipe in 5 minutes, with common ingredients. It's the best for salads or as a dip!
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Instructions
Tap on the times in the instructions to start a kitchen timer.
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In a medium bowl, whisk together the mayo, sour cream, lemon juice, dried herbs, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper.
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Add the milk last, gradually, until you reach your desired consistency. (Use a bit less for a thick dip or more for a thinner dressing).
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If you have time, refrigerate for at least 1 hour to let the flavors develop.
LAST STEP: Leave a rating to help other readers, or tag me @wholesomeyum on Instagram. I’d love to hear from you!
Maya’s Recipe Notes
Serving size: 2 tablespoons
- Tips: Check out my recipe tips above to help you get the best consistency in your homemade ranch dressing.
- Storage: See my storage section above for my recommended storage options.
- Ways to use it: I have so many ways to use this dressing above!
📖 Want more recipes like this? Find this one and many more in my Easy Keto Cookbook here.
I provide nutrition facts as a courtesy. Have questions about calculations or why you got a different result? Please see my nutrition policy.
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© Copyright Maya Krampf for Wholesome Yum. Please DO NOT SCREENSHOT OR COPY/PASTE recipes to social media or websites. We’d LOVE for you to share a link with photo instead.
Homemade Ranch Dressing Recipe
More Easy Homemade Dressings
Tired of store-bought dressings with fake ingredients? Same. If you like my easy ranch dressing recipe, you’ll love some of my others that are just as quick:
488 Comments
Nectaria
0So easy to make this and DELICIOUS! Sometimes I add heavy cream instead of almond milk to make it a little richer.
Oliver
0The best ranch dressing I have ever had!!!
Susan Pursel
0I love it and so tasty with my fresh from the garden veggies. love it this is a keeper!
Kristin
0This is delicious! I love that it’s keto.
Todd
0This ranch is awesome!!! Can you freeze this?
Thanks in advance!
Cheers
Todd
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Thank you, Todd! No, I don’t recommend freezing it due to the sour cream and mayo in it. The texture will be ruined.
Dree
0This is an awesome recipe! I’ve made it a few times and it’s a keeper!
Patricia Foster
0This is awesome! I love this ranch dressing! OOohh so good! 🙂 I will be making this forever!!
Maya
0I half-ed all of the ingredients because I didn’t wanna waste anything in the case that I didn’t like end result. LET ME TELL Y’ALL- THIS RECIPE IS AMAZING. I have never been the biggest fan of ranch because it always tasted sour to me. This tastes so fresh and is low carb and sugar?! I will be making this repeatedly. You gotta make this guys!
Helen Katz
0How long can this keep in fridge?
Tia
0Does not last long enough in my fridge to go bad
Wholesome Yum
0Hi Helen, it will stay good up to 10 days in the fridge.
Alisha
0Love it! Even better than the Hidden Valley Ranch packet! Thank you!
Marcy
0Thank you so very much for this recipe! I made the recipe exactly as described and it came out delicious!
Brit
0Was craving a keto soup and found your delicious 5 ingredient taco soup recipe. I made this ranch dressing and your taco seasoning recipe. Incredible, this ranch dressing absolutely transformed the soup, my husband was moaning with pleasure with every mouthful! Lol
The only changes I made was substituting homemade 24hr yoghurt for the sour cream and adding 1/8 cup heavy cream. Thank you so much for your quick and easy and so tasty recipes!
AWhit330
0Found your recipe and it’s really good, you’ll think I’m crazy but add a few dashes of fish sauce to get that umami flavor and it’s absolutely perfect!
Omalleyoop
0Wow! Never been a big ranch fan but I am now. We were forced to alter the recipe because of the items on hand. nonetheless, my wife who is a big fan of ranch says it’s the best she’s ever had. We are on a keto diet so we used avocado oil mayo (which is thinner than regular mayo so we only used 1T of almond milk but actually could have omitted it), didn’t have chives on hand, and couldn’t wait the hour chill time. Definitely going to double the recipe next time. Thanks
Ma
0All I can say is …. WOW! I have searched for a homemade ranch that everyone can agree on for years. I gave up a long time ago. Been keto for 6+ years and just figured it was not to be. In one last ditch effort chose the first one that came up. FInally. The search is over. Thank you sooooo much!
Koren Adams
0This ranch dressing is absolutely delicious! It was easy to make and it tastes better than most regular ranch dressings. I used Hellmans olive oil mayo instead of regular mayo to make it a bit healthier.
Claire
0BEST Ranch Dressing ever! I won’t buy store bought dressing again!
Claire
0This is the BEST Ranch Dressing ever!! I never buy store bought dressing after having this. Thank you!
Diana
0OMG! First of all I made this dressing on a whim early in the morning before my fiance went to work because I totally forgot today was salad day so I quickly looked for a recipe that wasn’t difficult, I saw this one had excellent ratings and we happened to have everything on the list except milk but we had heavy cream. I am a person that thinks there’s nothing better than the Hidden Valley packet or Wing Stop Ranch so I was very skeptical but hey, this was for his lunch so I needed to act quick. As I stirred all the ingredients together I said out loud, “wow this really looks like regular ranch” my fiance agreed. I told him, okay let’s taste it, we did and we both were like WOW! It was sooooo good. I had cut the recipe in 1/2 because he was the only one taking a salad and although I have some left over, I wish I had made the full batch. This recipe is perfection and I wouldn’t change a thing. I will NEVER use store-bought or Hidden Valley ranch packets again
* oh and I didn’t have onion salt (for some reason), so I used onion powder and a little extra salt and it was still perfect
Kris
0This was great!
Kelli Carolan
0This recipe is amazing. So easy, and delicious.
Sarah B
0Thank you so much! I would take this over store bought ranch dressing any day! Absolutely delicious. Thank you again for sharing.
Beth Hamamoto
0Great dressing!! Made it , but used buttermilk instead of almond milk.
Tastes great, easy to make too
I will never use another recipe
Judy
0This is THE BEST Ranch dressing recipe ever! It goes together so quickly with ingredients we always have on hand. The only thing i did differently is using Half & Half instead of Almond milk. We love almond milk but we always get the unsweetened Vanilla one and i wasn’t sure how the Vanilla flavor would work.
Ive made it several times, always with great results. Been looking for quite some time for a fabulous Ranch dressing & this is it!
Btw, yes, fresh lemons are hard to have on hand but when they are plentiful in season i peel them ( using the peel for other stuff) and pop them in to the blender & pour into the small size of cubes, ice cube trays, then freeze. Works great to just pop a cube or 2 in the dressing.
Sarah
0THIS IS AWESOME!!! I’m getting into the “make what you eat” lifestyle and this is definitely making me want to continue making everything I eat. So good! No nothing that’s unnatural! Happy reader here!
Cindy
0This is an amazing recipe, so tasty and simple! I will never use store bought again!! Thank you for sharing it.
Dina
0Thank you for this recipe! I have made several recipes for ranch dressing and this one is by far my very favorite, it is so good. DEFINITELY was a success! And thank you for all the information you give!
Bec
0Until I started getting good at reading labels, I never realized how much sugar is hidden in ranch dressing! I can’t wait to try this recipe.
Sara Maniez
0My husband wants to try the KETO diet, thank you for sharing a recipe that I can try to use for our family! It looks delicious!
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0You’re welcome, Sara! This is actually a good classic ranch dressing that many people who aren’t following keto also like. 🙂
Kat
0Making this tonight! I thought I was eating good salad dressing by buying the refrigerated glass bottle types. Last night I actually read all of the ingredients and wow! Two forms of corn, sugar, preservatives galore and too salty. Woke up this morning and my rings are all thought. No more manufactured salad dressing. Wish me luck. I will post results. Thank you.
Brandy
0I’ve made this a few times now and every time it turns out SO delicious! I’m not doing keto, but your picture looked so yummy, I just had to try it! I didn’t have any lemon on hand, so I omitted it and I used regular milk instead of coconut milk. It turned out amazing. Next time I have lemon on hand, I will make this again and see what the difference is. This will for sure be my go-to when making ranch. So much better than the powered stuff!
Michele
0L am going to try this ranch dressing on a keto bbq chicken pizza. I used to get a bbq chicken pizza takeout and they used ranch dressing as the base but theirs was on the sweet side so I will just take some of the dressing and sweeten it up a bit for the pizza. Thanks Maya.
Roqui
0I made this last night to go with my zucchini fries! I had a little issue finding dried chives so I used fresh but do think it would be better with dried. Love, love, LOVE!
Can’t wait to make this a weekly staple!
Unfortunely, the lemon doesn’t last in my house… My 3 year old eats them all!!
Susie Ford
0Best Ever!!!
Kayla
0How long would you recommend this would be good for?
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Kayla, It would be good for as long as your mayo and sour cream… about 7 to 10 days.
Helen Spillane
0Keto Kitchen Warrior Goddess does it again!!! OMG!!! Thank You…. this is My all time favorite dressing.
I’ve lost 20kgs in 4 months on Keto!! (1.5 to go to my goal weight of 65kg!!) And all my favorite recipes are right here. Thank You, Thank You… THANK YOU!!!!
WholesomeYUM.
Paula
0Can a low or fat free mayo and sour cream be used?
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Paula, Yes, you can do that!
Theresa
0Your recipes are amazing! Thank you for so many wonderful recipes I can use for myself as a LCNewbie, as well as, recipes that will help my diabetic sister get through the holidays! The LCK Ranch Dressing is fab!
Theresa
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0I am so happy to hear that, Theresa! Thank you!
Tim
0I don’t know who you are but my God you have made my keto existence sustainable. After looking up and down the dressing isle we couldn’t find a single dressing that fit into needs, Nealy every one has added sugar…
Your recipe is better than other dressing I’ve had and it’s healthy without the crap.
Thank you again
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0I am so happy to hear that, Tim! Please come back soon!
Tracy
0This is so yummy. I should have made a double batch, I cannot stop eating it. So easy and taste way better than any bottled keto friendly dressing I have tried. I used coconut mayonnaise in mine.
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Yay, so glad to hear that, Tracy!
Tanya Klein
0Hi there 🙂 Can you suggest a way that this yummy recipe can be made with a bit less fat? Thanks!
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Tanya, You could use light sour cream if you’d like.
Danielle
0If you don’t happen to have lemon juice on hand, you can substitute distilled white vinegar if you want as well.
You can make buttermilk with regular milk (or thinned cream) and lemon juice or vinegar. Let it sit until it curdles a bit and mix well.
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Thank you for sharing, Danielle! Yes, that should work, just with a slightly different flavor.
Jodi Hollow
0Died and gone to heaven with this ranch recipe!!!!!!!! DELICIOUS!!! THANK YOU!!!!
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0I love to hear that, Jodi! Have a great day!
Kris Andersen
0Do you know how many macros are in this recipe?
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Kris, The nutrition info is on the recipe card above.
Heather
0Pickle juice in place of almond milk… amazing! Sometimes I also add some cilantro
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0I am so happy you liked it, Heather! Have a great day!
Wendy
0How many servings does this make/ what is the serving size?
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Wendy, The serving size is 2 tbsp and the recipe makes 12 servings.
Counselorchock
0YUM! I used white pepper cuz I love it and this is DELISH. Thanks!
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0I am so happy to hear that! Have a great day!
Analee
0I am so excited to true this recipe! I have a question though, when trying to avoid canola or soybean oil, what Mayo do you use? Or do you make your own. If so I’d love a link to your recipe! Most mayos have those pesky oils in them. Thank you, can’t wait to hear from you! Lovely website!
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Analee, I usually make my own mayo because it takes just a couple minutes – here is the avocado mayo recipe.
Kelly
0Ohmygoodness I just had to make a comment because this is the best ranch I’ve ever tasted, seriously!! Thanks for sharing it!!!
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0I am so happy you liked it, Kelly! Have a great day!
Felicia
0I was skeptical because I’ve tried so many and didn’t like them but as I was reading recipe, I realized I had everything so I thought, why not!! This dressing recipe is off the hook good. I followed recipe exactly and wouldn’t add or change a thing. I used unsweetened almond/coconut milk because that’s what I had.
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Thank you so much, Felicia! Enjoy!