Homemade Buttermilk Ranch Dressing
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This buttermilk ranch dressing is cool, creamy, and garlicky. Serve it over a green salad or use it as a dip for crudités or chips.
Gourmet is probably not the word that comes to mind when you think of buttermilk ranch dressing, but homemade is nothing like the mass-produced bottled stuff on the grocery store shelves. This buttermilk variation of my standard ranch dressing recipe is one of my go-to salad dressings. It’s cool, creamy, tangy, garlicky, and, honestly, good enough to eat straight with a spoon. Try the dressing over a crisp green salad or as a dip for crudités, potato chips, or baked chicken wings.
“Delicious. This takes just a few minutes to make with outstanding results. A+”
What You’ll Need To Make Buttermilk Ranch Dressing
- Sour Cream: Provides creaminess and tanginess to the dressing.
- Buttermilk: Adds a subtle tang and helps thin out the dressing to a pourable consistency.
- Mayonnaise: Contributes richness and helps bind the ingredients together.
- Garlic: Infuses the dressing with a bold, savory flavor.
- Salt and Pepper: Enhance the overall taste of the dressing.
- Dill: Adds a hint of herbal flavor and freshness.
- Fresh Chives: Offer a mild onion flavor and a pop of color.
- Fresh Lemon Juice: Provides brightness and balances the richness of the other ingredients.
- Tabasco Sauce: Adds an optional touch of heat and extra flavor for those who enjoy a bit of spice.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
To make it, simply combine all of the ingredients in a bowl.
And whisk to blend.
That’s all there is to it. Enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions
Definitely! It will keep well in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days. Keep in mind that the garlic flavor gets stronger the longer it sits, so you may want to cut back if you’re planning on making it in advance. Also, the dressing will thicken up to more of a dip consistency as it chills. If you’d like it to be pourable, let it sit on the kitchen counter for 30 minutes before using.
Sure, you can omit the mayo and increase the sour cream to 3/4 cup. Because the additional sour cream will add more tangy flavor, reduce the lemon juice to 1 teaspoon.
While I’m a big fan of making your own buttermilk for baked goods, when something relies more heavily on the buttermilk flavor and consistency, I suggest using store-bought.
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Homemade Buttermilk Ranch Dressing
This buttermilk ranch dressing is cool, creamy, and garlicky. Serve it over a green salad or use it as a dip for crudités or chips.
Ingredients
- ½ cup sour cream
- ½ cup buttermilk
- ¼ cup mayonnaise, best quality such as Hellmann's or Duke's
- 2 garlic cloves, minced (see note)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 1½ teaspoons dried dill
- ¼ cup finely chopped fresh chives
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- Few dashes Tabasco sauce, optional
Instructions
- Combine all of the ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk well. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Chill until ready to serve.
- Note: The dressing will keep well in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. The garlic flavor gets stronger the longer it sits, so you might want to cut back if you're planning on making it in advance. The dressing will thicken up to more of a dip consistency as it chills.
Nutrition Information
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- Serving size: 2 tablespoons
- Calories: 69
- Fat: 7g
- Saturated fat: 1g
- Carbohydrates: 1g
- Sugar: 1g
- Fiber: 0g
- Protein: 1g
- Sodium: 113mg
- Cholesterol: 9mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Gluten-Free Adaptable Note
To the best of my knowledge, all of the ingredients used in this recipe are gluten-free or widely available in gluten-free versions. There is hidden gluten in many foods; if you're following a gluten-free diet or cooking for someone with gluten allergies, always read the labels of your ingredients to verify that they are gluten-free.
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This ranch dressing is amazing. Just enjoyed it on butter lettuce, shredded carrots, and bacon. Yummy! It will become a staple in my house,
Hi Jenn, I have been meaning to review this recipe for a while. I believe this was the first recipe from your site I ever tried (or at least one of them!). Myself and my family (along with anyone who has ever tried it) love this recipe. It is so versatile. It’s delicious as a dressing, a dip, a marinade or just by the spoonful! The recipe is great for adapting – increase the garlic for garlic ranch, the fresh pepper for peppercorn ranch, etc. If you don’t have buttermilk, its easy to make some with regular milk and some lemon juice or vinegar.
I just want to take this chance to make a general comment on all of your dressings. Thanks to your varied and tasty dressings we have not bought bottled salad dressings from the store in years. Between your ranch, Caesar, balsamic, raspberry vin, ginger peanut, and all the rest, we always have amazing and tasty dressings on hand. We never get tired since you have so many options we can just keep rotating recipes to keep it interesting.
Thank you for all of your hard work to bring us tasty and healthy recipes!
This recipe has become a staple in my household. I had no idea you could make restaurant quality dressing in just minutes. It even tastes great on taco salad. I just used lime juice in place of the lemon & added a dash of chipotle powder & smoked paprika.
Never, ever buy bottled or dehydrated ranch dressing again! This is easy and utterly delicious; everyone in my family loves it.
This is the most delicious ranch dressing EVER! It’s creamy with just the right kick of everything. And you can make it more “garlicky” by adding more or less according to your taste. As it sits the dressing does become more intense with the garlic as the recipe states so start out with just a small clove and work your way up if you like the more intense flavor. Give it a good stir before each use and you’ll never use another ranch recipe. This is simply the best!
This recipe has become a staple at our house. I do tend to use fresh dill instead of dried. I also really mash the garlic with the flat side of my knife until it becomes a paste. Good stuff.
So happy!
Can this be used for broccoli salad ? Sounds lovely and want to try.
Sure!
Perfect – just the right amounts of everything, so none of the flavors overwhelm your salad. And of course none of the fake citric-acid astringency you get in store-bought dressings.
Thank you for sharing this amazing ranch recipe! The beautiful pictures help as well!! My mom loves this recipe now… and will never buy store-bought again!