Homemade Ranch Dressing

This homemade ranch dressing is the catch-all dressing that you need to learn how to whip up. Use it as a dip for air fryer wings, as a dressing for salad or just keep a bottle full in the fridge for a moments notice when life calls for ranch dressing.

If you enjoy homemade dressings such as this one, you will like my other homemade dressing and dips as well. Check out my Bleu cheese dressing and my Caesar salad dressing as well!

Who doesn’t love a creamy, tangy, homemade ranch dressing? I use this dressing as a salad dressing and as a dip for chicken wings, celery sticks and even tortilla chips sometimes! But my favorite way to eat ranch is by using it as a dip for pizza!

When I’m looking for a snack, I will find myself often taking whole romaine leaves and pouring this freshly-made ranch directly onto the leaves straight from the bottle. It’s that good!

Ingredients for Homestyle Ranch

• Mayonnaise: A base for many creamy dressings and dips, mayo is a staple in my kitchen. Buy mayo premade or make it yourself!
• Sour Cream: Use regular sour cream or substitute with lite sour cream for this recipe.
• Milk: Adding milk to this ranch recipe will thin out the consistency of the dressing. If after the dressing is made, and you think it’s too thick, add in more milk to thin it out.
• Ranch Seasoning: Adding Hidden Valley ranch seasoning is a great way to save time and energy. You can always chop up your own herbs and add spices instead, there’s nothing like the HV packets.

How to Make Restaurant-Style Ranch

Making this ranch dressing is exactly how restaurants make their ranch so darn tasty when you order it for dressing for your salad or as a side for your pizza.

The secret to making restaurant-style ranch is to use the Hidden Valley ranch seasoning blend.

Making this dressing is as simple as adding all the ingredients together and whisking them together. Or you can use a fork if you don’t have a whisk on hand.

After you’ve made your ranch, store it in an airtight jar and store it in the fridge and allow it to chill for about half an hour. The dressing will thicken as it chills. If you want a thinner dressing or dip, you can thin it out by adding more milk or even water.

How to Make Ranch Thinner

After mixing all the ingredients together, the consistency of your homemade ranch dressing will be thin. Store the ranch in an airtight container and allow it chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. This will give the ranch enough time to thicken.

Check your ranch after half an hour in the fridge for its consistency. If you are happy with the thickness, then do nothing and use as you see fit.

If you want to thin out the dressing, add in another half cup of milk or even water to thin out the consistency. Mix well.

After adding the water or milk to thin the ranch, chill in the fridge again, as it will thicken a bit as it chills.

After allowing it to chill for about half an hour, check again to see if you are happy with the thickness. If you’d still like it to be thinner, add in more milk or water.

How to Make Ranch Seasoning

If you don’t have, or can’t find, the Hidden Valley ranch seasoning on your local grocery store shelves it’s very easy to make your own ranch seasoning with what you have at home.

You can use fresh or dried herbs for the seasoning. I always love to use fresh herbs but dried will work just as well.

Homemade Ranch Seasoning:

If you don’t have the Hidden Valley seasoning on hand, you can still make this homemade ranch seasoning! Just combine the ingredients below:

• Dill (1/2 tsp. fresh or 1/4 tsp. dry)
• Parsley (1/2 tsp. fresh or 1/4 tsp. dry)
• Chives (1/2 tsp. fresh or 1/4 tsp. dry)
• Garlic Powder (1/2 tsp.)
• Onion Powder (1/2 tsp.)
• Salt (1/2 tsp.)

Make a large batch of the seasoning and store in an airtight container or add individual servings to your milk, mayo and sour cream mixture.