Buttermilk Garlic Salad Dressing ♥ A Homemade Substitute for Store-Bought Ranch Dressing

For anyone who likes ranch dressing, this is my homemade substitute. It's an easy salad dressing made from scratch with on-hand pantry ingredients. Low carb and Weight Watchers friendly!

~recipe & photo updated 2011~
~more recently updated recipes~

REVIEWS
"Oh, yum! This is incredibly good!" ~ T.
"Really good dressing!" ~ BellePlaine
"Wonderful recipe. The paprika is awesome! " ~ Mama Lynn
"Tried it and it tastes great; the house smells good too!" ~ Ron
"So delicious, I could eat it with a spoon!!" ~ Pam

2008: Since throwing down the challenge to Never Buy Salad Dressing Again, call me eagle-eyed for easy make-ahead salad dressings to replace bottled dressings from the supermarket.

This Buttermilk Garlic Salad Dressing recipe is turning out to be so versatile. It's great for dressing lettuce and salad greens but also as a dip (as pictured, used instead of ranch dressing) for raw vegetables. I can also see using it for a homemade coleslaw dressing or as the mayonnaise for tuna salad and egg salad. Plus, the dressing works beautifully in at least two classic summer salads -- check the recipes for classic seven-layer salad and classic Cobb salad.

So yes, mission accomplished: a really good homemade salad dressing, one that's easy to make ahead with just a few simple ingredients, and can be used in many ways. A much-appreciated side benefit is that it's also really low in calories even though it's full of flavor and is made entirely from 'whole' ingredients, no chemicals, no faux-foods.

2011: I just love it when I go back to older recipes on A Veggie Venture and find them just as good the second, third and fourth times around! It took all of 10 minutes to mix this dressing!

BUTTERMILK GARLIC SALAD DRESSING

Hands-on time: 10 minutes
Time to table: 10 minutes
Makes 2 cups

1/2 cup (124g) low-fat sour cream
1/2 cup (119g) low-fat mayonnaise, preferably Hellman's, my favorite mayonnaise ever
1 cup (250g) low-fat buttermilk
1 clove garlic
1 tablespoon sugar (I like this but those on low-glycemic diets won't miss it or might use agave nectar as a substitute)
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard powder
1/4 teaspoon pimentón (what's pimenton? it's a lovely smoky Spanish paprika, one of my very favorite spices)
Kosher salt and pepper to taste

Combine in a blender. Will keep for a week or more.

KITCHEN NOTES
I've included the weights for the main ingredients because I like to assemble the ingredients right in the blender, no measuring cups required -- by putting the blender on my kitchen scale.
The inspiring recipe called for only 1/4 cup of buttermilk. Using that volume, however, the dressing was quite gloppy -- it might 'spoon' on but certainly wouldn't pour. So I kept adding buttermilk until the dressing reached a good pouring consistency. This had the added benefit of lowering the calories, too, putting the dressing solidly into zero points for Weight Watchers.

NUTRITION ESTIMATES

WHEN MADE WITH FULL-FAT SOUR CREAM & MAYONNAISE
Per Tablespoon: 38 Calories; 4 g Tot Fat; 1 g Sat Fat; 1 g Carb; 0 g Fiber; 1 g Sugar; 28 mg Sodium; 2 mg Cholesterol; 0 g Protein; Weight Watchers Old Points 1; PointsPlus 1

Per Two Tablespoons: 76 Calories; 7 g Tot Fat; 2 g Sat Fat; 2 g Carb; 0 g Fiber; 2 g Sugar; 56 mg Sodium; 4 mg Cholesterol; 1 g Protein; Weight Watchers Old Points 2, PointsPlus 2

WHEN MADE WITH REDUCED-FAT SOUR CREAM & MAYONNAISE
Per Tablespoon: 21 Calories; 2 g Tot Fat; 0 g Sat Fat; 1 g Carb; 0 g Fiber; 1 g Sugar; 40 mg Sodium; 3 mg Cholesterol; 0 g Protein; Weight Watchers Old Points .5, PointsPlus 1

Per Two Tablespoons: 42 Calories; 3 g Tot Fat; 1 g Sat Fat; 2 g Carb; 0 g Fiber; 2 g Sugar; 79 mg Sodium; 6 mg Cholesterol; 1 g Protein; Weight Watchers Old Points 1, PointsPlus 1

TODAY'S RECIPE INSPIRATION
Adapted from Simply Salads by Jennifer Chandler

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MORE EASY SALAD DRESSING RECIPES
~ German Salad Dressing ~
~ Easy Salsa Dressing ~
~ Never Make Salad Dressing Again, who's taken the challenge?! ~

~ still more salad dressing recipes ~

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A Veggie Venture is home of salad lover and 'veggie evangelist' Alanna Kellogg and the
famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables.
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