Buttermilk Garlic Ranch Salad Dressing ♥
My Substitute for Store-Bought Ranch Dressing


Real Food, Fast & Casual. Year-Round Kitchen Staple. Little Effort, Big Taste. Weeknight Easy, Weekend Special. Easy Meal Prep. Low Carb. Low Fat. Weight Watchers Friendly. Vegetarian. Naturally Gluten Free. Rave Reviews.
On a Mission
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 so versatile, great for dressing lettuce and salad greens and also as dip 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 (hello, potlucks!) and classic Cobb salad (a wonderful summer dinner).
Mission Accomplished
So yes, mission accomplished: this is a really good homemade salad dressing, one that's easy to make ahead with just a few simple ingredients and useful in many ways.A much-appreciated side benefit is that this dressing is also really low in calories even though it's full of flavor and is made entirely from whole ingredients, no chemicals, no faux-foods.
And Readers Love It Too!
COMPLIMENTS!
"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
... it is amazing! ... VERY Good. ~ JennyBell






About This Recipe







Ingredients to Make Buttermilk Garlic Ranch Salad Dressing & Dip
Like all my recipes, every ingredient serves a purpose. Each one matters. Each one contributes to the overall dish. It's not that an ingredient can't be substituted by something else but when choosing the substitute, it's important to understand why the original ingredient was present in the first place.FOR CREAMINESS Sour cream adds creaminess and thickens the consistency of the dressing. Both full-fat and low-fat sour cream work well but at least to my taste, definitely avoid non-fat sour cream. A good substitute for sour cream is Greek yogurt, full-fat and non-fat both. This is a frequent choice for those who follow Weight Watchers since for some years, non-fat Greek yogurt is a "free" food. (FYI here's the most recent Weight Watchers Zero Point "Free" Food Lists, since late 2021 supplanted by Personalized Points where each person's free foods are individualized.)
FOR TEXTURE & A LITTLE ACIDITY Mayonnaise gives the dressing a salad dressing-style consistency, plus that small bit of mayo oomph that's actually a touch of acidity. Again, full-fat and low-fat mayo work equally well, use what you have on hand. Brand-wise, use what you like or have on hand. That said, we were long-time fans of Hellmann's but have made an enthusiastic conversion to Duke's. There's no real good substitute for mayonnaise, not without other doctoring.
FOR THINNING TO TASTE Buttermilk adds creaminess but its primary purpose is to thin the dressing to your own preference, probably thinner for salad dressing and thicker for a ranch dip.
FOR SLIGHT SWEETNESS The recipe includes a tablespoon of sugar, not much since it's divided among more than two dozen servings. Still, for people who avoid sugar, I leave it out all the time or when a slight bit of sweetness seems appropriate, use only a half teaspoon. If a little sugar gets people to eat more salads and vegetables, count me in.
FOR SEASONING Three ingredients flavor the dressing. The first is the all-important garlic but take care, more isn't always better. I've learned to use a small clove. After that, check your spice jars for dry mustard powder, it adds that small bite of mustard without adding moisture. Since the amount is so small, you could easily substitute a bit of prepared mustard, everything from ballpark yellow mustard up to pricey gourmet mustards. Then there's the all-important pimentòn that adds a touch of color plus an addictive smokiness. It's worth seeking out.
Here's What's NOT In This Recipe
Sometimes, what's left out of a recipe is just as important as what's put in. That's definitely the case here.

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BUTTERMILK GARLIC SALAD DRESSING
Hands-on time: 10 minutes
Time to table: 10 minutes
Makes 1-2/3 cups
Time to table: 10 minutes
Makes 1-2/3 cups
1/2 cup (124g) low-fat sour cream
1/2 cup (119g) low-fat mayonnaise
1 cup (250g) low-fat buttermilk (use less for a ranch dip)
1 small garlic clove
1 tablespoon sugar, optional or use as little as 1/2 teaspoon
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard powder
1/4 teaspoon pimentón (pimentòn is a lovely smoky Spanish paprika, one of my very favorite spices)
Kosher salt and pepper to taste
Combine well in a blender or food processor. Refrigerate for at least a couple of hours, better yet 24 hours for the flavors to meld and the dressing to thicken.
The dressing keeps for a couple of weeks, just keep it refrigerated.
ALANNA's TIPS & KITCHEN NOTES


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from Kitchen Parade, my food column
Seasonal Eating: A Celebration of Early Summer
Tomato Bread Pudding

















Looking for healthy new ways to cook vegetables? A Veggie Venture is home to hundreds of super-organized quick, easy and healthful vegetable recipes and the famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables. Join "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg to explore the exciting world of common and not-so-common vegetables, seasonal to staples, savory to sweet, salads to sides, soups to supper, simple to special.
© Copyright Kitchen Parade
2008, 2011 & 2022
© Copyright Kitchen Parade
2008, 2011 & 2022
That looks like a great dressing recipe.
ReplyDeleteIt does sound good. I like the idea of smoked paprika in this!
ReplyDeleteYummy - thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI like the touch of pimenton here -- takes this a step beyond any supermarket salad dressing.
ReplyDeleteOh, yum! This is incredibly good! Even Mr. Wonderful gave it the thumbs up (and he's a Thousand Island kinda guy).
ReplyDeleteI think that my next batch will be a bit thicker, maybe 1/4 cup less buttermilk.
I tried some of the dressing on chopped cabbage/slaw. The flavor is not strong enough to stand up to the cabbage; I ended up with (essentially) moist cabbage salad.
I'm looking for opportunities to use this dressing - though it's not uncommon for me to just dip a spoon into the jar!
Really good dressing! I made a salad nicoise and used this dressing. It worked wonderfully. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteWonderful recipe. The paprika is awesome! Made it this evening and drizzled it over a green salad, steamed cauliflower, corn-on-the-cob, and baked cod. It is so wonderful and so very yummy. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI love having a hit recipe! This is definitely one to keep around. MUST MAKE MORE!
ReplyDeleteTried it and it tastes great; the house smells good too! The consistency for salads is fine but I would prefer a little more body for dipping. Do you think cream cheese is the solution?
ReplyDeleteAlso, I could only find buttermilk in a half gallon. Any recipes with buttermilk? I think you mentioned it would last a couple of weeks, but I've already made a double batch of dressing and probably have enough.
Buttermillk will keep a couple of months so you've got some time to use it up.
ReplyDeleteTo make it thicker for dipping, I'd just change the proportions, using more mayo. That changes the calories too but still, will be better for you even with SOME buttermilk.
Here's another salad dressing with buttermilk -- it tastes quite.
Or how about making cornbread cornbread?
Also, if you search on buttermilk in the search box on the top of each page. You'll get lots of recipes. Or bookmark Food Blog Search, for recipes from a hand-selected group of food blogs.
Ron,
ReplyDeleteI made the dressing thicker using a mix of additional tablespoons of mayo and sour cream - oh so good for dipping veggies.
On epicurious.com I found a recipe for blueberry scones which included buttermilk and meyer lemon zest (I used regular lemons). They were moist and wonderful. Rave reviews from family and friends on both the dressing and the scones!
Well the dressing is just right today. I guess it needed to chill and doesn't have much body right out of the blender. Thanks (to everyone) for the leads!
ReplyDeleteMade my third bath of this delicious dressing. Didn't use Hellman's and it just doesn't taste as fantastic.
ReplyDeleteI'm sharing this recipe with everyone.
Thanks so much for this recipe. I have made it multiple times now, with and without Pimenton. I live in low population area and found none here although on a recent trip to "the city" I found it without any difficulty. Wouldn't make it without it now. So delicious, I could eat it with a spoon!!
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that I could make anything like store-bought ranch without the store. I haven't gotten the pimenton yet, but I will. Recipes are just suggestions to me, I wanted really thick with the flavor of the buttermilk, so I added lowfat cottage cheese. This has opened a whole new world of creamy dressings. Yogurt anyone?
ReplyDeleteMade this today for my 7-layer salad, and it is amazing! I had to double the recipe, and didnt have enough ingredients, so i ended up substituting 1/2 milk & 1/2 heavy cream for the buttermilk. I also used 1/2 sour cream & 1/2 greek yogurt and mayo as normal. VERY Good.
ReplyDelete