I gave up Ranch salad dressing a long time ago because first I gave up chemical ingredients and vegetable oil, and then somewhere along the way, I read some recipe that said I had to roast & puree all these veggies to make homemade ranch dressing. It sounded delicious laborious and time-consuming. Not very high on my list as a farming-mom-of-four!
And then one day I opened my Joy of Cooking cookbook and saw the recipe for Ranch dressing was pretty short… and pretty easy! Of course, since I was making salad on a whim, I didn’t have all the ingredients on hand, so I improvised a little. Now I don’t even have to crack the book, it’s THAT easy and delicious, and made of things I almost always have around.
Do yourself a favor and skip this nasty list of ingredients. Sure, this stuff won’t keep like the store-bought stuff, but then again… if it lasts forever without spoiling, I think that’s a pretty good indicator that it’s going to be hard to digest.
- 1/2 cup sour cream or yogurt or buttermilk
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 clove garlic, pressed or finely minced
- Salt & Pepper to taste
- Fresh chopped cilantro, if available
- Combine ingredients, stirring well. Thin with milk or buttermilk to desired consistency. Once refrigerated, mixture will thicken significantly. Easily doubles for more servings.