I've read a billion times about how easy it is to make your own ranch salad dressing, but it took me forever to really try it for myself. See, I'm kinda lazy, and grabbing already made dressing is just my speed. And, I had never made a dressing that was worth making again before this either. That was a problem in family of 7 ranch eaters.We all love this stuff. James doesn't normally eat ranch dressing on his salad, but if this is on the table, it's his first choice. The kids like it so much that if they don't want salad they still take some veggies to dip in it.
This recipe comes from Our Best Bites. It is... well, delicious and delectable! This is the original 1 batch ingredients list. Keep scrolling down for my version of a big batch.
1C mayo
2/3 C buttermilk
1/4 t white vinegar
1 t parsley
1/8 t dill
1/4 t garlic powder
1/4 t onion powder
1 1/2 t dried chives
1/8 t black pepper
1/4 t seasoned salt*
1/8 t dry mustard
Just to simplify things, I measure the mayo into a big liquids measuring cup, pour the buttermilk on top, splash in the vinegar, dump the seasonings on top and whisk it together quickly. I am not fond of a pile of dirty dishes, so this works for me.
James (and maybe some others, but he's easy to blame. And I am more inclined to listen to his comments on the food than some of the others) likes this even better if I throw a couple spoonfuls of sour cream in there too. I did it the first time because I wanted it for a dipping sauce for chicken or something similar. I store it in a pint jar, but it doesn't last long!
(It's easy to halve this recipe if you don't want 2 cups of ranch dressing sitting around. As a matter of fact, that's what I did the first time I made it.)
BUT, I got fed up a while back with reaching into the fridge at the last minute to grab the dressings and being out of this, so I mixed up a big batch of dry ingredients and put it in a jar in the cupboard so it takes about 1.5 minutes to mix up a batch now. The hardest part of this whole recipe is pulling out 52 (more or less) different spice/seasoning jars, screwing and unscrewing the lids, and measuring everything out, so you might as well do it big and get it over with. After you make a small batch and know if you like it, of course!
If I want to make a big batch of dressing mix I do this:
3 T parsley
1 t dill
2 t garlic powder
2 t onion powder
3-5 T dried chives
1 t black pepper
2 t seasoned salt*
1 t dry mustard
Chuck everything into a jar or little ziplock and shake it up. Now find a sharpie and write upon it this:
1C mayo
2/3 C buttermilk
1/4 t white vinegar
2 t dry mix
2/3 C buttermilk
1/4 t white vinegar
2 t dry mix
...so you don't have to look anything up the be able to put it together in seconds. You might even teach a kid how, and knight them "Official Ranch Dressing Mixer Upper". Hey, I should do that! We have 5 or 6 Nerf swords around here...
*Ok, confession time. I have never bought seasoned salt in my life. I just cut back on a little salt here and might add a touch more garlic or something. If I am missing out on something major here, some one please tell me or I'll most likely never buy any. Is it weird to think "Huh! I can season my own salt, thankyoukindly."?
As a side note, do you see my new bread machine in the background of the last picture? My van was stuck in the driveway, so I sent James to Sam's for basics like butter, cheese and garlic, and he came home with this too! Next time he goes I'm sending him past the ... well, I haven't decided yet.
5 comments:
So do you keep buttermilk on hand all the time? I always think it sounds fun to make my own ranch dressing, but never have buttermilk on hand :(. Is buttermilk ranch good without buttermilk?
I would guess you could just use regular milk in this. Maybe up the vinegar a little for more tang? We'll give it a try and see how it is. I do keep buttermilk on hand now, just because of how much of this we go through. Buttermilk lasts for a long time though too. The stuff I used to make this must have been in my refrigerator for over a month. It doesn't really "go bad" (Not sure if that means they do something nasty to it?) but it will eventually mold. My plan was to freeze cubes of the buttermilk and use it as a culture to make more in small batches as I needed it. Very much like yogurt making. I haven't gotten that far yet!
Becky
I am not sure how it would do in the dressing but when baking calls for buttermilk I use 1tsp of Lemon juice in milk and let it stand for about 20min. Just a thought...Sara
Yeah Sara! That's what I was thinking. There's some recipes that say it is absolutely NOT ok to substitute... I wanted to make sure this isn't one of them. Hmmmm :). I'll let y'all know when I try!! Maybe make just a half batch for the test :).
I officially tried out the recipe without buttermilk finally. Guess what! It's still good :). I didn't measure the vinegar, but I put in a rather large sploosh. And I did notice that while it was rather liquidey when fresh, it did solidify up quite a bit in the fridge and came out about the right texture. So I guess if you plan ahead a bit and let it sit (which is best in the first place!) then it works either way. WHEW!!! :D
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