Chef John's Ranch Dressing

Everything Chef John makes is awesome and this is really really great as well love this recipe will never eat bottled dressing again and my grandson is only 3yrs old and he will not eat Hidden Valley Ranch he wants grandma's salad dressing I thought it was weird he is 3 so I did a test and he knew so yes even a 3yr old can tell the difference so great job Chef John love your recipe's please keep posting them

I, being not American, may not be an expert on Ranch Dressings, but I loved this one! Great balance between mayonnaise, sour cream and butter milk. Better with fresh dill and parsley, but I also made it with all drier ingredients, and so long as you let it stand over night, it still tastes great!

I've been playing with this off and on for the past few months trying to tweak it to fit my husbands wishes. Made as recipe directs, it's just a tad to thick for our tastes. If you want it to taste more like the store bought kind, we've found adding a splash of vinegar or lemon, a pinch of sugar, and another T or so of buttermilk really does the trick. Thanks so much for recipe! So much nicer than shelling out $4.00 for a bottle of that mega-factory produced stuff!

This was really good. I only let it sit for about 3 hours and it was already pretty thick by then. I added another splash of buttermilk and it was the perfect consistency!

I had to use dry spices in this recipe, I adjusted accordingly. I did increase the dill weed, onion powder and garlic powder--besides that, I made no other changes. This was the dressing for tonight's broccoli salad. The consistancy was perfect, it was just what I needed. Very good. It's hard to mess up ranch dressing, honestly.

I have to admit that I've been making homemade ranch dressing for many years, and this one is at least as good, if not better (don't tell anyone!), than mine! I love the 2 drops addition of worcestershire sauce and the fresh chives. By the way, Chef J, are you sure that most cowboys are vegetarian? I live in Texas and know a lot of cowboys-but it makes for a great story!

It was great! I didn't have all the spices, so I used what I had which was, garlic powder, salt, and dill weed. I also didn't like how the milk made it runny so the next time I omitted it entirely and instead of sour cream I used yogurt. For those rolling their eyes thinking how I completely changed it & shouldn't rate it, I am putting this to hopefully save some of you some money if you don't have all the ingredients and still want to try this. Like me. It will still taste really good.

I kept hoping that the flavors would develop in this but alas even after 72 hours, this still tasted like slightly flavored mayonnaise. I didn't have Italian parsley and used regular dried parsley flakes but I did use fresh tarragon and a lot of it and still there was no herb taste. Even my mayonnaise loving dh complained that this tasted like nothing but mayo. I ended up making up some dry ranch dressing mix from another AR recipe and adding it along with more sour cream. I hope that is tasty. :-(

Made exactly as listed. Too thick and tasted too much like mayo. Not like restaurant Ranch at all.

Excellent! I love ranch dressing, and this was no exception. I was a bit skeptical about the addition of tarragon and Worcestershire but it worked out beautifully. I opted to use low fat ingredients and after a couple hours in the fridge the flavors blended together perfectly...much better than store bought!

4 stars because it tastes too much like mayo when made as is. I added only 1/3 cup of mayo, the second time I made it and the rest plain Greek yogurt. I used the Greek yogurt instead of the sour cream as well. With those changes, this is the best ranch ever!!

Blended everything except parsley in magic bullet. Added parsley (dried, will make again with fresh) and shook it in. Straight off the spoon it was great but I think for my taste I'll add half again of all herbs and spices except cayenne. We are not big on ranch but really enjoyed this.

Love CJ, but this was just ok :-( I like a creamier Ranch dressing.

I made this without any modification and found it to be the best homemade ranch dressing out there. I use it as a dipping sauce or as a salad dressing for my chef salad with a little more buttermilk. I read some reviews that said it taste too mayo, however, mine did not have any mayo taste. You have to use the right kind of mayonnaise (I use Hellman's Real Mayo rather than Miracle Whip) as well as buttermilk to give it more of a ranch taste. Overall, my family and I really enjoy this ranch dressing and will never buy that nasty store bought dressing again.

This recipe is my all time favorite Ranch! I didn't use the tarragon because I didn't have it on hand. I can't see how it could have made it any better. This recipe gets 12 stars!!

I was looking for the stuff in the restaurants. I never liked that famous store bought brand...it never had the same flavor as say a good buffalo wing restaurant or even a good pizza parlor. So, I made this and tried to reduce the calories. I put less mayo and more low-fat sour cream. I amped up all the seasonings (dill and chives were fresh). I must've put about 3 tbsp of garlic because that is what I like about the restaurant versions, but after letting it sit over night it's a little garlic heavy. I will use less next time. I did not have any tarragon and I forgot to add the cayenne. Even with the things I forgot and too much garlic I prefer it to the famous valley. Thanks again Chef John for another excellent recipe!!!

Excellent! I've modified it a bit, to suit the family's tastes- dropped the tarragon altogether, more chives (dried) and MORE Italian parsley, plus more garlic and pepper, but it was a hit from the get-go! Thanks for a great recipe- I curtsy in your direction, good sir. I'm now forced to make a spaghetti-jar's worth every week, to keep up with demand, LOL! This is also my go-to for baked potatoes. Uber-yummy!

It made a wonderful veggie dip and my husband can't believe it is not commercial dressing from 'The Valley'. I added fresh parsley (just because I had it) and a bit extra Worcestershire (just because I have arthritis and have hand control issues). It was still wonderful and did not taste over-seasoned. Thanks to the Chef!

Bottled Ranch is way too sweet and the stuff in the packet is loaded with MSG. This is the best Ranch I've had in a long, long time. Really, really good.

This is how I make it! In cases where I don't have the tarragon or Worchestershire sauce, it's been good as well. Use this as your base recipe, and adjust for your own taste. Definitely tastes even better after sitting in the refrigerator overnight.

Great salad dressing! I used all dried herbs. I had some on a salad after I first made it, but it was much better after a day or two in the fridge. Big improvement over the store-bought stuff! Thanks for the recipe!

I loved this! It was so easy! I don't like some ranch dressings so I was able to make this one just how I like it, and I LOVE IT!!!! I totally recommend this. The only thing I did differently is that I didn't have any buttermilk, so I used my 1% and added a little apple cider vinegar to do a "faux" buttermilk. I've often done that in recipes and it works just great.

Thank You for this. I just completed a batch of Chef John's Pizza Sauce, and my wife said 'hey - look for a pizza dippin' sauce. I leafed through too many posted recipes where the instructions were to 'use store bought ranch and add this'.... the rest of us know the value of making from scratch. I normally follow Chef John's recipes with no changes, but for this one, I used fresh garlic and fresh onion. When in season, I will use fresh dill as well. I gave it a spin in the Magic Bullet because of the fresh ingredients, but - with minced garlic, and onion chopped fine, the spin is not needed. Fantastic!

I made this the first time he posted it. Haven't changed it since, except adding a little cayenne now and then... lol As with most of his recipes, the flavors are always well balanced, and his "chef touch" on recipes is nearly always spot on. If you haven't made his Creme Fraiche, you're missing something. I'm from the southern U.S., store-bought sour cream is all that we knew; relatives have chided me over my changing accent.

The consistency is more like that of a dip. It worked great for dipping veggies versus a dressing for salad! I did add a lil extra of some of the seasoning and such because the mayo taste was most prominent and I almost didn't like it, but let me tell ya it gets better the longer it sits in the fridge. Love chef john. :)

We love this dressing. I've made it 3 times now.

I heeded some of the previous reviewers' suggestions so I did add extra (half again as much) seasonings as the recipe called for. I also substituted Greek plain yogurt for the sour cream, because I didn't have any sour cream on hand. It turned out great; thick, but I like it that way. I'd recommend the recipe to a friend for sure.

It's a bit heavy on the mayo, but that's easily altered. Quite lovely.

Delicious! Easy to make. Highly recommend. I use to make "homemade" ranch with the Hidden Valley powder, not anymore. This is 150% better, worth the extra effort.

The best Ranch Dressing

I just finished making my second batch of Chef John's Ranch Dressing. The first time I only made 1/2 of the recipe in case my family didn't care for it...............silly me!!! I made the full recipe this time and followed it to the "T", including the 2 drops of Worcestershire sauce ;). Once put together it does make exactly one pint. The dressing is flavored perfectly and SO SO much better than store bought. Oh did I say cheaper to make!! My 16 year old puts it on so many things such as Buffalo Chicken Potato Casserole, Pizza, etc. Thank you Chef John for another excellent recipe.

I found this to be my best guide. Less mayo and for seasoning I used fresh lime, dill, cilantro, jalapeno (finely diced), & roasted garlic. I substituted green hot sauce instead of Worcestershire. Also made my own buttermilk from half n half and rice vinegar.

This is delicious! I took the easy way out... threw all of the ingredients in the blender. Boom! Perfect ranch dressing.

This is ABSOLUTELY delicious!! I was a little hesitant with all the ingredients but everything blends together WONDERFULLY. Like the best ranch I’ve ever tasted.

I love Chef John! I could watch and listen to his videos all day.

We really enjoyed this ranch dressing! I did add some extra buttermilk to thin it out. Loved the addition of the Worcestershire sauce too! I did not have any tarragon, so I skipped it. I would make this again, for sure! Thanks for sharing. :)

Fantastic! The perfect ranch dressing. I used fresh dill instead of dried and left out the tarragon because I didn't have any.

I’m a Ranch SNOB and I’ll never ever use any other recipe. Made exactly as written and it’s hands down the absolute BEST ranch dressing/dip I’ve ever had-EVER... and I’ve tried them all! Mixed all spices & Worcestershire sauce together and next I creamed the mayo, sour cream & buttermilk and added it to the spices. I would almost eat this on ice cream - LOL it really is that good. Thank you for another outstanding recipe Chef John!

Delicious

I had regular parsley instead of Italian but otherwise made it exactly per the recipe. I love it, my husband loves it and I will never buy ranch dressing again....it was that good.

This is really good dressing and easy to make! I added celery salt to zing up the flavor a bit, otherwise, it is perfect!

same what

If yours has too much of a mayo taste for your liking (like mine) then add a bit more buttermilk and add a good pinch of seasoned salt. It will be fantastic with no mayo-e flavor. Thanks CJ.

Another ten star receipt from Chef John. I used dry herbs, put in closed jar in refrigerator 3 days before serving. For those people like more herb tease, I double the herbs. Came out great and very tasty.

Great recipe. I saw someone say it tasted like mayo, if you use a mayo you like it does not taste like mayo. I hate mayonnaise and only like a certain brand, made it with that and it tasted great. Could also half the mayo and do sour cream instead or use yoghurt for the mayo. Didnt change anything and it tasted just like the ranch you buy at the store. This is a keeper.

Love the recipe and I've tried many, many and Chef John does a great tutorial. One little comment: I'm sure John is joking but to set the record straight, cowboys eat beef, not salad. The recipe came from a dude ranch: "The creators of Ranch dressing are Gayle and Steve Henson from a dude ranch outside Santa Barbara, California. That name of that ranch was Hidden Valley Ranch. The Hensons opened this ranch in 1954 and visitors came to enjoy horseback riding and taking in the scenery. However, the more memorable experience of these trips was generally the taste of the homemade salad dressing served at the ranch. On the menu at the dude ranch was a special salad dressing made up of buttermilk, mayonnaise and a dry mix of herbs and spices. This dressing became termed Ranch and soon was the only salad dressing served."

I wanted to use it as a salad dressing not a veggie dip. To do that I doubled the amount of buttermilk. If I make it again I will go with 50/50 buttermilk and mayo.

Thanks for another great recipe! I had all fresh herbs which worked out great. I used dry buttermilk powder mixed with water to thin it out to our desired consistency. We will not be buying bottled ranch anytime soon!!!

Delicious...cut back the Mayo the second time and added a little more butter milk..

I didn't have chives or onion powder on hand so I added 1t of chopped dried onion( cut the recipe down to 12 servings) Also added about 3x the milk to make it thinner. My daughter,who puts ranch on everything was in a panic as we were out of the store bought dressing, loved it and said she'll never eat the other stuff again. Wonderful flavor.

Chef John has done it again! This was so much better than store bought! I didn't add Tarragon as I don't usually keep this in my spice collection. It was still fabulous!

Didn’t have the chives and used dried parsley, but it was delicious and my family LOVED it!!

Loved it! Can’t go wrong with ranch dressing this good.

This is a very good substitute for hidden valley ranch, but it has no unnatural additives

Best ranch dressing recipe. I have made this recipe many times. I love to use it as a base for different flavors. Try adding bleu cheese, bacon, chopped jalapenos, chopped cucumber...the list is endless. Chef John's recipes are simple and versatile. This one is so easy to make and so versatile. I love that I control the salt without sacrificing flavor. I don't bother with bottled dressing since I found this recipe.

Awesome!

This dress is really very good! My hubby loved it. I only had time to let it sit for about 3 hours, I'm looking forward to trying it the next day. I think I might try a little lemon in it.

I made this just as published by Chef John. I will not make this again. I've decided I'm not a fan of tarragon, nor do I like sour cream in my Ranch Dressing. I also do not want parsley in my Ranch Dressing. I tried this recipe because I'm a fan of Chef John. Maybe there is something else of his I should try. Sorry Chef John. This was not a keeper for me.

Perfect ranch! This will make you make a salad!

I'm not a ranch fan but this was very tasty. Made it again using yogurt instead of sour cream. Not nearly as good

Good and simple, I prefer to replace the parsley with cilantro.

Living in Europe now we can't find a good store bought ranch. This is what brought us to making our own ranch. But boy am I glad we made our own. It is so good! Better than anything store bought for sure. On a scale of one to five I give this recipe a ten!!!

Flavor was excellent but it was way too thick.

Love this recipe. A bottle of ranch does not stand a chance in my house. Had to triple this. My kids and hubby love this better than the bottled stuff. And hey I don't have to spend the money on the bottle either its a win win. Thank you

Used what I had in the house: dried chives, sour cream instead of creme fraiche & omitted the Worcestershire sauce (the bottle I had expired 10! years ago!), but other than that, I followed the recipe exactly. It's FANTASTIC!!!a I'll be happy to give this to my ranch-obsessed 9 year old. I found Chef John on YouTube & came here for the recipe.

Edit 12/17--OK I've made this 5 times already since I first tried it two months ago. Yes! Fresh Italian parsley & fresh (garlic) chives are a must. So good.

This wasn't "ranch." As others noted, it was also very thick

The best i've Made...

I’ve made this many times and it is so much better than the bottled stuff. I use a bit less mayo and a bit more buttermilk to make easier to pour.

Very easy recipe. Adjusted the seasonings to my liking, but turned out better than any store bought ranch I’ve ever had. Thanks again Chef John!

The best Ranch dressing ever....this is my go to for dips and dressing...For the people who said was too thick..,Just add a little more buttermilk to thin...Not every recipe is going to be perfect for you ever need.

This was one of the best and easiest Ranch Dressings I've ever made - Thumbs Up to Chef John.

Five stars for taste. It tasted just like I want ranch to taste. But it was way too thick as written. I did add more buttermilk to thin it a little. Delicious.

This is the best ranch dressing I have ever had, and it was so easy to make. I would give it ten stars if I could!

The only thing I didn't add was the Chives. This is a great recipe, I can honestly say, I don't want to buy my ranch dressing ever again!

I made this last weekend and it was fabulous! I didn't have any fresh herbs, so I used dried, but it still tasted excellent.

So good! Thanks Chef! This is so much better than store bought!

I subbed 1/2 the mayo for yogurt and didn't notice a thing. very tasty and thick for dipping. I have made it twice already.

really good recipe, I had fresh herbs in hand so I used fresh, so I changed the amount of herbs just switching from dried to fresh but used everything else as listed. everyone loves it!

Delicious! I haven't made this in years. I'm going to make it again for potato or macaroni salads in the future, not just for green salads.

This dressing turned out creamy and delicious! It was easy to make too! Love it!

I don't buy ranch anymore. This is fantastic.

I made this but i was short on a few dry herbs(which i am getting tonight :) but my family as well as myself really liked it! thank you and i will be making my own mayo from now on since i have the ingredients and i like doing it myself with no preservatives. Thank you Chef John you are my favorite Chef dude :)

My child loves ranch anything and he thought that his was amazing.

This recipe turned out as a great dip for my veges. I only used 1cup of mayo and tripled the dry ingredients for my family's taste. I may try this recipe again with even less mayo.

Lovely,economical ,creamy and delicious. I made my own buttermilk too

Absolutely loved it! The first couple of times I made this, I read the recipe as 1/3 cup each mayonnaise, sour cream, and buttermilk. It wasn't until the third time that I realized that it was suppose to be 1 1/3 cup mayonnaise. I will continue using the 1:1:1 portion. Hidden Valley, move off the shelf!

Easy to make and very delicious!!!

Excellent recipe! This was my first time making ranch dressing. It is so much better than the store bought stuff we've always used.

I added a little more buttermilk (half & half & lemon substitute) for pouring consistency. I also had to substitute tarragon with fresh basil and marjoram because that’s what I had. Exactly the same otherwise. Very, very good!!!

I love ranch dressing, but I hate all the garbage chemicals and high-fructose corn syrup in the store bought ranch. This recipe starts with mayonnaise as its base, which isn't exactly all natural, but it's not as bad as ranch either. The rest of the ingredients are pretty straight forward. This was easy enough to make. The goopy ingredients aren't easy to measure, but if you whip them up with a rubber spatula they will settle into the measuring cup so you can see the levels. My wife and I absolutely LOVED this dressing. It made last night's salad taste like something from an expensive restaurant. We have plenty left over for the next few nights. Next time I make this, I think I'll dial down my pinch of salt. I think I pinched it too hard this time. The only downside is that this is made from fresh dairy products (sour cream and buttermilk), so it's perishable. I guess if we really get addicted to this, I'll have to make it once a week or so.

As written, it did taste a lot like mayo after 1 night in fridge. I then added a 2nd round of the same spices (though I did use 1t fresh dill instead of dried on the 2nd round) and a touch more buttermilk. It was delicious after it sat overnight again! I will make again and just double spices and maybe use fresh dill.

Delicious! I

Better than store bought dressing. Great taste, this will be my go to from now on. Thank you Chef John!

Didn't change anything. Like just about every other review I think this is one of the best Ranch dressings I've tasted. Very tasty. Will definitely make again.

Will make this again and again. Super simple!

So easy to make and so good - I'll never buy jarred or bottled ranch dressing again! The only change I made was to use only 1 cup of mayo and substitute a little more sour cream and buttermilk to make up the difference.

My absolute favorite dressing!

As written, the mayo is too much for my tastes. I like to mellow out the mayo, by making up the 1 1/3 cup with mostly Plain Greek Yogurt, sour cream and 3 tbsp of mayo. I still put in the 1/3 cup of sour cream. It works really well that way, if you are like me and don't want too much mayo taste. Also, I don't like fresh parsley, so I just throw in tsp of dried.