Ranch Dressing

You ask, "Why make Ranch dressing when I can just buy a bottle at the store?"

Have you ever read the ingredients label on Ranch dressing.  Eek!  Nasty and no thank you.

My childhood favorite dipping sauce, Hidden Valley Ranch contains the following:

Soybean Oil, Water, Egg Yolk, Sugar, Salt, Cultured Nonfat Buttermilk, Natural Flavors (Soy), Spices. Less than 1% of Dried Garlic, Dried Onion, Vinegar, Phosphoric Acid, Xanthan Gum, Modified Food Starch, Monosodium Glutamate, Artificial Flavors, Disodium Phosphate, Sorbic Acid and Calcium Disodium EDTA as Preservatives, Disodium Inosinate and Disodium Guanylate.

Yuck.

Honestly, making your own is really not that hard.  The hardest part is cleaning the blender/food processor when your done.  But homemade Ranch dressing tastes so good, it's worth it.  Psst, it's cheaper too!

You'll need the following:

1 egg yolk

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1/4 kefir, piima, buttermilk, yogurt or sour cream (sour cream or yogurt makes a great thick dipping sauce) most any cultured milk product will do

2 scallions, chopped

1 small shallot, chopped 

1 garlic clove

1 tbsp dill, fresh

1 tbsp parsley, fresh

1/8 tsp salt

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil 

Place everything in the blender/food processor except the olive oil.  Whirl around until very well blended.  While the blender is still on, slowly drizzle the olive oil in a thin stream.  The oil will emulsify it to a yummy creation.

 

Comments

[Jodi]

This sounds great! I don't like Ranch, but my boys LOVE it and I HATE to buy it for them. I wanted to ask if the egg yolk serves a purpose. I'm wondering if I can veganize it by omitting the egg yolk.

[Melanie Hoffman]

The egg yolk is pretty essential.  Egg yolk + vinegar + oil = mayonaise.  Sorry!  Thats too bad because egg yolks are so nutrient dense.  I think if you did want to try it, youd have to shake it up really good before using it and the oil would want to separate. 

[Melanie Hoffman]

I was just thinking, it actually would be easy to veganize. Omit the egg, vinegar, oil and cultured milk product and replace it with 1 cup vegan mayo and 1/2 cup vegan yogurt. Do you mind if I ask why you follow a vegan diet? Ethical reasons, I understand but I think if people are following a vegan lifestyle for purely health reason, they might want to reconsider. Especially with a nursing baby, its extra hard to pull off.