I was browsing through the $5 Dinner Mom’s website when I came across her ingenious idea to mix up a big batch of seasonings at one time for an easy homemade Ranch dressing.
Quick and Easy Homemade Ranch Dip Recipe
Once your spice mixture has been made it’s a very simple process to add your perishable ingredient whenever you’re in the mood for some homemade dressing. Talk about being efficient! You could even prepare them ahead of time in separate bags or containers to mix up once you’re ready.
A Sour Cream Ranch Dip for Everyone
Now we prefer a Ranch dip over a dressing at our house (especially since it magically makes my 6-year-old eat twice as many carrots as normal) so below is a modified version that turns Erin’s spice mixture into a Ranch dip instead of a Ranch dressing.
This gives it a thicker consistency overall, making it a perfect dip for veggie trays that the whole family will enjoy. It’s a lot cheaper than pre bought spice mixes and easily more nutritious than the bottled stuff. No preservatives here! Just a few simple ingredients that make for a fresh and easy to make dip.
How to Reduce the Fat Content of This Dip Recipe
If you want to save on calories and dollars at the same time, there’s an incredibly easy substitution you can make here! Greek yogurt doesn’t just add substantial protein content to the mix, but is slightly less calorie dense than cream cheese. (Some people may prefer the flavor, too!)
To use Greek yogurt instead of sour cream, simply swap the sour cream in the ranch dip recipe below for equal parts Greek yogurt.
Here’s a little video showing you how simple it is to make! Enjoy!
Ranch Flavored Dip
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon parsley (dried)
- 1 teaspoon dill (dried)
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon basil (dried)
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- sour cream (for serving)
Instructions
- Mix together the first six ingredients down to the pepper. Store in an airtight container.
- When you are ready to make the dip stir 1 tablespoon of the spice mixture together with ½ cup sour cream. Serve with fresh sliced veggies or whole-wheat pretzels.
- Save the remaining dry spice mixture in spice cabinet or pantry for another day.
I added some garlic salt, but I think next time I would sub garlic salt for the garlic powder. Most in our group thought it needed salt, but otherwise thought it was great!
Glad to hear everyone still enjoyed it. – Nicole
it does not taste like ranch dressing, it’s a dill dressing.
I LOVE dill. I’ll be making this soon.
I use plain Greek yogurt instead of sour cream and add just a little touch of season salt. SO GOOD! I am very excited to have found this!
Turned out good ! Added a little more onion and garlic to suite our family.
This stuff is great and very easy to “tweek” to your liking. I make it with ” Johnies Garlic Bread Seasoning from Costco, dried chives and I add it to tast to plain Greek yogurt mixed with Mexican table sour cream ( thinner ) until it has a taste and “dip ability” that I like. I use it as a veggie dip and salad dressing ( dipped on my fork).
I thought it needed a bit of salt flavor, so I used garlic salt instead of garlic. Also we did not have any basil in the house (gasp!) so I added freeze dried chives. It tasted great! As a side note, we can’t have mayo based dips in the house since I have a kiddo allergic to eggs. So sour cream dips are perfect for us. :-)
Am I supposed to use Dill Seed or Dill Weed? Thanks!
You should use dry dill weed.
I make something similar, only I add about 1/4 cup of milk kefir. This adds a really nice tang to it.
oh, sounds like a great way to use kefir! I am assuming you use it instead of the sour cream?
Would this work to use only mayo as the base? I am unable to have yogurt, sour cream, or buttermilk.
Hi Melanie. That is not something we’ve tried. You might also consider a plain non-dairy yogurt.
Has anyone made this with Greek Yogurt instead of sour cream?
Hi there. Yes, some of our readers have.
I make ranch dip like this one with Fage and it’s awesome, just a little thicker than sour cream. You can add a little bit of olive oil if you want it thinner.
I do something similar, but I use 1/2 mayo like one commenter did…and I mix the seasonings in with the mayo. It stores in the fridge for months, and the flavours are already fully developed in the mayo, so you just add 1 part mayo/seasoning mix to one part sour cream/yogurt/milk and you’re ready to go!
I love that this uses whole ingredients – not lowfat options that add sugar, etc. to add to the flavor!
http://www.nynomads.com
I made this recipe over the weekend for a party and it was a huge hit. I doubled the recipe and added a dash of salt. I will surely make this again. Don’t think I’ll be buying any more ranch dressing either, will just make a little of this for kids when we have salad.
Great recipe! I had everything in the pantry. I added 1/2 tsp of salt. It was great!
ps. used with low fat sour cream
This may be a dumb question, but does this recipe call for Dill Weed or Dill Seed? Or is there plain dried dill out there in the world that I can’t find? Your help would be greatly appreciated!
Hi Brittany. It is the feathery green part of the plant…not the seed. ;)
Anyone know how long this will keep in the fridge?
Hi Katie. I’ve kept it for up to 5 days in a sealed container.
I would try this with organic, plain Greek yogurt as well.
So, is sour cream OK to eat or not? FOODBABE suggest it’s not because of carrageenan.
Can anyone help me with this?
We don’t eat loads but would like to know what we are eating. Thanks.
Hi Jayne. You can find it without: http://www.cornucopia.org/shopping-guide-to-avoiding-organic-foods-with-carrageenan/. ~Amy
Does this replace a packet of the ranch seasoning mix and if so how much do you use in place of one envelope?
Hi Sarah. I do not know the yield of the commercial stuff. This one is one tablespoon per 1/2 cup of sour cream. :)
This a great recipe for people who can not have salt.
Turned out well but I too made a few modifications.
1- Added 1 teaspoon of salt to the dry mix.
2- Used 1/4 cup sour cream and 1/4 cup mayonnaise.
3- Chill for a few hours really blooms the flavors and is very important.
I loved the mayo sour cream combo, really works.
Would this be good with Greek yogurt instead of sour cream?
Hi Karen. Several readers have used yogurt rather than sour cream. :)
I second using some yogurt. I usually do roughly half and half on plain yogurt and sour cream. I also agree with the addition of salt. If I want a dressing I thin this with milk or buttermilk. I can’t speak to this particular recipe, but I just dump roughly this spice mixture to taste.
If you blend up some cooked white beans, even the canned ones, you can then mix the ranch mix in it for an even healthier version. The texture is a little different but the kids barely noticed!
A great idea to make this dip even healthier and add a good dose of protein is to sub out half of the sour cream for cottage cheese. Just blend the two together in a blender before adding the seasoning. It will make the dip delicious and no one can ever guess what it is the dip!
Thanks for posting this… I can’t believe I bought the package Ranch mix; those days are long gone now.
great recipe, I always use yogurt instead of sour creme, though and it works out great!
I made this today with the addition of a 1/4 tsp ground mustard and 1 tsp sea salt and it was SO, SO good. I don’t think I’ll ever buy the packets again. My husband and 2 toddlers loved it too. The reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 is that it would definitely not have been as good if I hadn’t added the salt. The salt is totally necessary, in my opinion.
I put this spice mix on homemade roasted chickpeas. So good.
I make this ALL the time for my son and I. It’s so nice to have a healthy version of ranch. Manufactured ranch always has so much junk. Thanks for the recipe!!
I enjoy adding this spice blend to plain cream cheese. Today I am having some with my lunch to smear onto my tomatoes and cucumber slices.
I tried a sample of twice baked potatoes at Publix… http://www.publix.com/aprons/meals/AppetizersSidesDesserts/SimpleMeal.do?mealId=9328&mealGroupId=1013
It tasted good but one of the ingredients was a tub of ranch sour cream. Instead of adding that… I used this dip on the potatoes. It came out super yummy!