Ranch makes everything taste good! I'm so glad I found this idea from the $5 Dinner Mom, because it's a healthier alternative to the store-bought Ranch salad dressing or packaged dips. Mix up a big batch of the spice and have it ready for anytime you need a little help to get your kids to eat their veggies.
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.
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!
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.
Here’s a little video showing you how simple it is to make! Enjoy!
Ranch Flavored Dip
Ranch makes everything taste good! I'm so glad I found this idea from the $5 Dinner Mom, because it's a healthier alternative to the store-bought Ranch salad dressing or packaged dips. Mix up a big batch of the spice and have it ready for anytime you need a little help to get your kids to eat their veggies.
Print Recipe
Servings: 1 cup
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.
Notes
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition Facts
Ranch Flavored Dip
Amount Per Serving
Calories 22
Calories from Fat 9
% Daily Value*
Fat 1g2%
Saturated Fat 1g6%
Sodium 8mg0%
Potassium 80mg2%
Carbohydrates 5g2%
Fiber 1g4%
Sugar 1g1%
Protein 1g2%
Vitamin A 675IU14%
Vitamin C 10.6mg13%
Calcium 11mg1%
Iron 0.5mg3%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
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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!
This is yummy and super easy! I love that it makes enough spice to make the dip a few times, very efficient!
I love, love, love this recipe!!! I too added a bit of salt and a little more of the seasoning and I used Greek yogurt sour cream. My 15 month old son loves to dip his bell pepper strips in it! I can’t complain!!!
I ended up adding about 1 tsp., and after the flavors absorbed for several hours in 2 cups of Nancy’s cultured sour cream in the fridge, the saltiness was perfect. I cannot imagine not adding it. I served at a party, and everyone RAVED about it! Was just curious if there being no salt in the recipe was a typo. It is so flavorful I suppose you wouldn’t need it…but I added it since one of the things that makes the ranch dip packets so tasty is the salt. I used unrefined REAL salt, which has health benefits (unlike the processed sodium chloride or table salt in most processed foods),
This is delicious as a dip (though I did add a greater ratio of the spice mixture to the sour cream than indicated to up the flavor). Also was really delicious added to mashed potatoes!
I am looking for your homemade onion dip recipe. I know I’ve seen you share it, but am having trouble finding it on your site.
Hi Robin. It will be in the cookbook: https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/buythecookbook. :) ~Amy
Wow! This was such a great find!! I added about a 1/4 tsp of sea salt and 1/2 tsp of dried minced onion, and this hit the spot!! Thank you VERY MUCH!! =^)
I actually meant without mayo. Earlier comments refer to original post for dressing (rather than dip), but the original recipe on other site uses mayo. If I wanted to turn this dip into a dressing, would adding milk (to make it more liquidy) do the trick?
Hi again, Jess. We have not tried but I think that adding a bit of milk would certainly get you to the right consistency. ~Amy
How would you turn this into a dressing without using mayo? Just add whole milk??
Hi Jess. Do you mean without sour cream? You could try using yogurt. ~Amy
Just what I was looking for! I subbed greek yogurt and was very pleased with the results. Will be making this regularly!
Just made this and loved it. Thanks.
I recently fixed this for a party. It was my first time trying a homemade ranch dip, and I would say it turned out so-so. My husband & I did eat it w/ some veggies, but our family (who isn’t used to more natural foods) didn’t like it. To us, it didn’t seem to have a very strong “ranch” flavor that we expected. The taste was palatable but not sure I would expect to pass it as ranch dip. We will keep trying though; usually are very pleased with the recipes from this site :)
I have to say, I was very excited to see this! We have begun to eat a much healthier diet and it has been hard to find a ranch dressing or dip that meets my standards for flavor. I cannot wait to try making this. It will be perfect for our New Years Eve party. Thanks for sharing :-)
I (and my guests) found this dip to be a bit crunchy with all of the dried parsley. May be okay if use fresh parsley. Would also recommend reducing the amount of garlic powder.
I love this idea and can’t wait to try it, but I just happened to look at the ingredient list on my sour cream and for the first time noticed that it has 10 different ingredients in it. Is there any sour cream out there has less than 5 ingredients without a bunch of stuff I can’t pronounce?
I use Daisy brand. One ingredient: Grade A cultured cream
I was surprised and disappointed to see that, too! Meijer brand sour cream is out! Daisy Sour Cream is just made with cream. Sometimes it is a dollar more expensive, but I think it is worth it.
You can make your own sour cream. I make mine out of cream (not ultra pasteurized).I got my cultures form cultures from health.
As is long time lover of ranch party dip, I have to say this recipe is as close as I have found to the real deal. Yeah, it’s not perfect, but it’s pretty darn close. I made it exactly as written, and after a first taste test I decided it needed a little sea salt. Other than that, I didn’t mess with it. Thanks for helping me to get off the “chemical powders in an envelope”!
Meant to give it 5 stars! Oops!
This is probably a dumb question, but I have a recipe that for ranch dressing mix that uses dry buttermilk powder. Is there anything wrong with that?
Hi Laura. Powdered milks are not an ingredient Lisa uses both because it is more processed, but also because powdered milks contain oxidized cholesterol which is not a form of cholesterol that is food for your heart. ~Amy
Yay! I would love to have Ranch Dressing ready to go, Think that we could do half butter milk/half sour cream? iIts what we do when using Hidden Valley’s (ahhhhhhh) Ranch. That stuff makes my heat race so badly!!!
Hi Maria. We have not tried. Let us know if you do and how it turns out. ~Amy
The spices would be good as long as they would have been in their original container….just look at your soonest expiration date and mark your calendar with that…..when you make the dip or dressing, it will expire whenever your dairy product would have expired.
How long can you keep this mixture of spices befor it goes bad?
Hi Mary. Are you asking about the mixture before it is mixed in to the sour cream? If so, if you keep it in a airtight container, it would keep like any other spice blend. Keeping it in the fridge would prolong its life, too. Once you have mixed it with the dairy, it would keep only as long a the sour cream. ~Amy
Thank you for posting this! We’ve made a committment to cut out MSG and ranch dip/dressing has been a tough one to find without it.
I am wondering if anyone has done this with yogurt instead of sour cream? we have a dairy allergy in the family, but if yogurt would work i could mix it with so coconut yogurt.
I use yogurt all the time instead of sour cream. Can’t tell a difference at all.
I can’t wait to try this! We don’t use sour cream anymore, instead we use plain yogurt and you cannot tell a difference! I’m sure it’d work perfectly with this!!
missing one key ingredient, powdered buttermilk
After reading the comments I was nervous to try this. My daughter wanted to take it with her to school tomorrow so we whipped some up real fast and tried it out. I used 1/2 t of dill since many replies said 1 t was too much. She liked it. I didn’t think it had enough flavor, and ended up adding more season mix. Maybe i’m just used to “real” ranch. We’ll continue to play around with it until we get the right flavor.
:)
I made some ranch dip last week (didn’t use this recipe, just haphazardly added things to sour cream) – just saw this post refresh on FB – and thought I’d see what the official recipe is! My only thing is that I would probably add a little salt. This is good, now I have something to actually measure!
I made this today using full fat sour cream and thought it was delicious! I only added a few sprinkles of freshly ground pepper rather than a full 1/2 tsp. Thank you for another awesome recipe and for all that you do and share! :)
I thought this was delicious, and my kids will definitely love it! It DOES need a bit of salt though. I may try it with a tiny bit of fresh garlic mashed w/ a bit of salt next time. There is NOTHING better than fresh garlic!
Thanks
Loved this. My daughter can make it on her own. Added bonus that there are no artificial ingredients that we cannot pronounce!
(*I did add salt but my daughter didn’t think it needed it.)
Made this today, but truly I am bad at following recipes…and when I do they don’t usually turn out, so I made my recipe as follows: 1/2 tsp dill, 1/2 tsp basil, salt, pepper, 1 tsp Afro Fusion brand – Mama Cita all purpose seasoning, maybe 1/2-1tsp honey, 1/2-1tsp mustard and 1/4-1/2 cup yogurt. My 4-1/2 year old and I liked it, but then again we don’t eat fake ranch dressing so there isn’t a comparison. When it comes to making veggie dip for parties I always make some kind of mix like this, using yogurt and/or sour cream and different seasonings. True ranch dip seems sweeter to me and definitely would not have that much dill. I like a good organic all-purpose seasoning to add in place of most of the spices.
I LOVE this recipe! The ratio of seasoning is perfect in my opinion. I can’t get enough of veggies dipped into this. The only thing I think it needs is a little salt to bring out all the flavors.
Also try mixing this with greek yogurt. Very good!
Every other recipe I’ve tried from this site has been really good. I was disappointed with this one though. Too much dill, too much pepper and just not very palatable.
I experimented and tried the seasoning with nonfat greek yogurt, olive oil mayo and then sour cream. The Greek yogurt with seasonings was not bad but still needed work. The olive oil mayo was just weird (and I didn’t feel good about eating it either). The full-fat sour cream won in my book. But, I will have to say it isn’t exactly like Ranch. Hopefully my kids will accept it though!
We’re using this mix of spices as a dry rub for crock pot buffalo chicken lettuce wraps. I’m hopeful that it’ll come out tasty!!
YUM! I just made this (didn’t have any onion powder) and it is delicous! Thanks for the recipe.
My kids absolutely ADORE this recipe. I cut back on the pepper a lot and we use greek yoghurt. We have done it with finely sliced green onion instead of the onion powder, and fresh parsley too. I love that if you have any of the fresh ingredients you can just use them instead. 1tbsp fresh for 1tsp dried.
Also note – if you want a true ranch flavour you do need to use the dreaded fake mayo. I admit – it is the best for this recipe from a non-real stand point. But seeing as how that completely defeats the purpose – Greek Yogurt it is for us!
I really like you , your recipes, and your blog, so I hate to leave a bad review, but I want to warn others before they waste ingredients on this. I thought this turned out pretty gross. It vaguely tastes like ranch, but has a very strong dill taste, not much other flavor, and just tastes off. It is also too spicy– too much pepper for sure!
I added 1 t lemon juice, a dash more of garlic powder and onion powder, 1 1/2 t Real Salt, and used Greek yogurt (the additions were added AFTER following the recipe to make it palatable) Tried the addition of honey as suggested in the comments and didn’t notice a difference. Just a warning that this does NOT taste like ranch dip and I don’t think I like whatever it does taste like!
My husband claims that I’m trying to kill him with the healthy food I’ve been serving recently (the man loves his chips), but then he proceeded to tuck into a platter of veggies with a small side of this ranch dressing. He LOVED it and I had everything on hand. It could not have been easier. Thanks very much.
Hi, we made this tonight and for my kids I mixed 1 tbsp to about 1.5-2 cups of sour cream They thought when it was with one cup that it was too ‘spicy’ once I added more sour cream they gobbled it up they love dressing with our homemade potato chips and broccoli and carrots.
VERY good! I’m a ranch girl and actually liked this BETTER!
I’m going to adapt this by adding dried sour cream powder so that all I need to add is water! Shelf Reliance sells sour cream powder and I am a user/distributor!
I’m going to adapt this by adding dries sour cream powder so that all I need to add is water! Shelf Reliance sells sour cream powder and I am a user/distributor!
This us good, but it is WAY better if you use fresh herbs – esp the parsley and dill. Easy to grow and yummy!
I have been using PLAIN GREEK YOGURT as my sour cream in a lot of foods like baked potatoes and tacos. It works great for this dip too! My sour cream lover friend can’t tell the difference :)
Do you have any Dill Dip recipes?
I’ve been making something almost identical to this using Fage 0% Greek yogurt instead of sour cream and adding a tbsp of lemon juice for tanginess. Add buttermilk to the yogurt to make as a dressing (more liquid).
Have you tried this with greek yogurt vs sour cream? I like to make a simple dip of plain greek yogurt with dill (i like that kind that you can buy and keep in the fridge…I think they are freeze dried), garlic powder and lemon pepper. I think I’ll make that for my daughter’s party this weekend!!
I use Fage yogurt to replace sour cream for any recipe – you can’t tell the difference!
I love both Fage Greek yogurt and sour cream. I’ve never understood people saying that they can’t tell the difference because I certainly can.
“Know”
Ha what perfect timing, I was planning on looking up a recipe for this today and you posted it :) Thanks so much!!
I love this idea. We use dressing in our home. Can we make a full containers worth and store in the fridge?
I’d like to omow this too!
Hi Dawn. I’m sure you can. I would just be careful as to how quickly you will go through it since it will have a shorter shelf life than store bought dressings. Jill
Wow! Thanks for the recipe! Tastes amazing!!
Love the homemade Ranch idea! Thanks!
I wish there was a “pin it” button as I’m already in pintrest from another recipe so I can’t pin this unless I open safari. PITA :)
What kind of sour cream do you use?
I usually buy the whole milk organic valley.
FYI organic valley uses cornstarch as a thickening agent in their sour cream. We avoid unnecessary additions of corn products in food. The whole foods 365 organic version is just cultured cream. Trader Joe’s also makes a cornstarch free organic version as well.
Lisa,
Do you have any suggestions for heavy cream replacements? I have a severe anaphylactic reaction to carrageenan that is found in several food items including ultra-pateurized heavy cream. I have a difficult time in finding heavy cream that is not ultra-pasteruized where I live.
Love your blog! Thank you!
Hi there – What are you trying to make exactly (this particular recipe doesn’t call for cream)?
You can make your own “sour cream” by adding lemon juice to milk or cream. If you google “kitchen ingrediant substitutions” you should find a website, but I think it is a tablespoon lemon juice added to 1 cup of milk. Stir and let sit for a few minutes (maybe 10). I have done this substitution when I haven’t had sour cream on hand.
What you’re describing is a way to make buttermilk. Not sure it would be a good sub for sour cream.
Daisy sour cream does not contain any additional ingredients. It contains only cultured cream. (I realize this is an old post, but thought it might be helpful for others looking at the sour cream options)
Thanks, Katie, this is helpful! :)
For a healthy sour cream substitute, add lemon juice to plain yogurt. That’s what we did in Spain where they don’t have sour cream, and it’s not half bad!
I found a website to convert this to larger quantities. I’m going to try and make a big batch of it and store it so it’s always ready!!
Oops. Can “you” list the dressing version, too.
If you follow the link to the $5 dinner mom’s website it has the dressing version there.
This sounds great. Can list the dressing version, too?
I am so excited to find this recipe! My girls love veggies and ranch too, but the last time I checked store-bought ranch dressing, the first ingredient was vegetable oil and the second ingredient was HFCS. Seriously?? What a disappointment!
I can’t wait to try your recipe – i actually have all the ingredients on hand! Thanks!
Try replacing the sour cream with plain greek yogurt for extra protein! I also love mixing avocado and plain greek yogurt together a dip, very easy with 2 ingredients! I put it on toast for a quick breakfast as well.
great recipe…bye bye Hidden Valley….i do add a bit more seasoning when making dressing
I LOOOOOOOVE this!!!! Taste great in anything and everything!!! Thank you soooooo much for this! I am in love with your website, true inspiration!! :)
Thank you! Thank you! I am so excited to try this! I love ranch but I hate what is in it! This looks fast and healthy and I can not wait to try it!!
Just made this! It was a bit bland and my husband complained it just tasted like sour cream. So I added in a bit of sea salt and…. A 1/2 tsp of honey. It sounds weird but the honey made this dip come alive! Great spice recipe though! It’s perfect! Thx for the great idea!
Yeah…it was a little bland…but I took your advice added about 1/8 tsp salt and the honey. It was great!
We love this recipe! Unfortunately, my oldest prefers ‘fiesta ranch.’ Anyone know what goes into it? I have tried a few times to make it, but I am missing something!
On this same note. I use Boathouse’s yogurt ranch at home. Kids will magically eat carrots and bell pepper sticks in it! I find it only at Meijer or health food stores.
Yay! I went on my first dedicated “real food” shopping trip yesterday, and was wondering what I would do when we run out of the homemade ranch that I have in the fridge. I usually use the mix packets from the store, but knew there would be all kinds of unpronouncable and undesireable ingredients in there. Thanks for the recipe!
Much better than the bottled stuff! Do you think it would go well with Vegan Mayo instead of the Sour Cream?
I am not sure b/c I’ve never tried vegan mayo!
I would try it with a vegan kefir since it has a similar sour taste IMO.
Awesome, thanks! I will try this with Greek Yogurt.
This will be so awesome to use in any recipe that calls for Ranch dip mix (with MSG, of course)! Thank you for posting :)
I do half sour cream half Greek yogurt and then add milk till its the right consistency for salad dressing. We also add cottage cheese to ours for more texture. YUM!
Lisa – the timing of this couldn’t be more perfect! I’m making a recipe for taco soup that calls for a packet of ranch dressing seasoning, and I thought, there has got to be a way I can do this myself without all the yuck of MSG and other weird ingredients. And behold – you post this recipe! Thanks so much!!
I am excited to try this recipe. I am curious to see, if by adding a milk product and making it runnier would, in fact, make it a nice salad dressing to replace our store bought ranch.
Checked the ingredients on the store bought Ranch dressing in our fridge last week and the second ingredient was MSG! Third was high fructose corn syrup. I threw it away pretty quickly, so finding a “from scratch” Ranch dressing was definitely on my to do list.
What a great idea! I just hope my kids approve this whole changing the way we eat is throwing my older two off a little! :) But I am sure in time they will get use to it! Thanks for sharing!
love it! Especially that there is no salt in this (everything usually has WAY too much) thanks!
Ok…the timing of finding this recipe in my inbox (my first by the way) could not have been anymore perfect. I was searching on line homemade ranch dressing recipes when I switched over to my email to find this homemade ranch (dip/dressing)! :-) Anyhow…can’t wait to try it!
I will give this a try with Greek Yogurt which is typically less processed.
Have you tried making your own sour cream? All you need is 1 cup heavy cream, 1/4 cup buttermilk and a sterilized mason jar. Put your two ingredients in your hot mason jar. Put the lid on and let it sit on your counter for at least 24 hours. At that point check for consistency. When it is, stick it in the fridge. Once you have made your starter batch then you can skip the buttermilk and use a 1/4 cup of the sour cream with a cup of heavy cream.
this is so awesome! My son eats Ranch on everything. So I’m really happy to find a recipe that I can make a dip or a dressing out of really easily. Thank you!
Finding a way to ditch store bought ranch dressing has been on my to-do list. I’m so glad you posted this. So many of the recipes I’ve seen require the chopping of several fresh veggies. I’m not opposed to fresh veggies, but spending lots of time making home-made dressing isn’t high on my priority list for time right now. :0) This is totally doable!