Homemade ranch dressing is healthy, creamy, fresh, and herby. Made with clean ingredients including dill, parsley, garlic, yogurt, sour cream, and buttermilk.

This homemade healthy ranch dressing light, refreshing, tangy, and made with buttermilk. It will be gone within a week because let’s face it, who doesn’t put ranch on everything?? If you don’t, it’s because you’ve never had it homemade.

None of that processed stuff that sits in your fridge for months at a time. I guarantee you will never want to buy ranch dressing from the store again.

I’ve never really liked store-bought ranch dressing. It tastes like preserved goo and don't even look at the label. You wouldn't believe how bad that stuff is for you. Take a look at this article from Livestrong if you really want to know all the dirty details: Is Ranch Dressing Healthy.

I knew there had to be a healthier version. When you compare fresh, homemade ingredients with those in the bottle it's out-of-this-world healthier.

You can still use this ranch as a dip, sauce, or dressing on everything and not feel one bit guilty about it. That's pretty awesome!

How To Make Homemade Healthy Ranch Dressing

It may seem like a lot of ingredients but it's really very simple. You can whip this up in 10 minutes.

Ranch dressing ingredients:

• Dill
• Parsley
• Chives
• Garlic
• Sour Cream
• Yogurt
• Buttermilk
• Lemon juice
• Garlic powder
• Onion powder
• Salt
• Pepper

Steps:

There are two quick steps for this ranch dressing recipe.

1. Prepare: Start by finely dicing the herbs and put them in a bowl together. Then combine the sour cream, yogurt, and buttermilk in a separate bowl. Finally, measure out the seasonings into a third bowl.
2. Combine: Add the seasonings and herbs with the liquids, and give it all a stir with a whisk or spoon. You’ll find the dressing has a smooth consistency that isn’t too thick or too liquidy.

Of course, you can just combine it all in one bowl instead of three to cut down on washing the dishes. Which I'm all in favor of.

Uses for Homemade Healthy Ranch Dressing

There are so many uses for this dressing. Just in case you need some extra ideas beyond salad, here’s a list:

• a dip for Chopped Chicken Nachos
• a dip for Crispy Air Fried Chicken Wings
• you could put a dollop in this Secret Ingredient Egg Salad
• a dip for Waffle Iron Pizza
• on top of baked potatoes  
• a dip for veggies like broccoli, carrots, cucumbers, and tomatoes  
• on top of grilled corn on the cob

Variations

If you want to make your original ranch dressing have a fun new twist, try out these ideas:

• Change the herbs: Instead of doing the classic herbs, try mint, basil, tarragon, shallots, cilantro, oregano, or jalapeños.
• Add some sweet or heat: Make it sweet with a small amount of honey or agave. For a kick, add a little Tabasco or Sriracha.
• Try a green goddess: Combine all your ingredients plus half an avocado in a food processor to make a green goddess dressing.
• Mix up the acid: Buttermilk and lemon juice are the acid in this recipe, but you could use a teaspoon of white distilled vinegar or apple cider vinegar instead.
• Use different spices: Instead of garlic powder and onion powder, you could use paprika, cayenne for some heat, cumin, celery seed, dried tarragon, dried parsley, or dried oregano.

For some more healthy salad dressings, try these from one of my favorite food bloggers, Cookie+Kate! Healthy Salad Dressings

You might also like to learn how to make the perfect pesto, too!

If you try it out, let me know how it goes in the comments or on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest.