The Best Homemade Ranch Dressing Recipe (5 Minutes, No Mayo)
A family tested, kid-approved ranch dressing recipe made with real food ingredients that you mix up in just minutes, without mayonnaise and your choice of sour cream or yogurt. It’s a creamy, flavorful alternative to store bought versions that you can use for all your favorite pairings: veggies, salads, or as a dip. With lots of 5-star ratings, you can confidently forget about bottles and packets for this simple and delicious recipe.
✩ What readers are saying…
“This is the best ranch dressing I have ever tried (I have tried and disliked a lot). Even my husband who is a diehard Hidden Valley Fan said this was so good, he would finally quit buying ranch from the store….Amazing.” -Emily
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After many years of trying all kinds of recipes for homemade ranch dressing – both dry mixes and the complete dressing – and being disappointed, I finally came up with my own recipe for the best ranch dressing that our whole family likes!
I know that next to a basic vinaigrette, ranch salad dressing is probably the other bottle of dressing in most family refrigerators. And since we know how easy it is to make your own vinaigrette salad dressing (i.e., “Italian dressing”), and pretty much any dressing, I know you are going to LOVE this easy and flavorful ranch dressing recipe, too.
The Testing
When making all those other recipes I tried out, there was always something that just wasn’t “right” about them.
There was too much dill.
Or not enough garlic.
Too salty.
Or too bland.
Then I’d find a coupon for a bottle of organic ranch dressing and I’d forget about the homemade for awhile. But even on sale and with a coupon, organic dressings are not cheap. And I knew that ranch dressing is just sour cream (or mayo), buttermilk and some spices. Hardly expensive stuff.
So I went back to my recipes and combined and adapted some to come up with something that was simple, tasty, frugal (a batch costs around $1.50), and REAL.
But it wasn’t until it passed the taste test with our ranch-aholic son that I knew we had a winner. And since then it has passed the test with more family and friends as well as the many 5-star ratings in the comments!
Recipe Video
Ranch Dressing Ingredients & Notes
Items and ingredients needed:
- Sour cream: Our family preferred the taste of a sour cream based dressing vs. mayonnaise (see more on this below). I often make this with half sour cream and half plain yogurt (regular or Greek) which adds more protein but doesn’t have a full-on yogurt flavor. Some reviewers have made it with all yogurt and like the added tang, so feel free to experiment with the sour cream-yogurt ratios.
- Buttermilk: This is the classic ranch dressing ingredient (the dry mix packets have buttermilk powder), so if you can find a buttermilk without additives (usually a cultured type) that’s great. I find it hard to find so usually use the “faux buttermilk” mixture of regular milk with vinegar (for this recipe, a 1/2 cup milk mixed with 1-1/2 teaspoon vinegar).
- Lemon juice: Either fresh or bottled is fine for this classic salad dressing ingredient that really brightens the flavor. Some people have suggested just using this with regular milk to recreate the buttermilk and not add the vinegar at all – it could work, though I haven’t tried it.
- Fresh garlic: While I prefer the flavor of fresh garlic in the dressing, you can use 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder if you’d like.
- Dried parsley: This is the main herb in ranch dressing.
- Onion powder: I always use granulated onion instead of powder as I feel it measures better and has more flavor.
- Sea salt: You can use any salt you have. Start with the measurements, but taste after it’s mixed and see if you’d like more.
- Black pepper: I usually use coarse ground pepper – if you use fine ground, start with less than the 1/2 teaspoon and taste to adjust.
- Dried dill or fresh: The second herb in ranch dressing, a little goes a long way with dill. Adjust the amount if you’d like more or less.
Buttermilk Note
A note on buttermilk: A few years ago I realized that, for the most part, what they sell in the stores as “buttermilk” is not true buttermilk (which is the milk extracted during the process of making butter), but a milk with thickeners and often preservatives added to it. It’s sometimes cultured, but traditional buttermilk wasn’t always cultured. Since I’d like to avoid additives and I don’t have access to real buttermilk, I always make the “faux buttermilk” I mentioned above.
Sour Cream Note
Check the label of your sour cream!
If you don’t make your own, you’ll want to find a sour cream that contains only cream like the one listed above (which is Daisy brand). Compare this with the ingredients on most of the other store brands which list at least 10 ingredients including fillers, preservatives, and thickeners.
Why no mayonnaise?
Some ranch recipes call for mayonnaise instead of sour cream. We like sour cream for a couple of reasons:
- It creates a thicker dressing that works for a dip
- Or with just a little thinning with milk it can coat lettuce for a dressing
- Our family likes the flavor better.
- And it seems a bit ‘lighter’ than oil-heavy mayo.
- Bonus: it makes the dressing egg-free for those avoiding eggs.
Plus, since I make my own mayonnaise, we pretty much save it for sandwiches and caesar salad dressing since mayo is a must for that dressing.
A few tools that are great for homemade salad dressings
- Glass tablespoon measuring cup (SO much easier than spoons for liquids!)
- Pint glass jar with zinc lid
- Salad dressing style bottle with flip-top lid
How to Make Ranch Dressing
Step 1: Start by mixing sour cream, buttermilk, and lemon juice. Once the wet ingredients are mixed, add the garlic and dry spices.
Step 2: Mix ingredients well. You can simply shake everything together in a pint jar (shown) use a whisk it up in a 2-cup container before pouring into a bottle.
TIP: Don’t be tempted to skip the lemon juice- I really think it makes it so much fresher tasting. The lemon might seem a bit strong at first, but after the dressing has sits overnight the flavors mingle and it’s no longer as dominate.
And that’s it! Seems silly that I’d ever take the time to buy this when it takes like, 5 minutes, right?
Storage
How long does the ranch dressing keep?
We’ve never had it go bad, but I’ll stay on the safe side and say 3 weeks to a month in the fridge. Since it’s homemade with no stabilizers, it will thin a bit as it sits, but you can add a bit more sour cream or yogurt and maybe a bit more salt, whisk it in and it’s good to go.
Interested in storing a dry ranch dressing mix?
I put all the seasonings together in a recipe here (as a cute jar gift) with instructions on how to mix it up. I often make a batch to keep on hand when I want to whip up a fresh batch of dressing quickly or to use to shake on popcorn, crackers, or chicken.
Reader Raves
“This is the most enjoyable ranch recipe that I have tried. The consistency is great. I love that it doesn’t call for mayonnaise. Thank you for sharing it.” -Heather
“Finally found a ranch recipe that tastes great!!!! Really don’t like the mayonnaise flavor in ranch. So Thank you!!!!!” -Tiffany
“I’ve been making this for a year now. My kids absolutely love it. They dip veggies in it and put it on sandwiches. I leave out the dill, but otherwise I follow the recipe exactly. My 9 year old tells people all the time that I make the best ranch. Even better than the store stuff. Love that!” -Tara
“This recipe for homemade ranch dressing is amazing!!!!! It’s like the ranch of my dreams, fabulous taste, so easy to make, and can make it as low fat/low calorie to fit your diet needs!” -Amy B.
I hope you give this ranch dressing recipe a try, too, and let me know what you think by leaving a rating and review!
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Best Homemade Ranch Dressing (5 Minutes, No Mayo)
Ingredients
- 1 cup sour cream*
- 1/2 cup buttermilk add 1-1/2 teaspoons vinegar to milk to equal 1/2 cup if you can’t find real buttermilk
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 large garlic clove, minced (or 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder)
- 1 tablespoon dried parsley or 3 tablespoons chopped fresh
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 3/4 teaspoon sea salt or regular salt, to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon dried dill or 1 teaspoon fresh, to taste
Instructions
- Combine sour cream, buttermilk, and lemon juice in a pint jar or quart mixing bowl. Shake or whisk to mix well.
- Add the remaining ingredients and shake (or whisk) again until well combined. If using a bowl, transfer to a dressing container with lid.NOTE: If you like your dressing thicker, mix the sour cream and seasonings first, then add the buttermilk slowly until you reach your desired consistency.
- Refrigerate one or more hours before using to let the flavors mingle and then taste to adjust seasonings.
- Shake well before each use (see storage tip if dressing thins some in the fridge).
Notes
Nutrition
More Favorite Homemade Dressings
- Homemade Honey Mustard Dressing
- Basic Vinaigrette Salad Dressing 4 Ways
- Mason Jar Ranch Salad Dressing Dry Mix (my recipe made into a mix with directions!)
This recipe has been updated in 2018 and 2025 – it was originally published in 2011.
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This was awesome! My search is over. I did make two little Changes due to mine being a little to sour(probably from the lemon and the vinegarto make the buttermilk). I added two tsp. Sugar and one T mayo. It was heaven!
So glad you liked it!
I use lemon juice and milk to make buttermilk, so I wonder how it would turn out if the vinegar was left out?
Try it! I think it would work well.
Oh, thanks so much for your recipe! Bottled ranch never tastes “right” to me, or it’s way too thick and globby. Globby… is that a word? Anyway, thank you!
Your welcome- hope you like it as much as we do!
Mmmm…. I can’t wait to make this! Thank you!
Smash- So glad you like this! I’m sorry though, that you’re having a hard time with Pinterest- I resisted for awhile (just one more thing to do!), but now it’s one of my favorite things to do and a useful tool. It’s key to have a “pin it” in your bookmarks bar, so whenever you see something you can hit that button and it will pin to one of your boards you pick. I’d be curious to know what part you’re having trouble with- I’d love to help, if I could!
-Jami
I found this on Pinterest and LOVED it. Thanks for sharing. I want to repin on Pinterest for all my friends to make but I can’t get the hang of Pinterest(:
Shila- Oh, sure- I often replace sour cream with yogurt. They flavor changes a bit, but probably not as much with Greek yogurt (it’s usually more mild to my taste).
How do you get your homemade Greek yogurt as stiff as store-bought? My yogurt is usually runnier than my family likes. 🙁
Strain in a colondar with a cheese cloth overnight in the fridge.
A mixture of ranch blue cheese ….Home made yogurt drained, white balsamic vinegar or lemon juice I prefer the vinegar , a little bit of olive oil and seasonings to get taste you are desiring , garlic and BLUE Cheese shake well and taste GREAT!
My new go to for pasta salad, green toss salad with hard cooked eggs tomatoes mush,beets onions black beans a GREAT MEAL!
Can I replace greek yogurt for sour cream? I make whole milk greek yogurt from scratch 🙂
Shila – Would you be so kind as to share your whole milk greek yogurt from scratch recipe with us? Also, any hints or tips you may have to offer would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!
Thank you so much for sharing! I have gone without ranch for a couple of years now, because of all the crazy ingredients. Like the Hidden Valley ranch packet (which I used to consider “homemade’ lol, was my favorite, mmm…) but it contains MSG, yuck! So thanks again, I can’t wait to try this out!
Extraordinary- I’m not a dill fan myself and usually leave it out of dishes. But when I was researching this, dill seemed to be “the herb” for ranch and since I was trying to get the ranch flavor my son likes, I went with the dill.
As in everything in cooking, it’s up to you- that’s one of the reasons we make things ourselves: to make them just what WE like. 🙂
Would it be bad if I left out the dill?
I can’t wait to try this – just need some sour cream. My family loves ranch dressing and I hate buying it!
Thanks so much! I have not been totally pleased with any of the Ranch recipes I’ve tried. So I’m trying yours next!
Gina
YUMMY! Thanks for sharing… and doing all the experimenting!!
~Prairie Story
Yum! Looks delicious. 🙂
Coley- Hope this is “the one” for you, too! We’ve had it for up to a month and it’s fine- it separates, so needs to be mixed, but that’s all. May even last longer. 🙂
i’m w/ you all the way w/ store dips/dressings – so full of foreign ingredients. i’m adding this to my favorites!
I make my own ranch dressing too. So much better and less expensive. I agree the lemon juice makes all the difference!
Can’t wait to try this, we’ve been on the hunt for “the” recipe too. How long do you think it keeps after mixed?
I’ve always wondered how to replace the buttermilk in recipes (you cannot get in Argentina). Thanks for your “faux buttermilk” recipe. It will surely come in handy not only for this dressing but for a myriad of other recipes in my cooking book.