Give a quick and easy mason jar gift of the best homemade ranch dressing, including a dry mix, easy pour lid and complete printable recipe tag. Head over to the handmade gifts page for more great ideas!
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Here's a super quick mason jar gift idea that makes a really useful and different gift for teachers, hostesses, and for families at the holidays. I gave it one year to my family in our homemade gift exchange and they were a hit.
You simply pull together mason jars - vintage, regular or even the colored special editions - special pop-top lids to fit, and a seasoning mix for salad dressing. Finish it off with the recipe card that I've created for you to easily print, cut it out and it's done!
You probably know I love gifts like this (I know I'd like to receive it!) not only because it is something that has a good chance of being used often, but also that it may introduce the recipients to something new (like the pop-top lids made to fit mason jars, which I LOVE and wanted to share).
I also like that it encourages scratch cooking with something that is super easy to make at home - salad dressings.
And while this type of gift can be made for any type of salad dressing (like Italian seasonings with directions for a Balsamic Vinaigrette or a small bottle of apple cider for Apple Cider Vinaigrette), I decided to gift my Best Ranch Dressing & Dip because it's so popular and because I actually show it being made in a mason jar in the original recipe.
Salad Dressing Mason Jar Gift
Here's what you need to put this gift together:
- mason jars (vintage or regular)
- plastic pop-top lids made to fit mason jars (I used these "Pour Caps" made by reCAP which I bought in 4-packs, which is a better price for each)
- dry seasoning mix (recipe below)
- small zip-top baggies to package the seasoning mix
- printed recipe labels/tags (link below)
Since I was using my original recipe, I simply combined the seasonings called for in a bowl and measured enough to make 2 batches of dressing (you could easily add more).
I didn't bother trying to create a typical dry Ranch mix with dry buttermilk because, well, I think my recipe is the best. 🙂
So the tag lists the sour cream and buttermilk needed to make the dressing. I did substitute powdered garlic for fresh, since it is obviously easier for this application.
The Ranch Dressing Dry Mix Recipe
This will make enough for 2 recipes of the dressing for each jar - if you want to give more, simply increase the amounts x the number of jars:
Best Ranch Dressing Dry Seasoning Mix
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons dried parsley
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon dry dill
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients together well in a small bowl.
- Transfer to a small baggie.
- Makes 4 tablespoons, enough for 2 batches of Best Ranch Dressing.
Nutrition
Once your seasonings are mixed up add the baggie to the mason jar gift and print out the recipe tags on card stock to accompany it:
(click on the image below to open in a new window, then click on the download arrow at the top to save to your computer):
I made the recipe tags to fit inside a pint-sized jar, but you can also use them as gift tags by punching a hole in the top and tying it around the jar (then you can write "to" and "from" on the back).
Handmade gifts don't have to be complicated - purchase a few inexpensive items, mix up some ingredients, print out tags, add them to a jar and you've got a really useful gift for under $10.
SO much nicer than running out to buy something you're not sure about and that you maybe can't afford, right?
So tell me, would you like getting this mason jar gift, or is it just me who gets geeky over cool mason jar lids?
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