This homemade ranch seasoning recipe is a tasty blend of dried herbs and spices. It is wonderful stirred into a creamy blend of sour cream, mayonnaise, or yogurt for a homemade ranch dressing, but can also go into an array of other dishes.
About Ranch Dressing
Most people are familiar with ranch dressing, but may not realize that it is actually a relatively recent invention. In fact, it supposedly emerged in the 1950s when a plumber by the name of Steve Henson created it. He started serving and selling it at Hidden Valley Ranch. Other brands followed with ranch-style dressings making it one of the most popular types of salad dressing on the market.
However, you can utilize ranch dressing for more than just as a salad topper. Ranch dressing is also great as a dip for fresh-cut vegetables, pizza, chicken fingers, or fried foods like jalapeno poppers or fried dill pickles.
These days, you can also find ranch seasoning on the market. This can come conveniently in a shaker or small package. It is wonderful to have on hand if you are used to going through a lot of ranch dressing. You can simply stir it into creamy ingredients like buttermilk, yogurt, mayonnaise, or sour cream (or a blend) to have a dressing for all your favourite salads.
Now, rather than buying it, you can make your own homemade version of ranch dressing mix. Ranch dressing mix is not only cheaper than purchasing the store-bought version, but it is also superior due to the quality of the ingredients. Quite often, packaged ranch seasoning mix will contain MSG, artificial flavours, and maltodextrin, in addition to other undesirable ingredients. By contrast, this homemade ranch seasoning only contains ingredients you can find in your cupboard every day.
What is Ranch Seasoning Made Of?
This homemade ranch seasoning mix is an easy mixture of delicious dried herbs and spices. All you have to do is blend them together and store them in an airtight container until you are ready to use this seasoning mix in your favourite recipes. The total time to make this homemade ranch seasoning mix is almost nonexistent. With such a slim prep time, you could reasonably make it anytime you feel like adding ranch flavours into your meals.
This particular homemade ranch seasoning includes dried parsley, dried dill, and chives for the herb components. Meanwhile, garlic powder and onion powder are aromatic ingredients that take the seasoning mixture over the top. There is also some salt and pepper in the dressing mix, which helps make the flavours pop.
How Do You Make Ranch Seasoning From Scratch?
Making homemade ranch seasoning is incredibly easy. In fact, all you have to do is stir the dried parsley with the dill, garlic powder, onion powder, chives, black pepper, and salt until combined. This mixture will have some large flecks of herbs in it. If you desire a finer texture, however, you could always pulse the mixture in a small food chopper or food processor.
This ranch dressing mix is best if you store it in an airtight container for no more than 6 months. The reason is that spices can deteriorate in taste if you keep them any longer. For such a simple recipe, you can make up this homemade ranch seasoning mix in small batches. This will ensure you can use it up while it is at its freshest. The total time for preparation is literally no more than 10 minutes. As a result, you can make this on a whim to add as a dusting to popcorn, make a layered ranch dip, or add as a seasoning to mashed potatoes or biscuits.
Is Ranch Seasoning Gluten-free?
Most store-bought ranch seasoning is gluten-free. However, there can't always be the guarantee that those items didn't come in contact with gluten in the facility they are produced in.
Luckily, making your own at home can ensure that you won't be eating contaminated seasoning if you are gluten-sensitive. This homemade seasoning only includes dried herbs and spices, which naturally do not contain gluten.
Ways to Use Homemade Ranch Seasoning
- Make ranch dressing: Stir your desired amount of seasoning into mayonnaise, Greek yogurt, or sour cream. You can make however much of this dressing as you want. Just eyeball the amount of each of the creamy ingredients you want in a bowl. Then, add the seasoning until you achieve the desired taste. Since commercial ranch dressing tends to be on the thin side, you might want to loosen it with a little buttermilk or milk, especially because Greek yogurt and mayo can be quite thick.
- Add to creamy beer cheese dip: A classic blend of cream cheese, cheddar, and beer can only be amplified by the savoury taste of ranch seasoning. This mixture is particularly great with crunchy, salty pretzels for dipping.
- Stir some into homemade cut or drop biscuits and sprinkle some on top: You may already be used to adding herbs or shredded to cheese to any biscuit recipe, so why not knead or stir some into your dough? You could even sprinkle a little on top of each biscuit for an attractive finish. Check out my recipes for sourdough biscuits and coconut flour biscuits.
- Add to mashed potatoes along with some sour cream and cream cheese: This combination makes some of the richest mashed potatoes ever, perfect for having alongside a special holiday dinner.
- Dust onto baked pumpkin seeds, homemade potato chips, or popcorn: The seasoning amplifies these favourite snack foods making them even more special.
Other Spice Mixes You'll Love:
Recipe
Homemade Ranch Seasoning
Ingredients
- ¼ cup dried parsley
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon dried dill
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- 1 teaspoon dried chives
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to a bowl and stir to combine.
- If a finer ranch mix texture is desired, add the seasonings to a food chopper or processor. Pulse repeatedly to turn into a fine powder.
- Store the ranch seasoning in an airtight container in a cool dry place. Best if used within 6 months.
Notes
Nutrition
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Random Questions
Ranch seasoning typically consists of dried parsley, dill, chives, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, and salt.
You can make your own ranch seasoning using dried herbs and spices like parsley, dill, chives, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, and salt.
Making ranch from scratch involves blending homemade ranch seasoning with ingredients like mayonnaise, Greek yogurt, or sour cream.
The signature flavor of ranch comes from a blend of herbs and spices, including parsley, dill, chives, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, and salt.
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