RECIPE: Easy Ranch Dressing

Have you ever looked at the label for Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing? So many chemicals!

Source: Hidden Valley

If you make my recipe with purchased mayonnaise, even if it's organic it will still contain refined (rancid) oil, CAFO eggs, fructose, salt and MSG.   Please use homemade mayo!

It is possible to buy organic sour cream without additives.  We use Wallaby's (organic cultured pasteurized cream. live and active probiotic cultures: L.acidophilus, B.bifidum, L.cremoris, L.lactis.). Make sure the brand you use contains only cream and cultures.  Avoid carrageenan!

Most Ranch Dressing recipes are made with buttermilk but I rarely have that on hand so I use milk thickened with lemon juice.  If you make your own buttermilk, or buy buttermilk without additives, use that instead of the milk/lemon combination. 

Easy Homemade Ranch Dressing

1/2 c. homemade mayonnaise
6 T. sour cream, preferably homemade
1/4 c. whole milk
2 T. fresh lemon juice
1 T. minced shallot or chives
1 T. minced fresh parsley
1 T. minced fresh dill
1 t. fresh lemon juice
1 garlic clove minced or grated using a microplane
1/2 t. himalayan pink salt
opt: pinch cayenne

Mix 2 T. lemon juice into the milk and let stand several minutes until milk thickens.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients.  Add the thickened milk slowly until the sauce reaches the desired consistency.  You may not use it all.

Taste and adjust seasoning.  Cover and let sit 30 minutes for the flavor to develop. 


NOTE:
When I make this in winter I use herbs that I've frozen.   The photo above was made with frozen chives, parsley, and dill.  If you make this a lot, chop the herbs and then freeze them packed tightly into in ice cube trays.  You won't waste the extra herbs and you can use the cubes when you can't get fresh herbs.