Herby Ranch Dressing with Fresh or Dried Herbs
This Herby Ranch Dressing with Fresh or Dried Herbs is a family favorite. It’s creamy and tangy, packed with flavor, and sooo much better than store-bought! This recipe takes 10 minutes to make and yields 1 cup of herby ranch dressing ready to be served with cut vegetables, potato chips, french fries, sandwiches, or pizza!
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Why This Recipe is So Good
- Ranch dressing is by far my favorite salad dressing/dip and it’s even better made from scratch than anything you can get from the store. It’s made with sour cream, mayo, and tons of herbs and seasonings and it’s packed with flavor. This fresh herb ranch swaps out dried chives, dill, and parsley for fresh and it makes all the difference.
- If you have any fresh herbs in your fridge leftover from another recipe or fresh cut from your garden, this herby buttermilk ranch dressing recipe is a great way to use them up. Really, any fresh herbs will work here and be amazing.
- Serving suggestions. In my book, ranch goes with *almost* everything. Salads, potato chips, french fries, Air Fryer Potato Skins, Smashed Potatoes with Cheese, sandwiches, pizza, served with carrot sticks, celery and broccoli florets. Ranch really makes everything that much better.
Recipe Ingredients
- Fresh herbs – Fresh chives, dill weed, and parsley add a brighter herby flavor to this ranch dressing. You can add fresh basil, oregano, or tarragon as well. Fresh herbs take this homemade dressing to the next level, and it’s soo good.
- Dry ranch seasoning mix – Since we are using fresh herbs the seasonings you’ll need are dried onion flakes, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and ground black pepper.
- Sour cream and mayo – This combo gives the perfect rich, creamy and tangy ranch dressing base. You can swap out the sour cream for Greek yogurt if you like.
- Buttermilk – Add a slight tangy flavor to the ranch dressing and helps to thin it out to a pourable consistency. You can use regular milk or oat milk with a squeeze of lemon juice or more pickle juice.
- Pickle juice – Ok, it sounds weird, but this is a very important ingredient because it really makes this dressing taste like ranch. Add a couple of tablespoons of dill pickle juice and it’s sooo good. I used Grillo’s Dill Pickles.
How to Make Homemade Herby Ranch Dressing
All ingredients, measurements, and instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Finely chop parsley, dill and chives, then add them to a medium-sized mixing bowl with sour cream, mayo, buttermilk, pickle juice and dry ranch seasoning mix. Alternatively, you can add all the ingredients into a food processor to skip having to chop up all the herbs.
Stir everything together until combined then taste and adjust seasoning to your liking.
Store this herby ranch dressing in an airtight container in the fridge until you are ready to use it. Or serve immediately with fresh vegetables, potato chips, or use it as a salad dressing.
Looking For More Recipes?
- Dairy Free Ranch Dressing (or Dip) using Fresh or Dried Herbs
- Homemade Dry Ranch Seasoning Mix without Buttermilk Powder (No Salt)
- Dill Pickle Ranch Dip
- Buffalo Ranch Dressing
- Garlic Parmesan Ranch Dip
- 4-Ingredient Guacamole Recipe without cilantro and tomatoes
- Protein Matcha Latte
- Kale Crunch Salad (Chick Fil A Copycat Recipe)
- Strawberry Basil Simple Syrup
- Strawberry Basil Mocktail
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Herby Ranch Dressing with Fresh or Dried Herbs
Equipment
- Medium mixing bowl
- Chef knife
- Mason jar with reusable storage lids
- Measuring spoons
Ingredients
- ½ cup Sour cream full-fat
- ½ cup Mayo full-fat
- 2 tablespoons Buttermilk or your milk of choice
- 2 – 3 tablespoons dill pickle juice an important ingredient
Ranch seasoning mix
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley finely chopped or ½ teaspoon dried parsley
- ½ teaspoon fresh dill weed finely chopped or ½ teaspoon dried dill weed
- 1 tablespoon fresh chives finely chopped or 1 teaspoon dried chives
- 1 teaspoon dried onion flakes
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon black pepper freshly ground
- ¼ teaspoon salt or to taste
Instructions
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, stir together ½ cup Sour cream, ½ cup Mayo, 2 tablespoons Buttermilk(or milk), 2 – 3 tablespoons dill pickle juice, finely chopped herbs – 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, ½ teaspoon fresh dill weed, 1 tablespoon fresh chives, and the rest of the ranch seasoning mix- 1 teaspoon dried onion flakes, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon onion powder ½ teaspoon black pepper, and ¼ teaspoon salt. Taste and adjust seasoning to your liking.
- Store in the fridge covered until you are ready to use or serve immediately with fresh vegetables, smashed potatoes, or potato chips. Or use as a salad dressing.
Notes
How To Store/ Make Ahead
Store in an air tight container for up to 5 days in the fridge. The dressing will thicken in the fridge; stir in a splash of buttermilk until it reaches your desired consistency.Tips and Tricks
- Swap out the fresh dill for dried or use less.
- Buttermilk: If you don’t have any buttermilk on hand, simply use whole milk or your favorite non-dairy milk. Add a squeeze of lemon juice or an extra teaspoon of pickle juice to add a similar tangy flavor that buttermilk would add.
- Pickle juice: This is an important ingredient because it will REALLY help your dressing taste like ranch. I used Grillo’s dill pickles.
- If you want a thicker ranch dip, skip the buttermilk and only use a little bit of pickle juice. Also, ranch dressing will thicken as it sits in the fridge.
