Fresh Ranch Dressing (Dairy-Free)

Creamy homemade ranch dressing made with clean ingredients, including fresh herbs and no dairy, comes together in just minutes to take your next salad to the next level!

I've gone most of my life not being a fan of ranch dressing until I tried a "clean ranch" at one of those farm to table restaurants. The flavor was so fresh and it didn't have the heavy or goopy texture I'd come to expect from store-bought varieties. More often than not, I'm having a salad with my meal these days to help manage my PCOS and a clean homemade ranch recipe was in order. Let's get into the delicious details.

And if you enjoy this recipe, you'll love drizzling it on my high-protein sheet pan pizza, too!

If you're looking for more homemade sauces and spices, check these out too!

• Apple Cider Vinaigrette
• Blood Orange Poppy Seed Dressing
• West African Yaji Spice

What does it taste like?

This is a garlic lover's ranch dressing recipe full of fresh garlic flavor, a bit of tartness from lime juice and vinegar, and citrusy, herbaceous notes from three different herbs. Texture-wise, you'll get a thick and creamy yet smooth ranch without sour cream if you follow the recipe to the letter. But there's room for experimentation, which we'll get into below.

And if you enjoy this recipe, you'll love my orange juice salad dressing recipe, too!

What You'll Need for this Recipe

You may be surprised by how simple it is to make your own fresh herb ranch dressing. Here are the ingredients to add to your grocery list if you don't have them on hand already.

• Avocado Oil Mayonnaise
• Black Pepper
• Cilantro
• Coconut Milk
• Dill
• Garlic
• Lime Juice
• Onion Powder
• Parsley
• Sea Salt
• White Wine Vinegar

No special tools are required to create easy ranch dressing with clean ingredients. Just grab a sharp knife and cutting board to start. You'll also need a bowl and spoon to mix everything up and that's it. You can store the finished dressing in the bowl if it has a lid or in a sealable glass bottle.

How can I customize this recipe?

Ranch typically calls for dill, parsley, and chives but you can add or take away whatever works best for you. When thinking about which herbs to add to ranch dressing at home, I made sure to include cilantro because my ultimate goal is a PCOS friendly salad dressing and cilantro is a powerhouse ingredient in that regard.

I gravitated towards whole food ingredients for this recipe, resulting in an inadvertently Whole 30 compliant ranch. But you can make swaps to suit your needs, taste, and budget, including a different kind of mayonnaise or milk.

There's also room to play with the acids in this scratch-made salad dressing. I use white wine vinegar but you can cut it with apple cider vinegar for more zing. And lemon juice works almost identically to lime juice in this recipe. But I don't recommend using orange juice.

As the saying goes, you measure garlic with your heart. But if you absolutely need a guide, four cloves of garlic makes for a nice garlicky ranch dressing, in my opinion. You can substitute with garlic powder, if needed.

Tips for Making Ranch Dressing at Home

• Use pre-chopped garlic and herbs to save even more time. You only need 10 minutes to bring everything together but this little shortcut shaves off even more precious time.
• Store homemade ranch in the refrigerator in a sealed container. Without any added preservatives, this is the best way to extend the life of your dressing. It keeps for up to two weeks this way!
• Stir or shake it up before each use. Because there are no fillers or binders, some separation can occur.

I hope you add this ranch dressing made with fresh herbs to your arsenal and enjoy it very soon. And sharing is caring so be sure to pin this recipe for later and follow me on Pinterest. Thanks for reading!

Dairy-Free Ranch Dressing Recipe

📖 Recipe