Homemade Ranch Dressing Mix

My family is a whole lot happier eating real food when it tastes, well, like what they are used to!

Unfortunately, so many of our favorite "signature flavor" sauces and condiments are full of preservatives, rancid oils, or frightening chemicals, making them off-limits for a real-food family.

Not to worry!  Almost every classic condiment can be easily made in your own kitchen.  

I just have to share my own favorite sauce, good old Ranch Dressing.  This recipe tastes as much as I can make it taste like H*dden Valley, but without the MSG and other fake food ingredients.  

Taking an idea from the name brand variety, I love to make a ready-to-use dry mix with all the right spices.  Then I can just pick how I want to use the dressing and mix accordingly.  Note: the flavors blend together and taste best if the dressing, dip, or spread is mixed up the night before and kept in the fridge overnight before use.

For example, for salad dressing (thin and pourable), I stir the dry mix into 1 cup sour cream (I'd love to see how homemade Greek yogurt or kefir cream would work for this, too!), 1 cup mayonnaise (homemade if possible), and 2 cups buttermilk (I also use plain raw milk sometimes)

For veggie dip (thicker), I love to mix with just 1 quart of sour cream or yogurt.

For a thick spread (like to put on crackers or veggie pizza), mix with 1 c. mayonnaise, 1 c. sour cream, and 16 oz. softened cream cheese.

Ingredients (to be mixed with 1 qt. wet ingredients):

2 Tbsps. dry parsley flakes

1 Tbsp. dry onion powder

1/2 tsp. black pepper

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. dry dill 

1/4 tsp. sweetener of choice (like Rapadura)

Another note: Depending on your choice of liquid ingredients, if you add some homemade whey to the liquid ingredients, mix well, and set the mixture on the counter overnight before refrigerating, the friendly bacteria in the whey will help keep the Ranch Dressing good in the fridge much longer.  Otherwise, if you use homemade mayonnaise in your dressing, with no whey, remember that homemade mayo is only good for a day or two, even in the fridge!

What are your family's favorite condiments?  Do you ever make them from scratch?

Posted at Simple Lives Thursday, Your Green Resource and Pennywise Platter