Ranch dressing: the natural partner for cold and crunchy iceberg lettuce, carrot sticks and slices of takeout pizza. I have two different versions of ranch dressing, one full of herbs and lemon, and the other full of jalapeño and cilantro. I’ve also been known to tone down the “green things” for picky eaters.
For a night of soup and salad at home, there would be nothing easier than slow cooker chicken tortilla soup and jalapeño buttermilk ranch over greens. Add some cornbread and a jalapeño mint margarita, and your night is looking up.
Jalapeño buttermilk ranch is easy to modify into a more traditional ranch by eliminating the peppers and cutting down or leaving out the cilantro. Just combine all the ingredients in the bowl of your food processor and combine well.
Tortilla chips should be close by for testing the finished product. But be warned, you could form a habit.
Homemade Jalapeno Ranch
Prep
Total
Use regular Hellman's mayonnaise for this recipe, healthy avocado oil-based mayos will work, but lend a slightly different taste to the finished dressing. Low-fat or non-fat plain Greek yogurt will work fine, but I prefer it with full-fat.
Ingredients
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk, or more for a thinner consistency
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 lemon, juiced, or more to taste
1 tablespoon minced chives
1 tablespoon minced cilantro
1 jalapeño, deseeded and chopped, or more to taste
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
In the bowl of your food processor, add all the ingredients. Pulse. Lift up a spoonful of dressing and pour it back into bowl. It should run freely; if not, thin it out with additional buttermilk. Taste for salt and lemon juice; adjust seasoning if necessary.
Refrigerate for up to one week.
Notes
Serve this tangy homemade ranch with a variety of raw vegetables, including English cucumbers, colorful peppers, radishes, cherry tomatoes, carrots and celery. Ingredients make a big difference here – use Hellman’s or Duke’s mayo. When finished, taste for seasoning and add more salt or lemon juice if you'd like. Last but not least, the herbs should be fresh, not dried.
Courses Salad Dressing
Cuisine American
Mrs. Smart,
Your ranch recipe was so delicious! Everyone loved it and begged for more. Luckily, we ran out of vegetables before ranch. We added more salt and lemon. It was fun to make! Thank you for sharing your recipe!
Grace!
You are the sweetest. Thank you so much for commenting. I’m so glad you liked the ranch. You should make it for your family!
Marcia
Hit the road, Hidden Valley! Marcia, we love this so much and now one of Charlotte’s favorite things is to help me make “Mrs. Smart’s ranch” every week or two… Definitely keeping this stocked in our fridge. Thanks!
Ha!! Love it… thanks for the ❤️ Charlotte!