Easy Chili’s Ranch Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is in Chili's ranch? ›

Chili's Copycat Ranch Dressing Recipe

Includes mayonnaise, sour cream, pickle juice, buttermilk, salt, dried parsley, onion powder, garlic powder, pepper.

Even when a restaurant does start with premade ranch, they will often fold in extra fresh herbs, and maybe even more buttermilk, to lighten and bring in some brighter flavors that can be lost in shelf-stable bottling.

While many restaurants use mass produced ranch mix, they often add it to a higher-quality base. This might include milk, buttermilk, sour cream, or mayonnaise. So when you notice that the ranch in a restaurant tastes better than the bottled dressing from the store, what you're really tasting is delicious, creamy fat.

Make it yourself…. half mayo and sour cream, garlic, dill, pepper and a bit of lemon juice…. adjust to your taste.

I work in a restaurant and the ranch we serve is hidden valley ranch. Although, you can buy it in the bottle or you can buy the package and make it yourself, the two taste a lot different. We actually make it fresh with the package (it's so much better that way) and you can do that at home.

The slightly sweet hint of green onion combined with mayonnaise and buttermilk give this classic recipe its fresh, signature taste.

The difference is dairy

The key difference between bottled ranch and ranch that's been mixed from a packet — which is what's usually served in restaurants — is that ranch made from a mix usually contains real dairy ingredients. The store-bought varieties don't.

Traditional ranch is made from sour cream, mayonnaise, dried herbs (usually dill, parsley, and chives), garlic powder, and onion powder. Buttermilk versions have, as you guessed, the addition of buttermilk and tend to be a bit thinner.

One of my favorite ranch boosts is adding something spicy. Squirt in some Sriracha or Mexican-style hot sauce, or add a spoonful of Moroccan harissa paste, wing or Buffalo sauce, or some diced chipotle peppers in adobo sauce.

If your ranch is too thick, add more buttermilk. Too thin? Add a little more mayo. I did use a low-fat mayo this round and it ended up a hair thicker than I like.

Is ranch just garlic mayo? ›

No, it isn't. Mayonnaise is made up of eggs, oil and acid. Ranch is made from buttermilk, mustard, herbs and stuff like that!

The ranch packet has a fresher taste, because you add your own mayo and milk. Even though all the herbs and spices in the mix are dried, they rehydrate quickly and leave you with a product that feels homemade. This version of Hidden Valley Ranch is more flavorful than the bottled version and much, much thicker.

The Classic and Southern are the same, but the creamy ranch has buttermilk powder and some other ingredients like lactose, malic acid, and carrageenan (the latter to hold it together since buttermilk powder thins out in a weird way)... the flavor is much milder than the classic/southern because of the buttermilk powder ...

Pizza gets acid from the tomato sauce, as well as a healthy dose of starchy carbs from the crust. These two tastes meld together beautifully, and ranch puts another layer on top of that. Its creaminess, derived from the buttermilk base, offsets both the acid and starch to coat your mouth in herby goodness.

Combine salad dressing, hot pepper sauces, cayenne pepper, and chili powder in a bowl. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

You can make my Chili's Secret Sauce recipe revealed here in just a couple of minutes with a simple combination of mayonnaise, ketchup, barbecue sauce, honey, and mustard, plus a little turmeric to add a golden tint.

Ranch Dressing Ingredients

Sour cream and mayonnaise: The base for this creamy ranch recipe is a mixture of sour cream and mayonnaise. Seasonings: This flavorful ranch dressing is seasoned with dried chives, dried parsley, dried dill weed, dried garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and ground black pepper.

The Mountain Peppercorn Ranch is made just like the Mountain Ranch except that fresh peppercorns are added to the recipe. The result is a dressing that has added zest and flavor.