Ranch Dressing Mix Recipe | The Gracious Pantry (2024)

Ready for a homemade ranch dressing mix? Here’s how to make it!

Many of you have asked for a dry ranch mix to make things like dip or to add to recipes that call for the commercial packet of ranch dressing mix.

Healthy Ranch Dressing Mix

The truth is, this type of ranch mix has many chemicals in it. Chemicals that probably shouldn’t be anywhere near our dinner tables. But let’s face it, many people depend on these chemical mixes to make their food taste good. They are cheap, convenient and flavor is guaranteed every time. Who wouldn’t want that?

One issue with “cleaning up” a recipe like this is, that a dry ranch mix will have dry buttermilk in it, which is definitely not clean.

I mean, it certainly doesn’t come out of the cow in powdered form. A dry mix like this has to be heavily processed with chemicals added to keep everything fresh for months and months on the store shelf.

And in case you didn’t realize, most food isn’t supposed to stay “fresh” or “good” for months and months on a shelf at room temperature.

So this recipe is basically the herb mixture without the dry buttermilk in it.

What does that mean for you in cooking? It means you can buy real buttermilk and simply add it to whatever you are cooking. You could even stir this into plain yogurt or a little sour cream (yes, it’s clean, it’s just high in fat so most clean eaters avoid it. It’s no more processed than any other real cheese or yogurt out there.)

The great thing about having just the herbs mixed together is that you can really flavor anything you add them to as strongly as you like.

You can’t really do that when the dry buttermilk is involved because at some point, the buttermilk becomes too tangy for a given recipe. This way, you can add however much you want of either one.

What You’ll Need

• ½cuponion powder
• ½cupdried chives
• ½cupdried parsley
• ¼cupdried dill
• ¼cupgarlic powder
• 2tbsp.ground black pepper
• 2tbsp.sea salt
• ¼cuppowdered Sucanat OR coconut sugar (optional)

How To Make Rand Dressing Mix

The process for this is is so easy, it’s almost silly.

• In a small to medium mixing bowl, combine all ingredients and stir to combine.
• If you choose (this is optional, but a good idea for consistency), run mix through a food processor if you wish it to be more powdered like the store-bought packets.
• Store in a spice jar or air-tight container in your spice cabinet for up to 9 months.

Gluten Free Ranch Dressing Mix

The great thing about this easy ranch dressing mix is that it’s totally gluten free, dairy free, vegan and even paleo-friendly!

How To Use This Ranch Dressing Mix

Add approximately 1 tbsp. (or to taste) to about 1/2 cup buttermilk, yogurt or sour cream for ranch dressing.

If you have a recipe that doesn’t call for liquid but does call for the dry packet, start by including small amounts of buttermilk. Maybe 1 tbsp. at a time just to get the tang.

Of course, this will change based on the recipe you are making, but it’s not too hard to adjust for extra liquid in most recipes.

If you need help with that, feel free to let me know what recipe you want to use this for in a comment below and I’ll do my best to help you make the adjustment using this recipe as opposed to the traditional packet.

More Dry Mix Recipes

• Onion Soup Mix
• Hot Chocolate Mix
• All Purpose Breading Mix

Ranch Dressing Mix Recipe