Vegan Ranch Dressing Recipe
- Sarah
- Feb 14, 2024
- 4 min read
Updated: May 28
With just a few simple ingredients and easy steps, you can make vegan ranch dressing that rivals any store-bought variety.
Equipment | No equipment needed |
Difficulty | Very Easy |
Vegan ranch dressing recipe that's so easy for snacks, sides, or salads!
This ranch recipe can be made in just a few minutes, making it simple to throw together whenever you need it. It's perfect poured over a lunch salad or used as a side dish with sliced veggies. This vegan ranch dressing can be used anywhere you would use traditional ranch, from dipping to drizzling.
It's so easy it's almost instant.
There are very few things that can't be paired with ranch dressing, and you shouldn't have to forgo the ranch experience because of a little dairy! Even if you aren't vegan and are just looking for a recipe to whip up a little ranch on the spot because you are out, you can definitely use the same ranch seasoning mix.
Substitutions.
Substitute for dill: The dill in this recipe is very integral to the flavor of the spice mix and it simply won't taste right without it, so I do not recommend substituting it.
Substitute for parsley: The parsley is also a fairly important player in this recipe, but if you must substitute it you can use chervil or dried chives.
Substitute for garlic powder: No problem! Onion powder makes a great alternative to garlic powder in this instance.
Substitute for nutritional yeast: Nutritional yeast is a common product for vegans that has a cheesy taste and can help make vegan things taste more similar to their dairy counterparts. If you are making ranch dressing using real dairy, then simply leaving the nutritional yeast out should not affect your flavor. However! If you are planning to just use the seasoning mix itself on something, or you're making vegan ranch dressing, then the loss of the nutritional yeast will be pretty significant and I highly recommend not substituting it.
Pro tip:
If you keep the ranch seasoning mix on-hand this recipe can be made in about 3 minutes. Even if you don't have the seasoning mix already made, this ranch dressing recipe takes about a whopping 5 minutes!
You can make ranch dressing from dairy using the same ranch seasoning mix. Just click the link to read the mix recipe, which is followed by instructions on how to mix it.
Let's Begin:
In one bowl combine either the tastier 1/2 cup vegan mayo, 1/2 cup unsweetened plain non-dairy yogurt (I recommend soy), 2 tsp rice wine vinegar, 2 rounded tsp ranch seasoning mix (1/2 tsp dried dill, 1/2 tsp dried parsley, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/4 tsp nutritional yeast, 1/8 tsp sweet paprika, 1/8 tsp black pepper, 1/8 tsp salt) and add more salt to taste.
Or the healthier 2/3 cup unsweetened plain non-dairy yogurt (I recommend soy), 1/3 cup unsweetened plain non-dairy milk (I recommend soy), 2 rounded tsp ranch seasoning mix (1/2 tsp dried dill, 1/2 tsp dried parsley, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/4 tsp nutritional yeast, 1/8 tsp sweet paprika, 1/8 tsp black pepper, 1/8 tsp salt) and add more salt to taste.
Mix all the ingredients together. It helps to use a fork for the mixing because it is easier to beat out any lumps. You definitely want your dressing to be smooth and creamy!
Enjoy!
How can I serve this ranch recipe?
Ranch goes well with so many things. I mention in the recipe for the seasoning mix that I remember as a child dipping my square cafeteria pizza slice (the soggy one with no crust, remember?) into ranch which made the pizza simply divine to an eight-year-old! Ah! The simplicity of childhood! In all seriousness, I'm sure you already know what you want to serve this with, but in case you don't, here are some suggestions!
Over Salads
With Veggies to Dip
With Buffalo-style Fried Things
With all the Fried Things
On Sandwiches
With Fries
On Nacho Bowls
As a chip dip
On Baked Potatoes
You do you! No judgement here!
Drizzled, dipped, or drenched, sometimes ranch is a fantastic way to dress up basic foods that might otherwise be a little flat or boring. It is also a wonderful disguise to help children eat more veggies or other foods by helping to make them more palatable. For that matter, it is a wonderful disguise to help adults eat more veggies too.
Storage.
This vegan ranch dressing recipe is good for 4-5 days when kept in an airtight container in the fridge.
Ranch: An American Staple. Somewhat concerning to the Dutch.
I live in the Netherlands where, as you may expect, there is no easy, readily-available ranch. If I want ranch dressing for my food I always have to make it from scratch. Our Dutch friends think ranch is a very curious product, and are somewhat horrified by the idea of it. The idea that you can have a buttermilk-based sauce in a shelf stable bottle that can be poured over any food with reckless abandon is, apparently, somewhat unnerving here. Well, you can take a girl out of the south, but you can't take the south out of a girl, so onward I go dousing my fried food and lettuce alike!
That's not to say there is no ranch flavored things here. Humorously, we have found that ranch-flavored Doritos, in their iconic blue chip bag, have had the flavor relabeled from "Cool Ranch" to "Cool American". The Doritos were not the only "American" flavored snack we've seen here that turned out to be ranch flavored, but there are definitely significantly fewer ranch instances in this country.
What about you? If you live somewhere outside America, how easy and frequent is it to see ranch dressing or ranch flavored snacks?
We are very curious about how often these (very American) things appear in other cultures. Have you seen snacks where you live that have been relabeled? Can you just buy a bottle of ranch off the shelf in the "American Food" section at your grocery stores? At our "American Food" section around the corner you can't buy ranch, but you can buy marshmallow fluff, barbecue sauce, and cream soda, ha!
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