Ranch. It’s one of the standard condiments in every American’s refrigerator. It makes sense: creamy and delicious, ranch is the perfect dipper for veggies or topping for your favorite fajita salad.
YIKES: Check Out These Ingredients
Just look at the image below, if some of these ingredients don’t scare you, I don’t know what will! I’ve hi-lighted some of the questionable ingredients by underlining them in red (some of the ingredients I don’t even know WHAT they are).
Some of the biggest red flags: soybean and/or canola oil, more soy, monosodium glutamate, artificial flavors…and more. Yuck, yuck, yuck.
You Don’t Have to Give Up Your Ranch!
Never fear! I’ve got you covered. Homemade dressings are one of the easiest condiments to make yourself. It’s true. I can easily whip up a batch of salad dressing in just a couple of minutes. I don’t know why I spent so many years purchasing costly pre-made salad dressings that are filled with nasties and not nearly as flavorful.
One of my families favorite dressings is a Ranch-style dressing, but one of my (and my oldest sons) fave dressings is this southwest spicy ranch. It makes our tastebuds tingle! If you like spicy, but not that spicy, then you’ll probably want to go easy on the cayenne pepper.
Hop on over to my friend Jennifer’s blog where I’m sharing my recipe for Southwest Spicy Ranch!
Not much for spicy dressings? Check out some of our other family favorites including this Creamy Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing or this Creamy Parmesan dressing.
What are YOUR favorite dressings?
Sharing at New Life on a Homestead and Nourishing Joy.
I am so excited that you shared your family’s three favorite salad dressings! Thank you! I am ALWAYS on the lookout for good homemade real food dressings, but I have found little to no recipes that the whole family is happy with. I can’t wait to try yours – they all sound really good, especially since we like creamy dressings too.
Sooo…I have a challenge for you. My husband’s favorite brand of dressing is Catalina, but I quit buying it for him a few years ago because of the absolutely awful ingredients in it. He doesn’t care about what he eats the way that I do; but I’m the one buying the groceries, and I can’t bear to spend money on something like that or know that I’m slowly poisoning him. I tried a homemade Catalina a while back, but we didn’t like it at all (I think I had to change some of the ingredients in it from the original recipe anyway, to make it healthy, so I may not have made good substitutions). Often he just won’t eat salad with us anymore, without a dressing he loves. Maybe he will like one of these dressing you shared today. I sure hope so. But I would be super stoked if you could work your magic and come up with a real-food Catalina dressing! 🙂
I sure hope your family enjoys them! They’re not sweet dressings like Catalina, but maybe your husband will find he likes one of them? My husband actually doesn’t like dressing like Ranch, but he likes both this ranch dressing as well as the creamy parmesan. He LOVES the creamy balsamic dressing.
I think I’ll accept your challenge! It might take me a bit, but I’m going to see what I can do to come up with a Catalina. I’ve not had that dressing in years, but I used to love it! I’d love to have something similar.
Thanks, Trisha! I wish you success. 🙂 It amazes me how you and others can concoct your own recipes in the kitchen. It’s definitely a gift!
I’ll have to try the creamy balsamic first.
Monika, Depending on what other unhealthy items your husband takes in, I’m not convinced that 1-2 tablespoons of store bought dressing is really going to kill him. Your family may be different, but most families don’t eat salad 3-4 times per day; usually American families eat salad only 4-5 times a month at most. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal (July 2011), most families eat salad only 36 times per year. Unless he’s severely allergic to an ingredient, if he’s making progress with other healthy choices, let him have his Catalina. He’ll be more pleasant 🙂
Thanks, Jennifer. I’m not there yet, but my goal is to have salad almost every night with dinner. Finding healthy salad dressings we like has been the main challenge to that goal. My husband (myself too!) definitely uses a lot more than 1-2 TBSP of dressing for a salad. Well, I’ve never measured…we just pour it on, but I’m sure it’s a lot more than that. I appreciate your input. 🙂
How about a straight-up classic ranch? My kids eat ranch dressing on all of their raw veggies, so I need a healthy recipe!
I have a ranch dressing recipe I use frequently. My kids love it on veggies and salad and pretty much anything. Bradley is especially a ranch fiend! I’ll have to share that recipe soon 🙂
I did hop over and check out your spicy ranch recipe…Thanks for sharing!! I was wondering if smoked paprika would give it more of a smokey taste…just a thought!! Going to have to try!
Yes! I have tried it with smoked paprika, and it gives it a very nice flavor. I hope you enjoy it 🙂
I’m going to make this and add I just a touch of chipolte sauce! I can’t wait! I also need to get making the homemade mayo on a reg basis!
Thanks again for all your hard work!
Oh, I bet that would be delish! I love chipotle sauce 🙂 Tell me how it turns out and how much you use!
Oh ~ one more thing???do you have a pizza crust recipe? I’ve made the cauliflower one a couple times, and it’s good for my husband and I ~ just wondering if you had anything up your sleeve!
I don’t have a pizza crust recipe. My son has been begging me to work on one though!
Do you have anything for Italian salad dressing?
I don’t have one, but I have a creamy balsamic vinaigrette dressing you might enjoy. I’ll have to work on a classic Italian dressing though!