An upgrade to the classic staple
Raise your hand if your garden is chock-full of jalapenos this summer and you’re running out of ideas to use them. Now, raise your hand if you don’t keep a garden, but always have a jalapeno or two bouncing around the bottom of your crisper drawer just begging to be used. Thankfully, this recipe for Buttermilk Jalapeno Ranch Dressing should sort both groups out. It blends up in 5 minutes or less and is a delicious upgrade to the classic creamy salad staple.
Is this dressing super spicy?
No. Despite being a chili pepper, jalapenos actually rate fairly low on the Scoville scale, with much of their capsaicin found in the rib and pith of the fruit (which is removed for this recipe). The jalapenos give this dressing a small kick of spice, but the base of creamy buttermilk, Greek yogurt, and mayo keep this dressing pretty mild for the average adult palate.
Consistency
I generally use either a homemade mayo in this dressing or a clean, low-sugar version like this one. These are both much thinner in consistency than your average classic jiggly jarred mayo, and as a result, produce a dressing with a thinner consistency that you can properly drizzle and toss throughout your greens.
If you’d like to thicken this recipe up to use as a dip, you can try a few different things:
- Immersion blend an additional egg yolk into your dressing
- Cut the buttermilk down from 1/2 cup to 1/4 cup
- Add a pinch of xanthan gum. Start with no more than 1/8th tsp and increase as needed, blending well after each addition.
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What to serve this Buttermilk Jalapeno Ranch Dressing with
- Classic salads like this BBQ Chicken Salad
- Swap out the classic Caesar dressing on this Caesar with Spicy Roasted Chickpeas, Jammy Eggs, and Avocado
- Taco bowls. Try this on top of my Pressure Cooker Barbacoa Beef layered over cauliflower rice and sauted peppers.
- Serve it on the thick side as a dip for crudites. I love it with raw celery, carrots, cucumber, peppers, and tomatoes.
- Swap out the sauce on these Smashed Potatoes with Lemon Dill Cream Sauce and drizzle to your heart’s content.
- Swap the classic mayo for a smother of this dressing on turkey sandwiches
- Use it as a dipping sauce for Crispy Oven Fried Fish
A note for special diets
This Buttermilk Jalapeno Ranch Dressing is grain-free, gluten-free, low-carb, and friendly for Keto diets at only 1 net carb per serving.
Print
Buttermilk Jalapeno Ranch Dressing
- Prep Time: 5
- Total Time: 5
- Yield: 2 1/2 cups 1x
- Category: Salads & Dressings, Sauces & Savory Condiments
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup mayo
- 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 2 medium jalapenos, seeds ribs and pith removed and roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup green onion
- 1/4 cup fresh Italian parsley
- 2 tbsp fresh dill
- 2 tbsp fresh chives
- 1 tbsp garlic oil (or 1/2 tsp garlic powder)
- 3/4 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a food processor or high-powered blender and pulse until well-blended and smooth.
- Refridgerate in an air-tight container for 3-5 days.
Notes
Nutritional information on Whip & Wander is provided as a courtesy and is approximate only. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 tbsp
- Calories: 50
- Sugar: 1
- Sodium: 130
- Fat: 5
- Saturated Fat: 1
- Carbohydrates: 1
- Protein: 1
- Cholesterol: 7
This sounds so, so yummy! I love your idea for using it with mashed potatoes. That would really kick a side dish up a notch!
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What a fun update to a classic! I bet this is amazing on chicken salad.
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This looks amazing! Love the combination of flavours in this dressing. I actually have some leftover buttermilk in the fridge – now I know what to make with it!
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I’ve seen this ranch dressing on some of your other dishes, and I’ve been meaning to save it for later because it looks absolutely heavenly. I love spice and buttermilk, so that is a given. I always love your sauce and dressing recipes!
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One of our favorite restaurants serves a jalapeno ranch and I’ve been wanting to make it. Now I have no excuse because I have the perfect recipe.
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That looks like a wonderful dressing to go along with my salad’s, a bit of spicy kick to the usual salads.
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I always used to make my own ranch, but got out of the habit lately. I never thought about adding jalapeno, so must try this!
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I love making my own homemade dressings and this one looks amazing. I bet the jalapeños give a nice kick to the dressing.
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I make a similar ranch dressing with coconut milk. It’s so great to make your own, because you know exactly what’s in it, and it tastes SO MUCH better than store bought! I love that you add jalapeno for a kick
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I’ve been enjoying grilled jalapenos this summer and this will be another favorite in the house since it has jalapeno in it. Love this recipe and it works with your cheeseburger salad, too.
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Thank you so much. I really wanted to make this dressing since a long time.
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For some reason, I have only made my own dressing once. Which is so crazy, because it was so good! I NEED to do it again soon. Thanks for the reminder!
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Recently we started loving the ranch dressing in our wraps. This homemade ranch looks easy yet delicious.
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Ah love anything jalapeno and I could put this on everything. SO tasty and creamy!
OMG. I’m going to pour this over alllll the things, including directly into my mouth.
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I love ranch dressing! This is so much better because of the delicious jalapeno pepper!
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I am not kidding you, i could use this for Evarrrrrrythang. A popular texmex in Austin brings with along with salsa to dip chips into . . .and now I’m hooked. So glad to know how to make something similar at home.
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