Many restaurants use Tone’s Buttermilk Ranch Dressing mix. I ordered a case of it a couple years ago from HERE.
It tastes great, is easy to make, equal parts mayo or salad dressing and milk along with the seasoning mix.
We like ranch dressing so much, that we buy Miracle Whip by the gallon.
One container of mix lasts forever and I think you have to order a case of six. You can make your friends happy with a gift of ranch.
Just thought I would add a new food to put ranch on.
I just made this about 20 minutes ago, and it was great. I melted pepperjack cheese on a flour tortilla, then stuffed it with turkey and some lettuce. Poured three cheese ranch all over that bad boy, rolled it up, and inhaled a few times. Man was it good.
I think there are a few of us here that might be interested in starting a “United Church of the Ranch Bretheren”. I also think Ranch dressing should be the official food of the 2004 Olympic Games. I guess we shall wait and see.
newman’s own does indeed have ranch dressing… maybe not in stores… go to mcdonald’s and we’ll be happy to sell it to you for 30 cents a package.
It isn’t made with real ranches, so I refuse to use it out of principle…
This is what we use. We buy ours at Sam’s Club, which sells the entire line of Tone’s products. We mix ours with sour cream and a little bit of whole milk.
Since we gave up sugar and white flour 8 months ago, we use ranch dressing as a dip for: onion rings, chicken strips, fried mushrooms, etc. (we make our own deep-fried stuff, making a batter from whole-wheat flour, buttermilk, eggs and spices). We used to dip stuff in barbecue sauce or honey mustard, and obviously, we had to find a replacement for these. Also, hubby’s fave night time snack is Triscuit crackers and ranch dip.
Here’s an article I read in the Santa Cruz Sentinal last week… It’s mostly a fluff piece but I was surprised that ranch is by far the most popular salad dressing in America now. It also gives a bit of history on how it was invented.
http://www.santa-cruz.com/archive/2003/July/16/style/stories/01style.htm
I need a low-fat/low-calorie Ranch dressing substitute. Anyone have any ideas? The ones I have tried in the past (but not recently) have felt gritty and icky in my mouth.
I used to like Ranch Dressing as a kid, like many of you folk, I couldn’t get enough of the stuff. Now I can’t stand it.
However, I love love love Bleu Cheese, cannot get enough of that.
And what the hell is going on when ordering Chicken Wings at a bar these days in Ontario. Chicken Wings are supposed to come with bleu cheese dip… but now everyone seems to be serving it with RANCH! I have to specifically ask for bleu cheese…
GingerOfTheNorth , I feel your pain. I would also like something low fat and ranchy.
I bought some T. Marzetti’s last night and it was pretty good… I think I’m still looking for something a little creamier… But this will do for now.
I was a fan of ranch, but my wife “turned me on”, shall we say, to the wonders of bleu cheese. We used to go out to the local $1 theatre and eat dinner first at this greasy spoon next door, because they had the most amazing bleu cheese dressing. We’d get grilled cheese sandwiches, potato wedges and a serving of this wondrous dressing, tangy and creamy with large chunks of bleu cheese. I’m sure it was just garden-variety restaurant dressing-by-the-gallon stuff, but man was it good.
Yes, we always treat ourselves to fabulous nights out like that. 
It’s an east cost thing now. A lot of people (the younger ones that is) like to use ranch dressing with their fries. Actually, that’s the only thing I know them for, maybe chicken nugguts also. (I know, bad English). People seem to like mayo and ranch dressing (not together) with their french fries.
For those of you looking for low fat/low calorie ranch, there’s only one I’ve ever tried that wasn’t disgusting. Of course, it may be disgusting to you but at least this one doesn’t have the consistency of glue like Kraft Fat-free or that hideous after taste of others.
It’s Naturally Fresh Lite Ranch. It has an orange label. The company also offers a fat-free version but I’ve never tried it.
The Buffalo Joe’s chain in Chicago and Evanston, IL, also does this. (Best wings in the Midwest, no doubt about it.) The owner, a Buffalonian himself, apparently found that the local tastes didn’t take to blue cheese dressing, so he switched to ranch. I think he’s out of his mind, but the chain does excellent business and, given the quality of his wings, I can forgive him.