If there’s one
thing I know about the south – we LOVE our ranch dressing. With just about
anything!
Why Should I Use This Recipe?
There are a few reasons that make this recipe particularly healthy. Here’s my approach to evaluating food: FIRST – I ask, what is in this particular food/recipe that is going to nourish my body and provide it the nutrients it needs to function optimally?
It’s not really about calories or how many “bad” things are in it. Most importantly, what are the health promoting aspects of the foods I am choosing?
This recipe has several things going for it!
- The buttermilk and greek yogurt provide probiotics to promote a healthy colon.
- Chives
belongs to the family of vegetables called Allium, which also includes
onions, scallions, leeks and garlic. According to AICR’s second expert
report, Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer, foods belonging to the allium family of vegetables probably protect against stomach cancer. - As we discussed in the last post, all spices provide us with extra cancer fighting phytochemicals!
After evaluating what a food offers that is health promoting, THEN I look to see if there’s anything in the food that is known to be harmful. And I also consider if there are ingredients that just aren’t necessary!
What’s so bad about bottled ranch dressing?
Processed/prepared ranch dressing isn’t going to harm you, when used on occasion. But many of the commercial brand ranch dressings don’t actually provide benefit to health! In fact, in order to make it shelf stable, they need to add a lot of preservatives. And in order to make a profit, they use the cheapest flavorings (i.e. artificial).
Is buttermilk ranch really made out of real buttermilk? Not likely, unless it’s in the refrigerated section of the grocery store! Additionally, the commercial brands aren’t likely to use a lot of ingredients that haven’t been altered or processed in some way.
But really… the most important thing about this recipe is that it tastes GREAT! Try this version to get more phytochemicals in your favorite
dipping sauce.
Healthy Ranch Dressing Recipe
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 cup greek yogurt
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1/8 teaspoon paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon mustard powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley – I used more
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh chives – I used more
- 1/4 teaspoon of dry dill (or a teaspoon chopped fresh – I used fresh and more than 1 tsp! I love dill. :))
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients together in jar or food processor. I used a food processor so I didn’t have to deal with mincing all the fresh herbs!
For a dip, make mix without buttermilk and increase greek yogurt, as desired. You can see in my pictures, it was a little thin. When I bought the ingredients, I accidentally bought European yogurt, instead of greek yogurt. Definitely use the greek for a thicker dressing!
Enjoy!
– Julie
