Buttermilk Dill Ranch Dressing

If you love a thick and flavourful salad dressing or dip, Buttermilk Dill Ranch Dressing is just the thing you need! Makes good use of your spice rack too!

I’m a dipper. I love to dip food into sweet, spicy, or stick sauces. Most people seem to use dips for carrot sticks, but I pretty much use dip for everything!

That’s why whenever I buy a carton of buttermilk for a recipe, I’ll always use the leftover buttermilk to make this dressing. I think I might have mentioned before that buttermilk comes in one size only here in Canada. It’s a one liter carton, which is way more than most recipes need.

We do shop in the United States often enough to know that on that side of the border, buttermilk can be purchased in smaller portions. There’s really no rhyme or reason why the same logic shouldn’t be applied here as well!

I guess it’s not so bad. All of that leftover buttermilk is the perfect reason to make this dressing/dip. After all, there’s really no shortage of ways to use up a really delicious dip or dressing now, is there!?

What is buttermilk anyway?

Buttermilk is the liquid that is left behind after churning butter made from cream. The stuff we buy in the store is not pure buttermilk though. What we buy is cultured buttermilk which has had a bacteria added to it and allowed to ferment.

You’ll note that buttermilk has a slight sour taste and smell – much like sour cream! But, don’t worry; it’s not spoiled and you can consume it safely without getting sick.

Did you know that you can make your own buttermilk at home? Yes! If you don’t have any on hand, you can make your own. Just stir one tablespoon of fresh lemon juice or white vinegar into a cup of whole milk. It will not be as thick as store-bought, cultured buttermilk, but it will do the trick!

So, leftover buttermilk – what can you do with it?

One of my favourite ways to use buttermilk is in a cake, such as my Lemon Buttermilk Bundt Cake. In fact, it’s a very common ingredient in baked goods. And it’s used quite often in fried chicken recipes as well.

Uncooked chicken pieces are placed in a bowl and submerged in buttermilk and left to soak and marinate. The buttermilk’s lactic acid helps to tenderize the chicken while retaining the moisture. If you season the buttermilk first, it will infuse the chicken with the seasoning flavours.

In addition to this freaking delicious Buttermilk Dill Ranch Dressing, you can also use buttermilk for make fluffier and tastier pancakes. We are not pancake people, but I do use buttermilk in biscuits and I love to use it in mashed potatoes!

It’s also good to know that buttermilk will last for a few weeks past its expiry date. Unlike other milk products which seem to go bad overnight, buttermilk does not. So give it a good sniff before tossing it!

Additionally, you can freeze buttermilk if you know you are not going to use it all before it goes bad. Thaw at room temperature and shake it well to bring the buttermilk back to life.

Conclusion:

Buttermilk Dill Ranch Dressing is one of those thick salad dressings that can tossed with lettuce leaves or used as a dip. It’s perfect on a cobb salad, but I also like to use it as a dip for chicken wings or even pizza! Try it with chicken nuggets, smeared on a burger, or even stirred into a potato salad instead of mayo!

The possibilities are endless, but there is just one problem with this dressing. In our home, it disappears way too quickly!

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