Hidden Valley Original Ranch Dressing Clone

This was delicious. I used the blender which did make a difference in how thick it was. I did not have butter milk so I used unsweetened coconut milk. I also did not have MSG but remembered one of the member suggesting fish sauce so I used Worcestershire sauce (just a couple squirts) to bring in the umami. I will add a pinch of dill weed net time because I think that would be yummy. Thanks for the great recipe & hints!

1 person found this review Helpful. You can only vote others' reviews helpful or not helpful... Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No We don't know who you are. Sign in or create an account

This is a wonderful dressing. I made it up yesterday for a taco salad today. I had everything in the pantry except the buttermilk so I used powdered milk and vinegar. I added the milk until it reached the desired consistency. Thanks.

1 person found this review Helpful. You can only vote others' reviews helpful or not helpful... Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No We don't know who you are. Sign in or create an account

Made this last night to go on a spring mix salad. I made it with all the listed ingredients and it tasted very nice. I found it a bit soupy so I increased the mayo about another 1/4 cup. I find it so silly how many folks left out the tiny 1/4 tsp MSG...if you buy any processed, canned, dried or precooked food from the grocery store you are getting plenty of MSG since it is in almost every item. They don't list it as an ingredient since it's used in the preparation processes... but each to their own. I find it adds a nice savory flavor without increasing the saltiness too much.

1 person found this review Helpful. You can only vote others' reviews helpful or not helpful... Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No We don't know who you are. Sign in or create an account

This recipe is fantastic. I don't eat MSG so I substituted a little Miso (fermented soy paste, think Miso soup). The purpose of MSG is to enhance the flavor, it provides Umami taste or savoriness. Per Wikipedia, Umami also referred to as savoriness, is one of the basic tastes sensed by specialized receptor cells present on the human and animal tongue. Fermented soy in Miso, soy sauce, fish sauce fill the same need. If you search the internet you can find other items that fill this need.

1 person found this review Helpful. You can only vote others' reviews helpful or not helpful... Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No We don't know who you are. Sign in or create an account

Good recipe! I had no idea it was so easy to make ranch dressing. It was very flavorful without all the sodium and crap in commercial ranch. I left out the MSG (I don't keep that in the house), but I did add a bit of lemon juice because I thought it needed a little tang. I also added some cayanne for a bite.I used 3 cloves of minced garlic and a few teaspoons of minced onion instead of powdered. It was very thin but I'm hoping it'll set up a bit in the fridge. I even used half mayo/half sour cream as someone else suggested and it was still runny. Regardless, it tasted fantastic so I'm sure nobody will complain!

1 person found this review Helpful. You can only vote others' reviews helpful or not helpful... Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No We don't know who you are. Sign in or create an account

This was great, but not quite the same as Hidden Valley. I skipped the MSG (not healthy) and substituted a pinch of salt for it. I also added a bit of dill weed, but other then that followed the recipe. It was a little on the thin side, but not a big deal. Will make again.

1 person found this review Helpful. You can only vote others' reviews helpful or not helpful... Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No We don't know who you are. Sign in or create an account

Excellent recipe! Unlike previous posters, I thought the amount of pepper was perfect, but I did skip the MSG because of health reasons. The only thing I may try different in the future is some type of thickener, like cornstarch. It was a little on the soupy side. SO GOOD though!!!

1 person found this review Helpful. You can only vote others' reviews helpful or not helpful... Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No We don't know who you are. Sign in or create an account

We really liked this recipe. I did not add the msg, and we thought it was a little peppery so next time I'll do a little less pepper. But, all in all we thought it was very good, and I will continue to make it.

1 person found this review Helpful. You can only vote others' reviews helpful or not helpful... Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No We don't know who you are. Sign in or create an account

This was the first ranch I've tried that thickened up. I didn't use MSG and might cut out the thyme, but my DH and DS liked it. My DD still liked the Paul Newman better but thought it wasn't bad, so maybe I'll do half and half.

1 person found this review Helpful. You can only vote others' reviews helpful or not helpful... Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No We don't know who you are. Sign in or create an account

Great! I've been searching for a good kid-friendly recipe and this was great. We avoid MSG so omitted it without a problem, and used light Hellmann's mayo. Works best when you mix in the blender. Thanks for sharing the recipe!

1 person found this review Helpful. You can only vote others' reviews helpful or not helpful... Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No We don't know who you are. Sign in or create an account

I liked the basic, only I used five cloves of real garlic and 1/2 cup real onion instead. The first time I did this, I used Miracle whip; it was sweet, but it was okay, too; but I prefer this with half sour cream, half real mayonnaise, and I added a pinch of dry dill weed until to me it was "just like Hidden Valley".

1 person found this review Helpful. You can only vote others' reviews helpful or not helpful... Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No We don't know who you are. Sign in or create an account

Added about 1 tsp of fresh dill (because I have some), made some homemade mayonanaise (because we have chickens/eggs) and shook everything up in a Mason jar/lid, and this was fantastic. Also this does not need MSG. Sorry grocery store, no more money for your ranch dressing in your plastic environment-destroying plastic. Too bad, so sad.

1 person found this review Helpful. You can only vote others' reviews helpful or not helpful... Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No We don't know who you are. Sign in or create an account

This was great! I did have to add 4 saltines to this & blend to thicken. ( I saw this trick with other hidden valley ranch clones). I used this on a salad for my husband who won't eat anything except hidden valley and believe me, he can tell when. He has extremely sensitive taste buds! Well, he didn't notice that this was different. This is definitely a keeper!

1 person found this review Helpful. You can only vote others' reviews helpful or not helpful... Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No We don't know who you are. Sign in or create an account

Thanks for the great recipe. You've probably saved me a ton of money. I'll be making my own dressing now. Yum!!! (I also excluded the MSG..simply because I didn't have any on hand.)

1 person found this review Helpful. You can only vote others' reviews helpful or not helpful... Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No We don't know who you are. Sign in or create an account

This was pretty good. I didn't use the msg as I didn't have any. but I added in a pinch of cayenne and think I'll add a little dried dill weed to the next lot.

1 person found this review Helpful. You can only vote others' reviews helpful or not helpful... Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No We don't know who you are. Sign in or create an account

Very good. I used homemade coconut oil mayo and omitted the msg.

1 person found this review Helpful. You can only vote others' reviews helpful or not helpful... Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No We don't know who you are. Sign in or create an account

I just realized that I haven't reviewed this after using it for months! It's better than any bottled unless you buy the expensive refrigerated kind! I have kept one of my jars from that to put my homemade in and make 1 1/2 recipes of it and it fits great. I never have buttermilk on hand, but always have sour cream so I substitute that exactly and thin it out with milk. If you have Bragg's liquid aminos (guess you could also sub. soy sauce) that substitutes wonderfully for the MSG, which I've never needed to buy before. Then I increase my spices accordingly with the addition of the milk. Thanks Lauren!! I'll never buy bottled dressing again...of any kind! They're all so easy to make and the recipes are all on food.com!!

0 people found this review Helpful. You can only vote others' reviews helpful or not helpful... Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No We don't know who you are. Sign in or create an account