One nation, covered in ranch
America’s favorite dressing has permeated our food culture.
As a young republic, our nation embraced the dressings of many lands: Italian, French, Russian and the magical Thousand Islands. But with the creation — and inexorable rise — of ranch, we have forged the one true American dressing.
Invented in the 1950s, ranch is now far and away the most popular salad dressing in the country, according to a 2017 study by the Association for Dressings and Sauces, an industry group. (Forty percent of Americans named ranch as their favorite dressing; its nearest competitor, Italian, came in at 10 percent.) And it has spread far beyond salad.
It is a routine dip for chicken wings, baby carrots, French fries, tortilla chips and mozzarella sticks. It is incorporated into American classics like macaroni and cheese, fried chicken, potato salad and Thanksgivingturkey stuffing. And it is drizzled over tacos, Tater Tots, casseroles and pizza.
Unlike, say, Green Goddess or Thousand Island, ranch dressing has inspired fandom beyond food: Sightings include bottles of ranch-flavored soda, ranch fountains at parties, ranch tattoos and memes, even ranchand-pizza earring sets. It stars in countless videos posted on YouTube by ranch superfans, who pour it on uni, instant ramen, ice cream and more. “Bring me my ranch dressing hose!” commands Homer Simpson, rejecting the sensual attentions of concubines, in a famous dream sequence on “The Simpsons.”
What makes ranch ranch? It is a combination of creaminess (from buttermilk, sour cream, sometimes mayonnaise) and herbaceousness (often parsley, thyme, dill), plus a long pull of allium (onion and garlic) and a shot of black pepper. Ranch seasoning eliminates the creamy element, making it a dry spice mix like any other, ready to be added to Chex Mix, shaken onto popcorn or mixed into biscuits.
Any home cook can make a lovely, full-flavored ranch dressing using real garlic, freshly ground black pepper and bright green herbs. But the particular flavor of traditional ranch can only be achieved with the dry versions of all those aromatics: garlic and onion powder, dried herbs, powdered pepper and buttermilk.
Steve Henson, a plumber from the tiny village of Thayer, Nebraska, came up with the dressing mix around 1950, during a stint in Anchorage as a construction worker, where he also served as an occasional cook for the crew. In that part of the world, perishable ingredients like fresh herbs, garlic and onions, and dairy products were not easy to come by.
By 1954, he and his wife, Gayle, had moved to California and bought a ramshackle property called Sweetwater Ranch, in the San Marcos Pass above Santa Barbara, California. They renamed it Hidden Valley, and opened it as a guest ranch. But according to their son, Nolan Henson, the place became even more popular as a steakhouse, with Steve Henson’s dressing a favorite souvenir.
“It was all dry ingredients the way my dad made it,” said Nolan Henson, now 74, who grew up on the ranch. (Gayle died in 1993, Steve in 2007.)
“People carried it home in mayonnaise jars,” Henson said. “Seemed like we were always mixing it, and we put it on everything: steaks, vegetables, potatoes.”
Overwhelmed by demand, in the late 1950s the Hensons began packaging the dry ingredients in an envelope that could be presented or mailed to customers, who would add their own buttermilk and mayonnaise at home — much like a boxed cake mix, which was introduced to the mass market by Pillsbury in 1948.
The product was a runaway success. “The dressing pretty much took over the ranch,” said Henson, who spent hours as a child filling seasoning packets.
With that, ranch began to take over the nation, moving from the West to the Midwest and occupying salad bars through the 1970s; a shelf-stable version arrived on supermarket shelves in 1983. But according to Abby Reisner, author of the new cookbook “Ranch” (Dovetail Press), ranch madness did not go national until 1986, with the introduction of Cool Ranch Doritos, tortilla chips that were infused with a distinctly creamy, oniony bite. Ranch was already popular on its own, but the combination of cream and crunch in one bite — a fusion of dip and chip — turned out to be a masterstroke.
Cool Ranch Doritos opened the door to ranch as a seasoning beyond salad. It began to show up frequently as a dip for French fries (replacing ketchup), for chips (instead of salsa) and for Buffalo chicken wings (pushing aside blue cheese dressing).
It is through chicken wings that ranch made the transition to pizza.
Tim McIntyre, a spokesman for Domino’s, said the company added chicken wings to its menu in 1994. Ranch was sent along with each order of wings, but Americans quickly began dunking pizza in the stuff.
“That’s what I remember from birthday parties when I was young, and on late nights in college,” said Reisner, 25. “Ranch and pizza, pizza and ranch.”
Other members of her generation agree.
“It’s kind of like a whole extra course,” said Alvin Lim, 31, a culinary student in Providence, Rhode Island. “You eat your pizza, but then you’re probably still hungry, so you stick the crusts in the ranch.”
Ranch is most popular in the Midwest, according to the Association for Dressings and Sauces. Twisted Ranch, a restaurant in St. Louis that serves 31 different ranch dressings, opened in 2015 and has generated three-hour waits. (It moved to a larger space this year.)
“We really believed in ranch from the beginning,” said Jim Hayden, one of the restaurant’s founders. “It wasn’t just a gimmick.”
Every dish on the menu contains some form of ranch: the house Bloody Mary is made with ranch-infused vodka and has a ranch-salt rim on the glass. To create new dishes, said Hayden, he and his fellow founder, Chad Allen, start by dreaming up a new ranch flavor — like Greek, with feta cheese and oregano, or curry, with yogurt and Indian spices.
“We lead with the ranch, then we build a dish around it,” he said.
Ranch may be a modern phenomenon, but its flavor profile is not new at all. Many classic condiments also combine cream (or creaminess) with alliums (the family that includes garlic, onion, leeks and chives). Middle Eastern toum, Mediterranean aioli, Caesar dressing, French onion dip and the pasta sauce “Alfredo” served at places like Olive Garden all have the same profile: a mild, cooling base set against the heat of strong, pungent alliums.
That coolness is what makes ranch an appealing partner for food that is spicy or charred or deep-fried, and many of America’s favorite foods have those flavors front and center. (In case you do not believe that ranch flavor represents the pinnacle of American culinary achievement, consider that ranch dressing is already called “American dressing” in many European supermarkets, and that the Doritos flavor we know as “Cool Ranch” goes by “Cool American.”)
Meanwhile, back in Santa Barbara, the Hidden Valley Ranch is no more. Steve Henson sold the brand to the Clorox company in 1972 for $8 million; in 2017, Hidden Valley products (there are more than 50) took in over $450 million, according to industry analysts. But the nearby Cold Spring Tavern, the first place outside the ranch to serve the dressing, is still open — and has been since 1868, when it began life as a stagecoach stop. (It has hosted guests as diverse as Susan B. Anthony, Charles M. Schulz and Anthony Perkins.)
Steven Henson came over one day with a handful of dried herbs and spices, said Debbie Wilson-Potts, the tavern’s unofficial historian and a granddaughter of Audrey Covington, who was the owner then. Her grandmother always used the same words to described that first momentous taste: “It took off in my mouth like a freight train.”
The restaurant still serves the original dressing.
“I think she would come back from the grave and haunt us if we changed it,” WilsonPotts said.
CLASSIC RANCH DRESSING
FOR THE SEASONING MIX:
1 1/2 teaspoons dried chives
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon dried dill
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon mustard powder (optional)
2 tablespoons buttermilk powder (optional)
FOR EACH CUP OF DRESSING:
1/2 cup chilled sour cream or mayonnaise
1/2 cup chilled buttermilk Salt, to taste
For the seasoning mix: In a bowl, whisk all the ingredients together. Taste and adjust the seasonings to your liking. Transfer to an airtight container and store in the refrigerator until ready to use; it will keep indefinitely.
To make 1 cup dressing:
In a medium bowl, place 1 tablespoon seasoning mix. Add sour cream and buttermilk and whisk together until smooth. Taste and add salt if needed. Serve immediately or refrigerate, covered, up to two days (or up to two weeks if made with mayonnaise). Makes 4 to 5 cups.
Per tablespoon: 26 calories (percent of calories from fat, 71), 1 gram protein, 1 gram carbohydrates, trace fiber, 2 grams fat (1 gram saturated), 4 milligrams cholesterol, 40 milligrams sodium.
RANCH DRESSING WITH FRESH HERBS
1/4 cup chilled buttermilk, more as needed
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint or parsley
1 cup store-bought mayonnaise, preferably Hellmann’s
Salt, to taste
In a food processor or blender, process the buttermilk, garlic, pepper, chives and mint together until the herbs are minced and the mixture turns pale green. Add the mayonnaise and process just until smooth. If desired, thin with additional buttermilk to get the consistency you want. Taste and add salt if needed.
Serve immediately or refrigerate, covered, up to three days. Makes about 1 ⅓ cups.
Per tablespoon: 101 calories (percent of calories from fat, 97), trace protein, trace carbohydrates, no fiber, 11 grams fat (2 grams saturated), 5 milligrams cholesterol, 78 milligrams sodium.
DOUBLE RANCH MOZZARELLA STICKS
1 pound low-moisture (packaged) mozzarella, in one piece
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 large eggs
3 tablespoons buttermilk
1 tablespoon ranch seasoning mix (storebought, or see our classic ranch dressing recipe)
2 cups panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
1 1/2 teaspoons dried parsley
1 1/2 teaspoons dried dill
1 teaspoon dried oregano
Vegetable oil, for frying Kosher salt
Classic ranch dressing or ranch dressing with fresh herbs, for serving (see recipe)
Cut the mozzarella into sticks about 3 inches long and 3/4 inch thick.
Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Place three shallow bowls on a work surface. Place the flour in one bowl. In another bowl, whisk eggs and buttermilk together. In a third bowl, combine the ranch seasoning with panko, parsley, dill and oregano.
Working one at a time, dredge a piece of mozzarella in flour. Dip in the egg mixture, let any extra drip off and then roll in panko mixture, pressing gently to coat well. Place on the baking sheet and repeat with remaining ingredients. Freeze at least two hours and up to one week. To store, transfer frozen sticks to bags or containers.
When ready to serve, heat 2 inches oil to 350 degrees in a large pot over medium heat. Working in batches to avoid crowding the pan, fry the frozen sticks until golden brown all over, turning occasionally, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a paper towellined plate and immediately sprinkle lightly with salt.
Serve with thick ranch dressing, for dipping. Makes about 20 sticks.
Per stick: 172 calories (percent of calories from fat, 63), 7 grams protein, 9 grams carbohydrates, trace fiber, 12 grams fat (4 grams saturated), 52 milligrams cholesterol, 178 milligrams sodium.