Easy Southwest Ranch Dressing
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A little creamy, a hint of spicy, and 100% delicious! This easy homemade Southwest Ranch Dressing takes minutes to throw together and is super versatile.
3 Reasons to Make Southwest Ranch at Home
- Elevates Your Food at Home: The key to creating restaurant-quality food is often in the sauces. This southwest version of homemade Ranch dressing (or sauce) adds cool creaminess, a hint of citrus and lime, a bit of spice from the cayenne, and complexity from the cilantro and other seasonings. It’s far more interesting and tasty than any store-bought dressing or dip.
- Healthier: This recipe is made with wholesome, recognizable ingredients unlike the store-bought version. Have you ever looked closely at the ingredients in a bottle of Ranch dressing or a packet of Ranch dressing mix? It’s jam-packed with additives, preservatives, MSG, high-fructose corn syrup, and many other mystery ingredients. Yuck!
- So Easy: Making your own condiments at home, like BBQ sauce, salad dressings, and pesto is far easier than you may think. This Southwest Ranch Dressing is made with ingredients you already likely have on hand and just takes a few minutes.
Ingredients
This Southwest Ranch Dressing (or is it a sauce? or is it a dip?) consists of just a handful of recognizable ingredients. You may have most of these at home already.
- Salsa – Look for an all-natural brand or use the fresh stuff from the deli section. My favorite from the store is Mateo’s medium salsa.
- Sour Cream – Plain, full-fat Greek yogurt works well, too.
- Lime Juice – Freshly squeezed is best! Lemon juice works as a substitute.
- Fresh Cilantro or Parsley – This adds a pop of color and fresh flavor. Substitute dried parsley if needed.
- Pantry Seasonings – Salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and cayenne pepper
How to Make Southwest Ranch
In a small bowl, stir together all the salsa, sour cream, fresh herbs, and pantry seasonings until combined. Cover and refrigerate for up to 1 week. This dressing tastes better the longer it sits, so try to make it a few hours in advance.
Storage Tips
After combining all the ingredients, store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to a week. Do not freeze this because the sour cream will separate in the freezer.
How to Use Southwest Ranch
Use this tasty sauce for a variety of dishes, including these ideas:
- Drizzle it on our Southwest Chicken and Bacon Wraps or Chicken Burrito Bowl. Sooo good!
- Serve on salad like our Southwest Chicken Salad or Mexican Chopped Salad.
- Pair it with our Oven Steak Fries or Crispy Smashed Potatoes as an appetizer.
- Serve as a dip with fresh veggies like cucumber, celery, carrots, broccoli, and bell peppers.
FAQs
You can control how spicy to make your dressing with the kind of salsa you select (mild, medium, or hot) and how much cayenne pepper you add. The way our recipe is written yields a mild spiciness.
This particular recipe can be used as a dressing, dip, or sauce. It’s medium thickness, so it will pour easily but work well as a dip for raw veggie sticks or chips. We also have a Homemade Ranch Dip that’s a little thicker.
Yes! Simply replace the sour cream with a vegan or dairy-free sour cream or Greek yogurt from the health food store.
More Homemade Salad Dressings You’ll Love
- Honey Dijon Dressing
- Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette
- Honey Balsamic Dressing
- Apple Cider Vinaigrette
- Citrus Salad Dressing
- Asian Sesame Dressing
Salad Dressing Cheat Sheet
Our best homemade salad dressings all in one place!
- Download it.
- Print it.
- Use it over and over again!
Easy Southwest Ranch Dressing
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup salsa (look for an all-natural brand or use the fresh stuff from the deli section)
- 1/2 cup sour cream (or plain, full-fat Greek yogurt)
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime or lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh cilantro or parsley (or 1 teaspoon dried parsley)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt (plus more to taste)
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
- Pinch of cayenne pepper
Instructions
- In a small bowl, stir together all the ingredients until combined. Cover and refrigerate for up to 1 week. Before serving, taste and adjust seasoning to your preferences.
Notes/Tips
- This will keep for a week in the fridge. Do not freeze.
- Similar to our Homemade Ranch Dip, this dressing tastes better after sitting for a few hours, so it’s best to make it ahead.
- My favorite salsa for this recipe is Mateo’s medium salsa.
- This makes enough dressing for about 4-6 dinner salads or 8 side salads.
Excellent! I added a bit of cumin because we enjoy that flavor. Used it as a dressing for Chicken Fajita Salads. The leftover dressing was tasty with tortilla chips.
Glad you were able to tweak it to your family’s taste Christine. Thanks for taking the time to leave a review!
This was delicious. The perfect blend of spices. We used it with the Southwest Chicken. We made wraps with the dressing, Southwest Chicken, lettuce, and tomatoes. It was so good we will use it again.
So glad you enjoyed this Michelle! It is one of my all-time favorites to put on all kinds of Mexican meals. I can hardly even have a taco without making this. 🙂
This was so good! Super easy too! I used a hot salsa and added a bit more cilantro, hot green Chile’s and a dash of cumin. Exactly what I wanted.
Love all these additions Julie! I bet it was great. Thank you for leaving a review and letting others know how you tweaked it!
I only eat taco salad with this dressing now.
Why is it that this recipe cannot be stored in the freezer?
Great question. When you freeze a sauce like this that has dairy in it, it will separate and get watery when it thaws. Something like a soup that has sour cream in it (i.e. potato soup) does ok freezing because after thawing you warm it up and stir it around. But for a cold sauce like this, it just doesn’t turn out great after freezing. I hope that helps!
I was curious how spicy this recipe is? I attempted another recipie and was way to hot for me. Thank you
The spice level is mainly dependent on what salsa you use. If you don’t like spicy foods, I would use a mild salsa and omit the pinch of cayenne pepper. You can always stir in cayenne or a little hot sauce at the end if you want it spicier. I hope that helps!