Buttermilk Ranch

Years ago, in a rush to get dinner on the table, I put out a bottle of my favorite supermarket ceasar. My daughter, who had to be about 5 at the time whined and said, "Do we have to eat salad dressing from a bottle?"

Maybe she is a little spoiled but she was right. Homemade salad dressing is worth the extra five minutes it takes to make. It's flavorful and fresh and you can alter the ingredients to accompany whatever you are serving. My kids love to help and often make salad dressing on their own now which is super convenient for me and cuts down on the need to pull out a bottle of that stuff with the shaker top.

Last week, I made grilled pork chops with Adobo seasoning. To go with it, I threw together my basic buttermilk ranch and seasoned it with cumin and jalapeno. I hope you like it. All of my Loco Diners did.

Note: You really can't mess this up, if you want to add more vegetables or herbs to flavor the dressing, go ahead!
Buttermilk Ranch
1. c buttermilk
1/2 c. mayonnaise (I use Hellmanns)
3-4 grape tomatoes
2 pieces of a carrot
1/4 c. purple onion approximately


1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. finely diced jalapeno pepper, seeds and core removed

Combine the spice mixture and set it aside.


In the bowl of a food processor or blender, add the buttermilk and mayo. To that, add the tomatoes, carrot and purple onion and the spices.

Blend until the mixture is smooth. Taste it and adjust the flavors to your liking. At this point, add the diced jalapeno and give it a stir.


The dressing will be thinner than what you usually get from a bottled ranch dressing. It will thicken up a bit though and coat your greens nicely.

A great meal for a warm night, grilled Adobo porkchops and a salad with buttermilk ranch