Jalapeño Ranch Dip (or dressing)

At a glance

What stands out: Creamy jalapeño ranch dip is loaded with mild chile peppers. Enjoy it with chips, veggies, tacos, or salads. This recipe is a fun twist on plain ranch dressing and it goes well with southwestern meals.

How long it takes: 10 minutes, plus an hour or so to chill
Equipment you’ll need: mixing bowl
Servings: makes 3 cups

Creamy jalapeño Ranch Dressing

One of the local hangouts in town has a standby fish tacos. We always order the same thing when we go: a Greyhound cocktail, and fish tacos with jalapeño ranch dressing. We think the waitress would be shocked if we ever ordered anything different. Maybe we're in a rut but hey, when you find something you like, go with it, right?

So we love this jalapeño ranch dip recipe we're bringing you today. We've lightened it up a bit with Greek yogurt and added lots of jalapeño peppers. The dip isn’t spicy hot — you won’t be left with a burning mouth. This recipe has a nice creamy base, with ranch dressing flavors, and just a bit of peppery heat and lime juice. You’re gonna love it.

Rather have plain ranch? Be sure to try our lighter ranch dressing. It’s popular and so straightforward to mix.

How it comes together

You can stir this jalapeño ranch dip up in a matter of minutes!

Dice the peppers. The hardest part is dicing the peppers up in tiny pieces. We like to wear disposable food grade gloves to chop jalapeños. We learned our lesson the hard way a long time ago while canning from-scratch salsa. We found that your fingers can experience that same burning sensation as your mouth does when you eat hot peppers, and it lasts for hours! You could also use a small food processor to do the job.

Mix ingredients. After you’ve chopped the peppers and fresh cilantro, the dip is almost made! Simply stir the jalapeños and cilantro with Greek yogurt, buttermilk and mayo. Add a can of chopped green chiles, a packet of dry ranch dressing mix, and a squeeze of fresh lime juice.

Let it chill for awhile. This dip is best if you let it chill in the fridge for an hour or so, to let the flavors blend. We love appetizer recipes that can be made ahead, don’t you? Make the dip, and while it’s resting in the fridge, you’ll have time to prepare the rest of the food you want to serve, clean up the kitchen, catch up on social media, or maybe just hang out with your significant other.

Serve. Enjoy jalapeño ranch dip with chips or cut up veggies, or as a topping for fish tacos. It’s so good with these cauliflower nachos. If you thin the dip with a bit more buttermilk, it makes a fantastic salad dressing.

Ways to change it

• Make a smooth dip. If you would like a blended dip with no chunks, process the ingredients in a blender or food processor until desired consistency.
• Jalapeño ranch salad dressing. Thin the dip mixture with additional buttermilk. Process in blender or food processor if desired.
• Skip the yogurt. If you prefer, you can make this dip recipe with 1 cup buttermilk and 1 cup mayonnaise OR 1 cup sour cream. Use whatever proportions of yogurt, sour cream, buttermilk or mayo that you like, just so the total equals 2 cups.
• From-scratch ranch seasoning. Instead of buying a package of ranch dip mix, use 3 tablespoons of our from-scratch ranch seasoning mix and use regular milk instead of buttermilk. Most packaged ranch seasoning mixes are made with MSG so from-scratch is a good option if you want to avoid MSG.
• Spice it up. Add 1 teaspoon chili powder or ¼ teaspoon cayenne. Another option is to include the seeds and ribs of the jalapeño peppers which contain most of the heat.

Keeping leftovers

Store in a covered container or jar in the refrigerator for up to a week. Give the dip a stir before serving if the ingredients have separated a bit. Do not freeze.

We love making our own dips and dressings. We know exactly what’s in them, no additives or preservatives. And it’s straightforward! If you want to give from-scratch a try, here are some dip recipes for you:

• Yield: 12
• Prep: 10 minutes
• Total: 1 hour 10 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
• ⅓ cup buttermilk
• ⅔ cup mayonnaise
• 1 can (4.5 oz.) chopped green chiles, undrained
• 2 large jalapeño peppers, seeded and deveined, finely diced
• 3 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro (leaves and small stems)
• 1 packet (1 oz.) dry ranch dip mix
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice

Method

1. Place all ingredients in a medium sized bowl and stir well to combine. If a smoother dip is desired, place in food processor or blender, and process until smooth.
2. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour to allow flavors to blend. Makes 3 cups.
3. Serve with veggies, tortilla chips, or potato chips.

Notes

Yogurt note: We prefer 2% Greek yogurt for dips but fat-free and whole milk Greek yogurt will also work. Make sure to buy plain! If you don’t want to use Greek yogurt, substitute sour cream.

Make it a salad dressing. if you would like to make the dip into a dressing, thin with additional buttermilk until it reaches desired consistency.

MSG free: Many dry ranch dip mixes contain MSG. If you want to avoid MSG, try our from-scratch ranch seasoning mix. Since our blend contains dry buttermilk powder, you can substitute regular milk for the buttermilk in this dip recipe.

Storage: Store the dip in a covered container or jar in the refrigerator for up to a week. Give it a stir before serving if the ingredients have separated a bit. Do not freeze.