Name: Cilantro-Jalapeno Ranch Dressing
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Yield: 16
Cuisine: Southwest
Ingredients: 1 cup low fat buttermilk; 2 tbsp. olive oil mayonnaise, (see notes); 1/4 cup nonfat Greek yogurt; 1 tbsp. lime juice; 1/2 tsp. minced garlic; 1 jalapeno, stem and seeds removed, cut in chunks; 1/2 cup cilantro leaves, stems removed; several snips of fresh chives or 1 minced shallot; 1/2 tsp. sea salt; several grinds pepper

Southwest flavors in a healthy and delicious homemade ranch dressing… Cilantro Jalapeño Ranch Dressing uses fresh, healthy ingredients to complement your fresh salad ingredients.

Cilantro Jalapeno Ranch Dressing being poured over a lettue, tomato, and black bean salad on a yellow plate.

Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.
~~ Pablo Picasso

👩🏻‍🍳 Tamara Talks – About Homemade Salad Dressings

Recipes are great, and learning to follow a recipe is a necessary first step in becoming an accomplished home cook. One of the main focuses of Beyond Mere Sustenance, however, is to encourage my readers to “learn the rules like a pro,” to facilitate moving beyond a recipe to using flavor profiles and a well-stocked pantry along with seasonal and fresh ingredients to create new and wonderful dishes.

Homemade salad dressings are one of the easiest and most forgiving places to start. Cilantro Jalapeño Ranch Dressing Recipe takes only minutes to prepare, and you can take the basic “recipe” and customize it with different herbs and flavorings to complement whatever seasonal and fresh ingredients find their way into your salad bowl on a given night.

So in reading through this post, and then in looking at the recipe, keep in mind that it is more instructional in nature, and the recipe is more of a template.

Given that I’m throwing together a fresh salad dressing with southwest-inspired ingredients like cilantro and jalapeño, my salad calls for ingredients like black beans, pepitas, avocado, and tomatoes. Don’t limit yourself to the list in my recipe. 😉 Other potential ingredients might include grilled corn, chopped zucchini, jicama, red or orange bell pepper, radishes, cotija cheese, etc.

Cilantro Jalapeno Ranch Dressing tossed with butter lettuce, tiny tomatoes, black beans, and corn in a large salad bowl with tongs.

🎥 Video

buttermilk
olive oil mayonnaise
plain nonfat Greek yogurt
lime juice
minced garlic
jalapeño
cilantro
fresh chives or shallot
sea salt
fresh ground pepper

So. Simple. Put the ingredients in a blender until smooth. It will keep for a few days in the refrigerator (if it lasts that long)!

A small food processor or personal blender! I love my Ninja.
As seen in my (not great) photos, a glass cruet is useful. I have this one, but really want this one.
Keep ingredients on hand for making great homemade salad dressings… things like plain Greek yogurt, low fat buttermilk, olive oil, olive oil mayonnaise, and a couple of different vinegars. I keep sherry, apple cider, and wine vinegar to name a few.

Cool? Have you made your own homemade salad dressings? If not, go look at the back of a bottle of dressing in your fridge. The list of ingredients may convince you!

Yield: 16 servings

Cilantro-Jalapeno Ranch Dressing

Southwest flavors in a healthy and delicious homemade ranch dressing... Use fresh, healthy ingredients to complement your fresh salad ingredients.

Prep Time 5 minutes

Total Time 5 minutes

Ingredients

Dressing

1 cup low fat buttermilk
2 tbsp. olive oil mayonnaise, (see notes)
1/4 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
1 tbsp. lime juice
1/2 tsp. minced garlic
1 jalapeno, stem and seeds removed, cut in chunks
1/2 cup cilantro leaves, stems removed
several snips of fresh chives or 1 minced shallot
1/2 tsp. sea salt
several grinds pepper

Instructions

Add all dressing ingredients to the bowl of your blender.
Pulse 2-3 times. Give it a good shake. Repeat until smooth.
Either toss with the salad, or serve in a cruet alongside the salad.

Notes

I love to make my own olive oil mayonnaise, but I certainly keep a good commercially prepared one in my refrigerator. Salad dressings need a little bit of fat; fats aid in the absorption of some nutrients, and make the ingredients taste better too!

Frozen and thawed corn is fine, but grilled corn cut off the cob is better.

Creamy dressings will keep in your refrigerator for several days - if they last that long!

The recipe includes the salad ingredients for reference only.

Calories are for the dressing only.

Ideas for Using Cilantro Jalapeno Ranch Dressing

Recipes that use homemade cilantro jalapeno ranch dressing...

4 Comments

Serena says:

11 May, 2015 at 9:33 am

LOVE this recipe. Just shared as part of my Ranch Dressing Round Up today: http://teaspoonofspice.com/2015/05/ranch-dressing-recipe-round-up/

1. Tamara says:
  
  11 May, 2015 at 10:40 am
  
  Thanks for including my recipe in your roundup! I do keep a bottle of commercial dressing on hand for when I’m extra short on time, but making dressings is so quick and easy, I rarely rely on it. Instead, I rely on a well-stocked pantry and refrigerator 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
  
Jaime says:

22 March, 2015 at 9:33 am

Home made dressing is the best! Can’t wait to try this one 🙂

1. Tamara says:
  
  22 March, 2015 at 10:09 am
  
  Cool! I think you’ll like it 🙂