Ranch Dressing

Ranch dressing is a condiment made of buttermilk or sour cream, mayonnaise, minced green onion, garlic powder, and other seasonings mixed into a sauce. Ranch dressing is one of the two most popular styles of salad dressing in the United States, together with Italian dressing.

In 1954, Steve and Gayle Henson opened a dude ranch near Santa Barbara, California, and named it "Hidden Valley Ranch". As a side business, they sold to guests a special dressing that Steve had developed in Alaska. The dressing was popular, and they began selling bottles that guests could take home, and later opened a factory to sell packets of ranch seasoning that had to be mixed with mayonnaise and buttermilk (packets that are still available to this day). In 1972 the brand was bought by Clorox for $8 million.

Clorox reformulated the dressing several times to try to make it more convenient. The first change was to include buttermilk flavoring in the seasoning so that home chefs only had to add milk rather than buttermilk. In 1983, Clorox developed a non-refrigerated bottled formulation, making it even more popular.

Ranch became a common snack food flavor, starting with Cooler Ranch Doritos in 1987, and Hidden Valley Ranch Wavy Lay's in 1994.

In much of America, ranch is a common dipping sauce for things like French fries, chicken wings and other fried foods, such as fried mushrooms, fried zucchini, fried pickles, onion rings, and cheese fries. Additionally, ranch dressing is used on pizza, baked potatoes, wrap sandwiches, tacos, and hamburgers. This spread to other regions has been attributed to Denny's offering it as a choice with their meals for over two decades nationwide.

Since Clorox owns the rights to the formula and the brand, makers of ranch-style buttermilk dressing have started using other names (like "House Dressing" and "Buttermilk Dressing") to avoid trademark infringement and litigation.

Page 1 of 1