Here’s our best vegan ranch dressing recipe, using cashews to make a creamy base and savory spices. It’s perfect for salads and dipping!
Let’s talk vegan salad dressing! There are lots of naturally vegan vinaigrette dressings, like balsamic vinaigrette, Italian dressing, and Greek dressing. But what about a creamy ranch? Ranch is a dairy-based dressing, but we figured out a way to make our homemade ranch dressing vegan…and it tastes amazing. Just a few tricks make a naturally plant-based, creamy dressing that tastes just as good as the real thing. Here’s our best vegan ranch dressing recipe!
How to make vegan ranch dressing
Most ranch dressings are made with lots of mayonnaise. The trick to this creamy vegan ranch dressing recipe? Cashew cream. Here’s what to know about vegan ranch dressing:
- Soak cashews and then blending them with water and salt to make cashew cream. This makes a creamy vegan alternative to mayo and sour cream (we use it all the time in soups, pasta sauces and more!). Cashew cream adds richness and helps the vegan ranch dressing coat the lettuce and vegetables.
- Add ranch spices. Add to the cashew cream some delicious ranch spices: garlic powder, onion powder, and dried dill.
- Refrigerate until serving. It tastes delicious right away, but we like to refrigerate for a few hours to let the flavors meld and to set the texture.
Serving this vegan ranch dressing recipe
This vegan ranch dressing recipe is perfect for drizzling onto any type of salad that you throw together! Of course, you can also use it as a dip: which we love even more! Here are a few ideas for how to use it:
- Green salads like Chopped Salad, Romaine Lettuce Salad or Butter Lettuce Salad
- Wedge salads like Classic Wedge Salad
- Dip for veggies like carrots, celery & bell pepper strips
- Dip for fries, like baked French fries
- Sauce for pizza, like Vegan Pizza
- Dip for potato chips
- Dip for falafel
How would you serve this vegan ranch recipe? Let us know in the comments below!
Related: How to Make Homemade Vinaigrette
More vegan salad dressings
Need more ideas for vegan salad dressings? Here are a few more ideas:
- Try Easy Tahini Dressing
- Opt for Vegan Caesar Dressing
- Grab Balsamic Vinaigrette
- Go for Homemade Italian Dressing or Carrot Ginger Dressing
This vegan ranch dressing recipe is…
Vegetarian, gluten-free, vegan, plant-based, and dairy-free.
Print
Best Vegan Ranch Dressing
- Prep Time: 3 hours
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Yield: ¾ cup 1x
Description
Here’s our best vegan ranch dressing recipe, using cashews to make a creamy base and savory spices. It’s perfect for salads and dipping!
Ingredients
- 1 cup cashews (or ¾ cup cashew cream)
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt, divided
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- ½ teaspoon dried dill
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- Place the cashews in a bowl and cover them with water. Soak for at least 1 hour. For preparation in advance, you can soak the cashews overnight, which is even better.
- Drain the cashews. Add the cashews, ¾ cup water, and ½ teaspoon kosher salt to a blender, then blend on high for 1 minute. Stop and scrape, then add additional liquid if necessary to come to a creamy consistency. Blend for several minutes until creamy and smooth.
- Place ¾ cup of the cashew cream into a medium bowl (a small amount will remain, which you can save for using as a vegan sour cream or mayo). Whisk in the apple cider vinegar, dried dill, garlic powder, onion powder, the remaining ¼ teaspoon kosher salt, and ¼ teaspoon black pepper.
- You can serve right away, but we prefer refrigerating for a few hours so the flavors intensify and the texture sets up. Then before serving, mix it with a teaspoon or so of water to come to a drizzleable consistency.
- Category: Salad Dressings
- Method: Whisked
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: Vegan ranch recipe, Is ranch dressing vegan, Best vegan ranch, Cashew ranch dressing, Salad Dressing, Homemade Salad Dressing Recipe
I made this Ranch dressing for the 1st time, It is dilecious I will pour it over the Fire vegan chili I made last night.
Most vegan ranch dressings I’ve tried don’t actually taste like ranch. Does this one…before I make it?
Thanks.
Haha! We think so :)
What did you think about the ranch? Taste like ranch?
Great! What I wanted to hear. I’ll give it a shot. Thanks Alex.