Name: Kefir ranch dressing
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 35 min
Ingredients: 120 ml plain milk kefir (Choose unsweetened kefir.); 120 g mayonnaise (Use store-bought mayonnaise with a savoury, tangy flavour rather than a sweet one.); ½ tsp dried parsley (Or use 1½ tsp finely chopped fresh parsley.); ½ tsp dried dill (Or use 1½ tsp finely chopped fresh dill.); ½ tsp dried chives (Or use 1½ tsp finely chopped fresh chives.); ½ tsp garlic powder; ½ tsp onion powder; ½ tsp salt; ¼ tsp ground black pepper

By Nik, founder of 東歐嚴選｜kefir.link and former chef · Updated 2 November 2026

Ranch is the creamy, garlicky dressing Americans reach for with crisp vegetables, fried chicken wings and fries. It was first made with buttermilk, and milk kefir slips into that role easily, because it has the same creamy body and mild, tart edge. Five minutes of whisking and half an hour in the fridge give you a bowl of dip ready for the table.

Prep time5 min

Total time35 min

Makes8 servings

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Born in a remote camp, famous on a guest ranch

Ranch began in the early 1950s in a remote part of Alaska, where a plumbing contractor cooked for his work crew. Fresh produce was scarce, so he flavoured a creamy buttermilk dressing with dried herbs, black pepper, onion powder and garlic powder that kept well on the shelf. He later bought a guest ranch in the mountains near Santa Barbara, California, where visitors fished, rode and hiked and sat down to hearty home cooking. Guests loved the dressing so much that they asked for jars to take home, which led to a powdered mix people could stir into mayonnaise and buttermilk themselves. By 1992 ranch had overtaken Italian as the best-selling salad dressing in the United States.

Why the herbs need a rest

Dried herbs are traditional in ranch because they keep, but straight from the jar they are crisp and fight the creamy texture. Resting the dressing lets them soak up moisture, soften and release their flavour into the kefir and mayonnaise. Mayonnaise matters as well, because it gives the dressing body and keeps it smoothly blended. In Taiwan, choose a sour, salty mayonnaise rather than the sweet local style. Shake the kefir bottle well before measuring.

Thicker for dipping, fresher with garden herbs

For a thicker dip for celery and carrot sticks, use a little less kefir. Fresh parsley, dill and chives smell brighter than dried ones, and you need three times the volume. Taiwanese scallions can stand in for chives, but use less, because their flavour is stronger. Beyond salad, ranch is a natural partner for spicy wings, potato wedges, pizza crusts, burgers and sandwiches.