DIY Copycat Homemade Hidden Valley Ranch Mix

When someone mentions the word “ranch” my mind instantly thinks of Hidden Valley Ranch. The flavor of Hidden Valley Ranch is heaven on a carrot stick. I mean, how else would we eat our vegetables? Hidden Valley was the only kind I would buy for years because nothing else tasted the same.

So I wanted to create the mix for myself to save money (those packets are expensive…) and to eat more healthy. Hidden Valley ranch has lots of processed ingredients including MSG and I  wanted a more natural recipe.  After toiling for many days and force feeding experiment ranch to my husband, I was finally able to re-create the homemade Hidden Valley Ranch mix and am sharing that recipe with you today.

That’s right I said it, the Hidden Valley is Hidden no more. Go ahead. I will wait while you do your happy dance.

I had to solve the problem of the MSG. From looking at the ingredients I noticed there was MSG in the dressing – which is a huge flavor additive. One thing I knew for certain…I did NOT want to have MSG or other nasty chemical or processed items in this recipe. I’m trying to use real foods and make more things from scratch.  I tried using spices and buttermilk powder but it never came out quite right. It also seemed every time I tried just adding more salt or spices, it just wasn’t the same. The depth of flavor wasn’t there.

I even called up my sister as a last resort (who is known for her copycat recipe abilities) and she said she gave up on making a copycat homemade hidden valley ranch mix a long time ago.   So with great despair I almost gave up. I googled for replacements for MSG and it said there was nothing that works. Some folks mentioned random things like tomatoes, sugar, fish oil, and Mrs. Dash. Mushrooms were also mentioned in passing as something that can add a lot of depth of flavor, so I thought I would try the recipe one more time with dried mushrooms.

Hallelujah. It turned out those dried mushrooms were the secret ingredient that made this work!! And I don’t even like mushrooms. But in this recipe it is delicious and the flavor I needed.

When I perfected the recipe I compared them side by side; the homemade hidden valley ranch mix and the original mixed with sour cream. The flavors were almost exactly the same. I will say that both are pretty salty, so if you want less salt feel free not to add as much. But to get the real exact flavor you need lots of salt.

And now without further ado..here is the recipe for  homemade Hidden Valley Ranch mix. May you have much joy, eat more real foods and possibly save money too while making this!

Homemade Hidden Valley Ranch Mix

1/2 cup dry buttermilk powder 
1 tablespoon dried parsley, divided
1 teaspoon dried dill weed, 1/2 teaspoon reserved (I used Litehouse freeze dried dill)
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon dried onion flakes (or dried chopped onion)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons pieces organic portabella dried mushrooms
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon sugar

Directions:

Add all the dry ingredients except the reserved teaspoon of dried parsley and the 1/2 teaspoon of dried dill to your blender. Blend until a nice powder.

Hand mix in the reserved parsley and dill –  you want to see some herbs in your mix.

Store dry mix in an air-tight container or jar in your pantry for 2-3 months or in the freezer for 6 months or longer.

To make Hidden Valley Ranch Dip:

Mix 2 tablespoons of dry mix with 1/2  – 1 cup of Sour Cream. Chill for 2 hours and serve as a dip. If for some reason your sour cream isn’t very thick, and you want your dip to really set up thickly add in 1/2 teaspoon of unflavored gelatin.

To make Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing for salads n such.

Mix together
3 Tablespoons Dry Ranch Dip mix
1 cup of mayonnaise
2/3 cup buttermilk

Mix together and let sit in the fridge for 1-2 hours (gotta let those flavors deepen). Just to let you know I tried this recipe with regular milk instead of the buttermilk first and it was NOT great tasting. But using the buttermilk it tasted just like the real deal. So keep that in mind…real buttermilk is the key to the dressing.

Other ideas to use your dry ranch mix

After spreading butter on a 1/2 of a loaf of french bread, sprinkle some dry ranch powder on and bake it for a delicious ranch-y style of garlic bread.
Sprinkle some of this mix over your roasting potatoes as a seasoning.

Use 2 tablespoons of dry mix in any recipe asking for dry ranch mix.

DIY Copycat Homemade Hidden Valley Ranch Mix

Mix up your own ranch dressing mix from scratch, with no MSG. 

Print Pin Rate

Course: Appetizer, condiment

Cuisine: American

Keyword: copycat, dressing, ranch

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes

Servings: 216 servings

Calories: 2kcal

Author: Karrie

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup dry buttermilk powder
• 1 tbsp dried parsley for blending, divided
• 1 tsp dried dill weed, divided
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp dried onion flakes or dried chopped onion
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tbsp pieces organic portabella dried mushrooms
• 1 tsp garlic salt
• 1/4 tsp ground pepper
• 1/2 tsp sugar

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

• Add all the dry ingredients except the reserved 1 tsp of dried parsley and the 1/2 teaspoon of dried dill to your blender. Blend until a nice powder.
• Hand mix in the reserved parsley and dill - you want to see some herbs in your mix.
• Store dry mix in an air-tight container or jar in your pantry for 2-3 months or in the freezer for 6 months or longer.

Notes

To make Hidden Valley Ranch Dip:
Mix 2 tablespoons of dry mix with 1/2 - 1 cup of Sour Cream. Chill for 2 hours and serve as a dip. If for some reason your sour cream isn't very thick, and you want your dip to really set up thickly add in 1/2 teaspoon of unflavored gelatin.

To make Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing for salads and such:
Mix together
3 Tablespoons Dry Ranch Dip mix
1 cup of mayonaise
2/3 cup buttermilk

Mix together and let sit in the fridge for 1-2 hours (gotta let those flavors deepen). Just to let you know I tried this recipe with regular milk instead of the buttermilk first and it was NOT great tasting. But using the buttermilk it tasted just like the real deal. So keep that in mind...real buttermilk is the key to the dressing.

Other ideas to use your dry ranch mix

After spreading butter on a 1/2 of a loaf of french bread, sprinkle some dry ranch powder on and bake it for a delicious ranch-y style of garlic bread.
Sprinkle some of this mix over your roasting potatoes as a seasoning.

Use 2 tablespoons of dry mix in any recipe asking for dry ranch mix.

NOTE: This recipe makes about 6 Hidden-Valley-Ranch packet sizes worth of dry powder. Each individual pack serves 36 (about 1/4 tsp of mix per person). 

 

Nutrition

Serving: 0.25tsp | Calories: 2kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 1mg | Sodium: 23mg | Potassium: 7mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 1IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 4mg | Iron: 1mg

Tried this recipe?Mention @happymoneysaver or tag #happymoneysaver!

Please come back after you try this and let me know what you think.