Vegan Avocado Ranch Dressing
Vegan avocado ranch dressing is the perfect salad dressing or healthy dip with all your favorite ranch flavors.
Instead of traditional mayo and sour cream, this dressing uses avocados for a fun twist on ranch dressing. So easy to make, this vegan avocado dressing is Whole30 and keto friendly!
Why you will love this recipe
- Who doesn’t love ranch dressing? This avocado ranch dressing has all your favorite ranch flavors plus that buttermilk tang without any dairy, eggs or mayonnaise.
- Perfect for salads, dipping raw veggies or using anywhere you would use ranch dressing (like dipping pizza or tater tots) this vegan avocado salad dressing is easy to make to always have on hand. No need to buy bottled dressing again!
- Fun way to use up avocados that are ripe. If you bought too many avocados, this is the perfect way to use them up! One of my favorite ways to use this vegan avocado dressing is to make a avocado ranch broccoli slaw which goes great with tacos, burgers or sandwiches!
Ingredients
- Avocado – you want ripe avocados that have not yet started to turn brown.
- Dairy free milk – this along with the apple cider vinegar creates that “buttermilk” flavor for the dressing
- Apple cider vinegar – adds the tang you normally get from buttermilk
- Salt – helps to elevate all the flavors
- Onion flakes (or onion powder) and garlic powder – onion flakes or onion powder and garlic powder help to lend that ranch flavor. Even if you don’t have the other dried herbs, just these ingredients alone can make a great vegan avocado ranch dressing.
- Dried chives, dried parsley, dried dill (optional) – these help to really take the dressing to the next level. These are the typical herbs included in ranch dressing.
How to make vegan avocado ranch dressing
Check out a step by step story on how to make Whole30 avocado ranch dressing.
- Cut the avocado and remove the pit. Carefully spoon out the flesh into the blender.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and blend on high until smooth.
- Check the consistency, add more liquid (up to ½ cup of water or more dairy free milk) to get to the consistency you desire.
Top tips
Let it sit in the fridge for an hour or two. The flavor gets better after all the ingredients have time to rest in the fridge after an hour or two. This vegan avocado salad dressing is good right away but even better if you have time to let it rest.
You choose how thick or thin you want this dressing. If you want to make this avocado ranch dressing into a dip for veggies, keep it thick and creamy. If you want it to be pourable over salads, add more water or dairy free milk to get the desired consistency.
Cover the leftovers well. Just like avocados, this will oxidize in the fridge as it sits overnight. Typically you can just spoon off the top layer that is browning and the rest is great. You can also try putting plastic wrap directly in contact with the top of the dressing to keep the air from oxidizing it.
Other flavors you could add
- Smoky – to make this dressing smoky, you could add ½ tsp. chipotle powder or 1-2 chipotle in adobo to the blender.
- Spicy – add ½ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes or 1 jalapeno pepper (no seeds) to the blender.
- Mexican twist – add ¼ cup cilantro leaves and stems to the blender.
- Lime twist – make this Vegan Avocado Ranch Lime Dressing – add the juice of a lime to change the flavor profile.
Ways to serve this vegan avocado dressing
This dressing is great on salads or on slaws (one of my favorite things to serve it on is broccoli slaw)
- As a dip for raw veggies
- To dip sweet potato tots or broccoli tots
- As a topping for burgers, sandwiches or wraps
- To dip pizza, chicken nuggets or French fries (or sweet potato fries)
Can you use fresh herbs?
Yes! Fresh herbs are great but often it can get expensive to buy fresh herbs for just one recipe but if you have them growing in your garden or on hand, they are a great addition. Typically you want 3-4 times more fresh herb than dried herb. For 1 teaspoon of dried you will want 1 tablespoon of fresh (or more) depending on the potency of your fresh herbs and your personal preference.
How to store leftover avocado ranch dressing
This vegan avocado dressing would be best in 2-3 days in an airtight container (if you want to ensure the top doesn’t brown quickly, press plastic wrap down on the top of the dressing). Typically, I store the dressing in a leftover bottle from an old salad dressing and just spoon off any brown parts I see before shaking/serving. Otherwise, you can get your own salad dressing bottles.
You could freeze this but you may want to re-blend it upon defrosting as the texture will be different. But avocado freezes well.
Substitutions
- Avocado: If you don’ have avocados on hand, you should make my dairy free ranch with cashews instead!
- Dairy free milk: You could try this with coconut milk from a can but it might be a bit too “coconut” flavored. You could also use regular dairy if dairy is not an issue for you. When I run out of milk, I make my own milk by blending hemp hearts with filtered water for about 1 minute on high speed. No need to filter this out, the hemp hearts break down great.
- Apple cider vinegar: This helps to make that tangy flavor you typically get from buttermilk. You could replace it with lemon juice or lime juice instead.
- Salt: Salt adds flavor. If you need to omit the salt, use whatever your go-to no-added-salt substitution is.
- Onion flakes or onion powder or garlic powder: If you don’t have one of these ingredients, you can omit it and add an extra teaspoon of whatever you do have on hand. You can omit the onion and garlic completely and use 1 tbsp. of dried chives instead if you are avoiding onion and garlic.
- Dried chives, dried parsley, dried dill: these are optional and can be omitted without substitution.
If you love this recipe, you should try
Vegan Avocado Ranch Dressing
Guided Recipe Video
Ingredients
- 2 medium avocado - $1,50
- 1/2 cup dairy free milk - $0.57
- 1.5 tbsp apple cider vinegar - $0.12
- 1 tsp garlic powder - $0.10
- 1 tsp onion flakes or onion powder - $0.10
- 1/2 tsp sea salt - $0.03
- 1 tsp dried chives (optional) - $0.10
- 1 tsp dried parsley (optional) - $0.10
- 1/2 tsp dried dill (optional) - $0.05
- 1/2 cup water or dairy free milk (optional depending on how thick you want the dressing) - $0.00
Instructions
- Cut the avocado in half and remove the pits. Spoon the flesh into a blender or food processor.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and blend on high until well combined.
- Add additional (optional) water or dairy free milk to the dressing depending on how thick you want it. For salad dressing, I typically add the entire 1/2 cup of water/dairy free milk. If I'm going to use it as a dip I don't add any.
Recipe Notes
- Smoky – to make this dressing smoky, you could add ½ tsp. chipotle powder or 1-2 chipotle in adobo to the blender.
- Spicy – add ½ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes or 1 jalapeno pepper (no seeds) to the blender.
- Mexican twist – add ¼ cup cilantro leaves and stems to the blender.
- Lime twist – make this Vegan Avocado Ranch Lime Dressing – add the juice of a lime to change the flavor profile.
This is very yummy broccoli slaw avocado ranch dressing recipe.
This sounds yummy I can’t wait to try this . Am so happy to know I can make my own broccoli slaw with the food processor?