Avocado Lime Ranch Dressing

Name: Avocado Lime Ranch Dressing
Prep time: 10 min
Total time: 10 min
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 3/4 cup (153 g) mayonnaise; 1/2 cup (120 g) sour cream; 1/2 cup (118 ml) buttermilk; 1 ripe avocado; 2 tablespoons lime juice; 1 teaspoon lime zest; 2 cloves garlic; 1 teaspoon onion powder; 1/4 cup (10 g) fresh herbs, roughly chopped (suggestions: chives, cilantro, dill, and/or parsley); 1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste; 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, or to taste

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Avocado lime ranch dressing is the zippy salad topper of your dreams! It's packed full of flavor from garlic, herbs, lime juice and zest. And of course, it has a smooth, creamy texture and beautiful green color thanks to the addition of ripe avocado.

If you've never made your own salad dressing before, you really need to give it a go! It tastes so fresh and flavorful, and you can easily customize it to suit your own tastes. It's also simple to make in only a few steps, requiring only 10 minutes or less to make!

This avocado lime ranch is one of my favorite homemade dressings because it's indulgently creamy, thanks to sour cream, mayo, and of course, buttery-smooth ripe avocado.

And, the avocado flavor is complemented by the brightness of fresh lime, plus the supporting characters of garlic, onion powder, and black pepper. This dressing is so delicious and flavorful, you will soon be putting it on everything!

Recipe ingredients

Ingredient notes

Avocado: this is a key ingredient, so the dressing will taste the best if you use one that is nicely ripe!

Mayo: this is another main ingredient in the dressing, so be sure to use a high-quality mayo that you enjoy the taste of! I used Duke's brand mayo which is one of my favorites.

Herbs: you can choose your favorite, but make sure to use a leafy, tender type of herb, such as parsley, chives, cilantro or dill (versus woody herbs like rosemary, which would be too strong here). I used a combo of cilantro and chives.

Step by step photos

1. First of all, you can make this dressing either in a blender, food processor, or using an immersion blender, like I did here. The first step is to place all the ingredients, minus the herbs and half the lime, into your appliance of choice.

Since I'm using an immersion blender, I used a quart-sized glass jar. Any large, tall-sided container would do!

avocado being scooped into container with dressing ingredients

2. Then, blend those ingredients until they are completely smooth.

immersion blender in jar with ranch dressing ingredients

3. Next, add in the herbs. Blend briefly just until the herbs are broken up into manageable pieces.

I like doing it this way because I think having larger flecks of the herbs in the dressing looks nice. But, if you prefer a completely smooth dressing feel free to blend for longer!

4. Finally, taste the dressing and stir in however much of the additional lime you like, as well as more salt and/or pepper if you think the dressing needs it.

pepper mill grinding pepper into dressing in jar

Tips and tricks

This dressing tastes great right away, but the flavors intensify even more after a few hours in the fridge!

The dressing has a thick, luxurious texture, which is perfect for dipping. You can also put the dressing into a squeeze bottle to make it easier to apply to salads or other foods.

If you want a thinner dressing that is better for drizzling, you can stir in a splash of water or extra buttermilk. The image at the bottom of this post shows the thick, undiluted texture, and in the top image, the dressing was thinned out a bit to drizzle over the salad.

Recipe FAQs

What if I don't have buttermilk?

Buttermilk is a quintessential ingredient in most ranch dressings, and gives a really nice tang to the dressing, in a slightly different way than the lime juice alone. However, if you don't have buttermilk, you can make a pretty decent substitute using regular milk.

All you need to do is add 1 ½ teaspoons lime juice to ½ cup of regular milk, and let it sit on the counter for 10 minutes. Give it a stir and then use it in the dressing as directed.

Can I use low-fat or fat-free mayo and/or sour cream?

I used full-fat mayo and sour cream in my version, but you can substitute low-fat if you prefer. Personally, I would not use totally fat-free versions, however, because the mouthfeel and texture would not be the best.

What does avocado lime ranch pair well with?

This avocado dressing goes well on so many things! Try it on salmon, grilled veggies, or grilled corn! It also works really well as a dip for chicken fingers, wings, raw veggies, or French fries.

Want to go totally wild? Use it as a spread for a slice of toasted zucchini cheese bread! And of course, this ranch dressing is the perfect topping for salads, especially cobb salads.

How long does the dressing last in the fridge?

You can store the dressing in the fridge, tightly covered, for up to 1 week. However, if you notice any off texture, color, or smell, you would need to toss it sooner.

Even with the avocado in there, I have not noticed the dressing browning at all in the fridge, even after several days (I believe this is due to the high acid content from the buttermilk and lime!).

salad dressing in jar with spoon dipping inside and avocado and limes on the side

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