Looking for an easy, oil free, vegan hemp ranch dressing? This ranch is tasty on anything from veggies, to sandwiches, salads, and even vegan pizza! Here you will find out just how we made this delicious vegan ranch dressing recipe.
If the United States was a person, it would be ranch, not ketchup. Ranch dressing would course through their veins. Studies have shown that ranch purchases continue to rise as ketchup continues to be flat.
Ranch is apparently very important to most american households. Rumor has it that some people even set up a 5 gallon ranch fountain at weddings… Yikes…
But hey, you might love this recipe enough to have your own vegan ranch fountain. Be sure to tag us in the pictures!
Vegan burger with ranch dressing Vegan pizza dipped in vegan ranch dressing
Homemade Vegan Hemp Ranch Dressing
Besides being an American staple, this Vegan Hemp Ranch Dressing recipe is super easy to make.
This plant based ranch is creamy, tangy, and packed with herbs. We realized this week what we really needed was a vegan ranch dressing. We searched online and found out that most of the recipes were mayo/oil based dressings.
We wanted to shy away from these ingredients and go for a healthier, less processed alternative. We tested and tweaked our ranch recipe to give it all of the flavor without all of the oil.
Chop up the herbs and set them aside. Then add the rest of the ingredients into a high speed blender. Blend on high till smooth.
Pour the mixture into a bowl, add the herbs and mix!
The herbs really give this dressing an incredibly fresh flavor. Delicious, creamy and best of all healthy.
Hemp Seed Health Benefits
Okay, we know what you’re thinking, HEMP Ranch? Like Hemp originating from Cannabis sativa?
The answer is yes! Hemp seeds, also known as “hemp hearts,” are truly wonderful nutritious additives to any meal! Although it does originate from the Cannabis sativa plant, that is not to be confused with marijuana.
The hemp plant mostly contains cannabinoids like CBD, and even THC. While at this point it is pretty much common knowledge that CBD is a “healthy therapeutic” cannabinoid and THC is the cannabinoid that gets you “high.” Hemp has such a low concentration of THC you can not possibly get high.
As further proof, hemp hearts are sold in virtually every health food store. You can even find them at large super markets like Costco.
Vegan Ranch Dressing Ingredients
Cashews – Our intention was to keep the ingredients of this Ranch dressing as whole food as possible. We decided to use cashews because it is a whole food but also a very creamy and smooth nut when blended. The perfect base for a creamy, drizzly ranch dressing. If you’re looking for a nut free version of this recipe, vegan mayo or even vegan sour cream can be used as a substitute. Although the cashews can be blended raw, in our opinion this recipe is better to use soaked cashews.
Hemp Seeds – Normally we use hemp seeds as a garnish for salads, roasted veggies, or even pizza. So we decided to incorporate the hemp seeds into the ranch. Feel free to experiment with how much hemp you want to add into your ranch. Four us, hemp seeds have a unique flavor so we only used ¼ cup. Of course the hemp seeds can be omitted if necessary. If the hemp seeds were omitted then this recipe would be a regular cashew vegan ranch.
Onion powder – Believe it or not, onion powder is a key player in what makes a dressing qualify as ranch. Onion powder is essential to the flavor profile of ranch, vegan or not. For this reason we highly recommend not removing this ingredient from the recipe, unless of course for allergy purposes.
Apple Cider Vinegar – The classic dairy version of ranch (if you remember) had a twang to it. That’s because typically dairy ranch is made with buttermilk and sour cream. Obviously we are not using sour cream for this recipe. But there is a vegan friendly way to achieve that twang we need to make the dressing flavors “pop.” The answer is apple cider vinegar. Also known as ACV for short. AVC is basically apple juice that has yeast added to it. The apple juice then becomes fermented because the yeast then turns the natural sugars in the juice into alcohol. The alcohol mixes with bacteria which then turn the alcohol into acetic acid. Long story short, this is what gives Apple cider vinegar its twang. And this is what also gives this delicious vegan hemp ranch dressing its twang. If you don’t have ACV at home a good substitute is lemon juice.
Water – For this recipe we decided to use water as our liquid base. Water is an accessible ingredient and has a neutral flavor. If you want your ranch to be even more creamy, unsweetened plant based milk would work perfectly. Hey, you could even use hemp milk.
Salt – Salt is important to help balance the flavors and make them pop. Similar to what the twang of the ACV does. We personally recommend pink himalyan salt. Its pink because it contains many different minerals. Also the salty taste of each type of salt differs, depending on its mineral content. We prefer the taste of himalyan pink salt for cooking and mixing foods. The salt can easily be removed if you’re looking to lower your sodium intake. Although we have personally not tried using liquid aminos or coconut aminos as a salt substitute, it could work. The only thing is using liquid aminos or coconut aminos would probably turn the ranch lightly brown. Not that matters much! The most important thing will always be the taste.
Herbs
Dill – This is one of our favorite herbs. An important component of ranch is not only the white drizzly dressing but the fresh herbs. We love and highly recommend using fresh chopped herbs for this recipe. Fresh herbs really make any recipe come to life. If you don’t happen to have fresh herbs, dried herbs can be substituted.
Parsley – Parsley is a delicious herb that is fresh like dill but in a different way.
Chives or scallions – It is traditional to use chives for ranch dressing. Part of the reason being that the chive ringlets are so tiny and cute vs the huge round slices of scallions. Our local grocery store was unfortunately out of chives when we made this recipe so we opted for scallions instead. Hey, it still came out amazingly delicious. So if you can’t find chives in your area, don’t fret, scallions will get the job done. Also, since it is Ramp season right now, if you want to use freshly foraged ramps, feel free to add some chopped ramp leaves here! For larger quantities of ramps be sure to check out our vegan ramp infused butter recipe!
Vegan Hemp Ranch
Course: SidesCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy4
servings5
minutes1
minute6
minutesEasy oil free vegan hemp ranch dressing. Perfect for salads, pizza, sandwiches, and raw veggies like celery and carrots!
Ingredients
1/2 Cup 1/2 Cashews (option of using soaked cashews)
1/4 Cup 1/4 Hemp hearts
2 tsp 2 Onion powder
1/2-1 Tbsp 1/2-1 Apple cider vinegar
1/2 Cup 1/2 Water
1 Pinch 1 Salt
- Herbs
1 Tbsp 1 Dill, chopped
2 tsp 2 Parsley, chopped
2 tsp 2 Chives or Scallions, chopped
Directions
- Chop up herbs and set aside.
- Add the other ingredients into a high speed blender and blend on high till smooth.
- Using a spoon or spatula add the blended contents into a bowl.
- Add the herbs to the bowl and mix.
- Serve on salads, sandwiches, or as a dip for raw vegetables.
Notes
- Add more or less herbs to your liking!
Have you tried this vegan recipe?
Tag @cookingupveganblog on Instagram and hashtag it
You will like this vegan recipe!
Follow us @cookingupvegan on Pinterest
Try this vegan recipe!
Follow us on Facebook
Nutrition Facts
4 servings per container
- Amount Per ServingCalories48
- % Daily Value *
- Total Fat 3.6g 6%
- Saturated Fat 0.2g 1%
- Sodium 2mg 1%
- Potassium 84mg 3%
- Total Carbohydrate 1.6g 1%
- Dietary Fiber 0.3g 2%
- Sugars 0.5g
- Protein 2.7g 6%
- Calcium 1%
- Iron 5%
* The % Daily Value tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
