This delightful Avocado Lime Ranch Dressing is a twist on the original ranch but with even more flavor. Use it as a dressing, dip, or even a creamy avocado sandwich spread!
I might be a little obsessed with this salad dressing. It has so many good things in it: avocado, cilantro, lime juice, all in a creamy dip or dressing. It’s even delicious on a sandwich in place of mayo! It’s one of those recipes that’s so good you want to like the bowl…errr…jar. I definitely lick the spoon every time!
We also grab food from Chick-Fil-A once a week or so. We’re low-carb eaters so I usually get either the grilled chicken nuggets or the Cobb salad. If I’m more in a nugget mood, I pour buffalo sauce and ranch dressing over them. If I get the salad, I’m all about their Avocado Lime Ranch.
Since I make salads often at home, I wanted to make a dressing that tastes as good as Chick-Fil-A and hopefully even better. Homemade salad dressings taste so much better to me anyway, so it really wasn’t too tall of an order.
Ingredients
That’s a lot of ingredients for just a simple salad dressing, Kristy!! Yes, I know, but I promise that it comes together in less than 10 minutes and the flavor is SO worth it. Play around with the ingredients as it’s an easy recipe to customize to your tastes. For example. I’m a serious cilantro lover so I almost always double – or even triple – that amount. But if you don’t care for it, leave it out entirely. Add more or less lime juice to your tastes. Just make it because it’s really that good!
- 3 garlic cloves
- ¼ cup chopped onion
- 1 small jalapeño, seeded and chopped (or a serrano)
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro
- 1 cup buttermilk
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- ½ cup sour cream
- juice from 1 1/2 limes
- 1 ripe avocado
- 1 ½ tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp oregano
- ¼ tsp chipotle chili powder (or regular)
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp coarse salt (more to taste)
- ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
How to make avocado lime ranch dressing?
All you need to make this avocado ranch dressing is a blender or food processor. It’s important to blend the ingredients really well so don’t try to mix them by hand.
Add the garlic first and pulse it a few times to make sure it gets finely minced. Add the onion, jalapeño, and cilantro and pulse that a few times, too. Then just add the remaining ingredients and blend it all until it’s smooth and creamy.
Chill it for a few hours before enjoying so the flavors have a chance to meld. If you find it’s too thick for what you’re using it for (say, a dressing instead of a dip or a sandwich spread), add a few splashes of milk to thin it out.
What can you eat avocado lime ranch dressing with?
- It’s perfect over a Cobb or Avocado Salad and it’s delightful with grilled romaine.
- Add it to a vegetable tray along with regular ranch dressing for dipping. Who doesn’t love a good ranch dip?
- Use it as a sandwich spread. It’s amazing on a turkey, bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich (for low-carb I use ALDI’s zero net carb bread). Sometimes I mix it with a little mayo first.
- Serve it with some grilled chicken.
- Use it as a topping for tacos.
- Toss it with shredded cabbage for an easy coleslaw (this is also delicious on tacos).
How many calories are in avocado lime ranch dressing?
I used Nutrionix to calculate the nutritional information; it calculates one serving of this recipe at just 68 calories. The same website says that the calories in Chick-Fil-A’s is 310 calories. That’s a pretty significant savings in calories, not to mention the flavor is so much better, too! To save even more calories, try subbing the sour cream or mayonnaise for greek yogurt.
Do you have to use buttermilk?
The buttermilk is truly necessary to the amazing flavor, so do use it if at all possible. If you don’t have any and are itching to make it right away, add the lime juice called for to a cup of whole milk, then let it sit for 5 minutes or so. That should do the trick! You might need to add a little more lime juice after blending everything together, but taste it first and add it only as needed.
Can you replace the lime with lemon?
You can replace the lime with lemon but the flavor will change enough that it won’t be quite as delicious. It’s definitely better as a lime dressing since that’s a better complement to the other flavors. You may end up liking it even more though, who knows? If that’s all you have on hand, give it a shot and let us know in the comments how it turned out for you.
To my knowledge, Chick-Fil-A doesn’t sell their Avocado Lime Ranch Dressing so if you want to enjoy it at home anytime you like, try making my version. You might just find yourself skipping the drive-thru altogether!
Also try this delicious Avocado Sauce for something different!
Avocado Lime Ranch Dressing
This delightful Avocado Lime Ranch Dressing is a twist on the original ranch but with even more flavor. Use it as a dressing, dip, or even a creamy avocado sandwich spread!
Ingredients
- 3 garlic cloves
- ¼ cup chopped onion
- 1 small jalapeño, seeded and chopped (or a serrano)
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro
- 1 cup buttermilk
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- ½ cup sour cream
- juice from 1 1/2 limes
- 1 avocado
- 1 ½ tsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp fresh oregano (or 1 tsp dried)
- ¼ tsp chipotle chili powder (or regular)
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp coarse salt (more to taste)
- ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Place the peeled garlic cloves into a high-powered blender and pulse until they're minced. Add the onion, jalapeño, and cilantro. Pulse a few more times until it's chopped fine.
- Add the remaining ingredients and blend on high speed until the dressing is very smooth.
- Pour into a jar and seal, then place in the refrigerator for at least 3-4 hours so the flavors have a chance to meld.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 24 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 68Total Fat: 6gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 5mgSodium: 155mgCarbohydrates: 4gFiber: 1gSugar: 2gProtein: 1g
This data was provided and calculated by Nutritionix.
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