Name: Southwest Ranch Dressing
Prep time: 3 min
Cook time: 2 min
Total time: 5 min
Ingredients: ½ cup mayonnaise; ½ cup plain greek yogurt; 1 cup cilantro, (washed and lightly packed); 1 green onion, (white included); 2 tbsp lime juice; 1 tbsp maple syrup, (honey can be substituted); 1 jalapeño, (use according to your heat preference); ½ tsp ground cumin; ½ tsp onion powder; 1 tsp garlic powder; ½ tsp salt

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I’m here with a confession. I’m a sauce gal. Dressings, dipping sauces, drizzles, creamy, zesty, spicy, fresh, it doesn’t matter. I. Love. Sauce. And, I am convinced that the biggest difference maker between an ok meal and a great meal is sauce. This Southwest Ranch Dressing recipe is one of my all-time favorite sauces. Not just for salads, this zesty, creamy sauce is perfect to make your tacos next level. It will make you eat more raw veggies than you thought possible because you are looking for ways to eat this dressing and it is not yet socially acceptable to just pour it in a cup and drink it. Drizzle it over nachos or build the perfect taco salad. Add it to some chicken, rice and veggies and your meal goes from everyone complaining because you are having chicken, rice and veggies again to, “please make this again!” The possibilities are endless. The best thing about this recipe for Southwest Ranch Dressing? It takes 5 minutes and is totally done in the blender. Let’s make some sauce.

Ingredients

Cilantro, spices, lime, jalapeno and mayo

We’ve talked about this before. I come from a place where exotic or even basic ingredients can be hard to find. Not with this recipe. I bet you could walk into any grocery store in America and find these ingredients. I know for a fact you can find them anywhere in Costa Rica or Nicaragua (except Pali, if you know, you know). These are my favorite kinds of recipes. Because you know what else? This also means there is a good chance I have most of these ingredients on hand. To make this recipe for Southwest Ranch Dressing, you will need mayonnaise, greek yogurt, cilantro, green onions, a jalapeño, limes, maple syrup or honey, ground cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, and salt. Be sure that your greek yogurt is plain and has no added sweetener. This is the voice of experience talking. If you don’t like cilantro, this is probably not the recipe for you. Also, I’ll pray for you because that must be really difficult. If you do like cilantro or more than 2 people live in your house, make a double batch. Your welcome.

Making the dressing

Adding ingredients for Southwest Ranch Dressing to a blender

This is the really simple part. First, add the greek yogurt and mayo to the blender. Adding this at the bottom helps get things going. Don’t have a high-powered blender at home? No problem. I use a 20 dollar blender that makes chunkies rather than smoothies most of the time and it still works for this recipe. Then add in the cilantro and green onion. Stems and white are fine here. Remember, it’s all being blended. But please, WASH YOUR CILANTRO. It has gritty sand and dirt in it and once, I didn’t wash mine (gross, I know) and my dressing was all gritty and I had to throw it out. Wash your cilantro. Add the cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, maple syrup and lime juice. Oh, and a chunk of jalapeño. My advice is taste it first. Sometimes, jalapeños are almost as mild as bell peppers and sometimes, they are like eating the pit of hell itself. So, taste and add as much as you think you can handle, depending on your personal preference. We are a medium salsa level family, so I add about 1/3 of a normal heat jalapeño. Pulse to get things going. You may need to shove your cilantro down every 10 seconds, until it really starts blending. Then, let it go about 2 minutes until nice and smooth.

Using and storing your dressing

Now, you have delicious, creamy, green Southwest Ranch Dressing and you need a plan for how to use it. I got you. These are some of my favorite quick and easy ways to add this to breakfasts, lunches and dinners. For breakfast, try some crispy roasted potatoes, top with a fried egg and some sauce. Done. Or, add some bacon, eggs and potatoes to a warm tortilla and top with sauce for epic breakfast tacos. More on this at a later date. For lunch, try adding to a salad with black beans, corn, tomatoes, lettuce, chicken and some tortilla chips. One of my go-to quick lunches. I always have black beans on hand thanks to this easy method. For dinner, grab a rotisserie chicken from the store, some tortillas, and your favorite cheese. Add the chicken and cheese to one tortilla, top with another and cook in a skillet over medium heat for 3-4 minutes on each side. Serve with some Southwest Ranch Dressing for dipping. For storage, just place in an airtight container and keep in the fridge. I lasts up to 10 days. I make a double batch and we use for all kinds of things until it’s gone. Tonight, it’s tacos with leftover chicken, lettuce, tomatoes, avocado and sauce. I’ll get rave reviews for like 10 minutes of work. Those are my favorite dinners. If you want rave reviews, too, this is what you need to do to make your own Southwest Ranch Dressing.

To make this Southwest Ranch Dressing, this is what you need to do…