Here’s a creamy delicious recipe for Vegan Ranch Dressing made without nuts. Low calorie & made creamy with silken tofu. Perfect for salads, wraps, bowls or as a veggie dip! This can be made oil-free.
Hooray for salad season! The farmer’s markets are open and full of beautiful tender salad greens just waiting to come home with us.
Here’s a little creamy little number that is perfect for some of you out there, watching your calories, cholesterol, oil or fat intake, but still crave something creamy. It won’t work for everyone, because it contains silken tofu (soy) but it will be a godsend for some of you, like it is for me. Vegan Ranch Dressing!
What you will need:
- silken tofu – use firm or extra-firm Silken Tofu, found in most grocery stores and is usually not refrigerated. It is not the same as regular tofu. It has a very silky, grain-free texture, perfect for sauces, soups, dressings and desserts. I like this brand because it is non-gmo and organic. I also like it because it is not refrigerated and doesn’t go bad. I always keep a few in my pantry.
- olive oil (or sub with water — or use half oil, half water)
- garlic cloves (or sub granulate garlic)
- onion powder (or sub a few slices of onion)
- salt
- crushed peppercorns ( or stir these in at the end)
- apple cider, red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar
- nutritional yeast (optional)
- fresh herbs (oregano, dill, tarragon, or parsley) or use dry oregano
How to make a vegan ranch dressing
Step One:
Place all ingredients in a blender. Add a little liquid ( olive oil or water) to get the blender motor going.
STEP two:
Blend until very very smooth!
Taste and adjust salt, pepper, acid and olive oil to your liking. for extra richness, feel free to add more olive oil.
STEP three:
Store the Creamy Vegan Ranch Dressing in a jar in the fridge for 7- 10 days.
Vegan Ranch Variations:
- Add cajun spice! Viola-Cajun Ranch.
- Add a couple of tablespoons of pesto! Vegan Pesto Dressing.
- Try other herbs- cilantro (for a Mexican twist) and a few slices of jalapeno, or fresh dill, fresh basil, etc.
- For extra depth- like to create a “dip” add 1-2 teaspoons of white miso paste.
More vegan salad dressings you may like:
- Creamy Herby Hemp Seed Dressing
- Creamy Avocado Dressing
- Vanilla Fig Dressing
- Peanut Dressing
- Miso Dressing
- Greek Salad Dressing
Creamy Vegan Ranch Dressing is a simple, basic recipe for you to fiddle with and perfect to your own tastes. I hope you embellish it and have fun with it.
Have a great week!
xoxo
Print
Creamy Vegan Ranch Dressing
- Prep Time: 10
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 1 heaping cup
- Category: salad, vegan, Dressings, Condiments
- Method: Blend
- Cuisine: American,
- Diet: Vegan
Description
A delicious recipe for Creamy Vegan Ranch Dressing that can be made without oil! Low calorie & made with silken tofu. Dairy-free, Nut-free, Gluten-Free and ZERO Cholesterol! Perfect for salads, wraps, bowls or as a veggie dip!
Ingredients
- 1 package silken tofu ( 12.3 ounces) firm
- 2 tablespoons water
- 2 tablespoons olive oil (or sub with water — or use 1 T water and 1 T oil– for lower calories)
- 2 fat garlic cloves ( or 2 teaspoons granulated garlic)
- 1 rounded teaspoon onion powder (or a couple slices white onion)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ tablespoons apple cider or sherry vinegar
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast (optional)
- 1–2 tablespoons fresh dill, oregano, tarragon, Italian parsley or cilantro or a blend (or use 1 teaspoon dry oregano)
- 1 teaspoon crushed peppercorns (or stir these in at the end)
Instructions
Place ingredients in a blender and add a little water or olive oil to get the blender going. Scrape down sides as necessary.
Blend until creamy and smooth!
Taste. For extra richness or creaminess, add more olive oil. Add any extras that you like- see notes.
Store in a jar in the fridge for 7-10 days.
Notes
Feel free to add cajun spice ( for Cajun Ranch), or a little white miso paste, for extra depth, if using it as a dip. Dressing will thicken as it chills.
Keywords: vegan ranch dressing, vegan ranch, vegan dressing, vegan ranch tofu,
Why put in 5 times more sodium than calories, not exactly healthy. Almost 300mg of sodium to 60 kcals. If you eat 2500 kcals a day & are used to having sodium in that concentration then you could potentially be taking in 12,500mg or 1.25g of sodium.
I get it needs to taste good & salt helps with that but I don’t know how anyone in good conscience can make a “healthy” recipe with an unhealthy amount of salt. You can obviously omit/reduce the salt but many people will just follow directions before making their own tweaks to it.
Sorry if I seemed rude I just care about peoples health! Best wishes to all!
Hi, I hear your concern and I see you truly mean to be helpful. To clarify- this dressing or “dip” is not designed to be consumed on its own. It is designed to be tossed with a big salad or used a as a dip -a few tablespoons served with veggies. If you were eating it straight out of the jar, yes, the salt concentration would be very high, but we are diluting it here, with veggies – hopefully.;)
It’s 2 tablespoons for 300mg of sodium. That’s a lot even if you use it as a dip, because what you’re dipping isn’t usually very calorific & if it is it usually has a decent amount of sodium already in it. Saying it’s meant just as a snack doesn’t downplay the overwhelming amount of sodium in it. Most foods nowadays are way over the 1:1 of sodium to calories so even having this as a treat will keep people above a healthy amount of sodium. I’ve studied health & wellness for over 20 years now so maybe take that 1:1 ratio a little more seriously if you care about yourself & others.
I will be trying your recipe though, minus a lot of sodium, because my father goes through a ton of the stuff! Best wishes & thank you for the recipe!
Made this with my own ranch seasoning but the tofu-water-oil-vinegar ratio gave it the perfect consistency and tang, and I happy to report it froze wonderfully, just a quick stir when thawed! This will be my go-to for tofu when it’s got to be used or go bad.
★★★★★
Awesome to hear Linda- really helpful! Thankyou!
This is so good I love it ❤️
★★★★★
Glad you are enjoying Barbara!
This is delicious! Will definitely be a staple in our home. I’m wondering about the nutrition info. Yours says it’s 2T and 8 servings, but when I made it I got about 16 2 T servings.
★★★★★
Glad you liked this! Yes mine made about 1 cup. Did you use one package of silken tofu?
This was really good, and so happy to have a lower-fat version if began ranch, which is hard to find. Thank you!!
Awesome!
Wow, I made this without oil and it is awesome! I’m new to plant based and when I tasted this I thought, “Wow – I might actually be able to do this.”
★★★★★
Awesome Elaine!
Very nice recipe! Will definately be making it again!
★★★★★
Thanks Andrea!
Best vegan Ranch I’ve tasted! Kudos Sylvia and thank you for sharing!
thanks Jill!
Just made this! Added 1/4c almond meal for texture, 2T fresh dill, a dash of basil and oregano, and extra pepper. So good!
★★★★★
Great Caitlin! sounds good!
This recipe is surprisingly good. There is no tofu taste, and since I love garlic I put four cloves in. I also used dried chives rather than parsley or oregano. Thank you!! I used NO oil and the extra two tablespoons of water. I also cut the salt in half. Thank you!!!
★★★★★
Glad you like this!
amazing trying right now <3
★★★★★
I just made this recipe tonight but added a little bit of lemon juice, pickled jalapeño juice and a few pickled jalapeños and it was AMAZING!!! Thank you for sharing this!!! Finally can enjoy salads with diff option dressing than just Dijon mustard 🙂