How Ranch Dressing Became the All-American Condiment (2024)
Ranch is the unofficial mother sauce of American cuisine. Though it’s a salad dressing by name, the famous flavor can be found everywhere from dive bars to the snack food aisle. As one of the best-selling condiments in the United States, it’s as much a part of the country’s fabric as apple pie, but it appeared on the culinary scene more recently than other American classics.
Before making a name for itself in California and then sweeping the Midwest, ranch dressing got its start farther north, in Alaska. A Nebraskan named Steve Henson moved there around 1950 to work as a plumbing contractor in a remote part of the state. He also prepared meals for his crew—and fresh ingredients were hard to come by in the Alaskan Bush. Desperate to keep his men happy, he whipped up a creamy buttermilk salad dressing flavored with shelf-stable ingredients: Dried herbs, black pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder introduced strong, savory flavors to the tangy dairy base.
The concoction was a hit among the workers, but it didn’t gain its name or its national reputation until Henson moved to California with his wife, Gayle, in 1954. There they bought Sweetwater Ranch and renamed it Hidden Valley. They converted the 120-acre property into a combination “country club, nightclub, and dude ranch” for visitors looking for a glamorized taste of cowboy life. The attraction also functioned as a steakhouse, with Gayle herself cooking up to 300 steak dinners on their busiest nights. The most popular item they served was Steve’s herb, mayonnaise, and buttermilk mixture. According to ranch employee Alan Barker, it was clear from the start that the condiment was good for more than dressing lettuce. “We ate it on everything from steaks to, in a comical moment, ice cream,” he told The Los Angeles Timesin 1987.
The dressing was so in-demand that guests started purchasing mayonnaise jars full of the stuff to bring home as souvenirs. The Hensons eventually got the idea to sell it as a powdered mix customers could stir into their own salad dressing base at home. They shipped these seasoning packets across the country, and soon Hidden Valley Ranch was a national brand. In 1972, the Clorox Company purchased it from the Hensons for $8 million (an amount that would be equivalent to nearly $60 million today). A decade later, the first bottles of pre-made, shelf-stable ranch appeared in supermarkets, which further boosted the dressing’s popularity.
Why is ranch dressing popular in the Midwest?
While Hidden Valley was and remains the most popular ranch brand, imitators were quick to begin churning out their own versions of Henson’s recipe. Soon the term ranch was as generic as ketchup or buffalo. Its place in the mainstream became undeniable in 1986, when Doritos launched its Cool Ranch flavor featuring onion, garlic, and buttermilk; the success of the new snack food raised the profile of the condiment itself. By 1992, ranch was officially the most popular product in the salad dressing aisle, ousting Italian for the top spot.
While ranch is consumed across the country, it’s especially beloved by Midwesterners. There you’re less likely to get dirty looks for adding it to your pizza—or even your Bloody Mary. The region’s obsession with the condiment may be explained by its ubiquity in fast food. According to Indianapolis’s Do317, many fast food chains test new products at their Midwestern locations before rolling them out nationally. When pizza chains like Domino’s and Little Caesar’s started experimenting with ranch as a dipping sauce, Midwestern customers were the first to fall in love with the concept, and they never looked back. Hidden Valley Ranch was also accessible throughout the region thanks to the company’s plant in Wheeling, Illinois.
Invented in Alaska, popularized in California, and embraced by the Midwest, ranch is truly the all-American condiment.
When pizza chains like Domino's and Little Caesar's started experimenting with ranch as a dipping sauce, Midwestern customers were the first to fall in love with the concept, and they never looked back. Hidden Valley Ranch was also accessible throughout the region thanks to the company's plant in Wheeling, Illinois.
During the 1980s, ranch became a common snack food flavor, starting with Cool Ranch Doritos in 1987. Hidden Valley Ranch Wavy Lay's potato chips were introduced in 1994. In 1983, ranch suprassed Italian dressing to become the best-selling salad dressing in the United States.
Ranch dressing was created in 1949 by a plumber-turned-cowboy. While working as a contract plumber in Alaska, Steve Henson started cooking for his coworkers and perfecting his buttermilk dressing recipe.
No other country in the world can guarantee it on shelves (though it's somewhat popular in Germany) like we do in the states. More than being uniquely American, ranch dressing has become the iconic condiment of the Midwest.
Anyone who's ever tasted ranch dressing can recognize its unique flavor profile anywhere. This creamy condiment's delicious mix of herbs and buttermilk gives it a distinctly tangy but fresh taste that brings life to salad, french fries, pizza, chicken wings, and anything else you can think of to dunk in it!
Who invented ranch dressing? Before making a name for itself in California and then sweeping the Midwest, ranch dressing got its start farther north, in Alaska. A Nebraskan named Steve Henson moved there around 1950 to work as a plumbing contractor in a remote part of the state.
Despite its pretty mainstream popularity, though, it only ranked number one in one state: Iowa. What the hell? Are people not eating enough chicken wings or something? Or are they dipping those in Ranch now, too?
History tells us ranch dressing was created in 1949 by a plumber-turned-cowboy in Alaska. Steve Henson is the man behind this dressing perfection. In fact, Henson moved to California and purchased a ranch he called Hidden Valley Ranch, which made the now famous dressing a staple.
Ranch dressing is essentially a buttermilk mayonnaise dressing spiffed up with herbs. It was popularized by Clorox, when they figured out a way to make their Hidden Valley brand shelf stable. (According to Slate, bottled ranch dressing is shelf stable to 150 days or about 5 months.
The ranch is hands down America's most beloved salad dressings. It is made from a number of ingredients such as buttermilk, mayonnaise, mustard, garlic, onion, chives, salt, and pepper.
In a lot of European markets, ranch dressing is called “American dressing” and Cool Ranch is called “Cool American”. The brand was sold to Clorox in 1972 for $8 million. In 2017 the brand made over $450 million.
While often served before a meal in the U.S., salad is either eaten as a side dish (un contorno) or even after a meal in Italy. Just as there is no ranch dressing for your pizza, there won't be any for your salad, either.
But is ranch actually the most popular condiment in all the land? Earlier this year, Influenster shared an unofficial survey of the most popular condiments in all 50 states. They found that ranch reigned supreme in six of them. Ketchup outranked all other condiments in just one state, Pennsylvania.
As tempting as it may be to dip your veggies (or fried cheese curds) in ranch, it just barely does better than its cousin, mayonnaise. At 8 grams of fat per tablespoon, you may be better off skipping the dip.
It's herbaceous, it's peppery, it's familiar, it's got a wonderful tang at the end, and it's extremely affordable. To not carry Hidden Valley in your home is to spit in the face of crudités.
That's when Steve Henson and his wife, Gayle, purchased 120 acres of sprawling land nestled in the mountains outside of Santa Barbara, California, and started a dude ranch.
Back in 1949, Steve Henson invented ranch dressing while working in the Alaska bush. The dressing was an attempt to get grouchy, finicky bush workers to eat their vegetables. Turns out, it worked.
“But the particular flavor of traditional ranch can only be achieved with the dry versions of all those aromatics: garlic and onion powder, dried herbs, powdered pepper and buttermilk.” That's because fresh ingredients were rare in Alaska at the time.
Introduction: My name is Wyatt Volkman LLD, I am a handsome, rich, comfortable, lively, zealous, graceful, gifted person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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