This one-bowl homemade Buffalo Ranch Sauce is spicy, tangy and delicious. It is the perfect dip for a fresh vegetable platter, chicken wings and even a tofu wrap. You'll want to put this sauce on everything!
One of the best ways to enhance any meal is a bold, tasty sauce. Making a homemade sauce, in particular, allows you to control all the ingredients that go into it, so it's easy to make adjustments. Whenever I'm meal planning with my family for the week, I'm always thinking of ways to add lots of flavor to my meals. But with two young daughters, I can't go overboard with the actual meal. That is where sauces come into play! I make a lot of sauces around here, and I'm happy to share one of my all-time favorites, this buffalo ranch sauce.
It is certainly one of the easier recipes I'm sharing, but one I think is well worth your time! Read on to see how it all comes together.
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Ingredients
There is plenty of flexibility in this recipe, but here are the ingredients I use to make buffalo ranch:
- Mayonnaise. Here you can use any variety and brand of mayo you'd like, including vegan, low-fat, lite, etc. Use your favorite and you won't go wrong.
- Sour Cream. The tang in the sour cream helps tame the richness of the mayonnaise. Use full-fat or low-fat, depending on your preference.
- Frank's Red Hot Sauce. It wouldn't taste like real buffalo sauce without the Frank's Red Hot Sauce. I use Frank's quite a bit, including in this recipe for Romaine Wedges with Buffalo Blue Cheese Dressing.
- Chives. Fresh chives give this dressing a bright, fresh flavor that you can't get from dried herbs.
- Garlic Powder & Dried Dill. Speaking of dried herbs, I recommend using garlic powder instead of fresh as the sauce won't taste overly garlicky. And I like using dried dill for it's unique, herbaceous flavor. You can use fresh dill, but double the amount if using fresh.
- Lemon Juice. A splash of lemon juice reinforces the tang of the sour cream and cuts through the richness of the mayonnaise. You can also use plain white vinegar, if you prefer.
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
This recipe requires one mixing bowl and just two steps. Here is how the recipe comes together:
Add the mayonnaise, sour cream, hot sauce, chives, garlic powder, dried dill, lemon juice, salt and pepper to a mixing bowl and stir until smooth. You can use a whisk or a spoon, if you prefer.
The sauce is ready to serve. You can store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. When ready to serve, garnish with more hot sauce, chives and black pepper.
Substitutions
There is a lot of room in this recipe to tweak the ingredients as needed. Here are some suggestions:
- Vegan - If you want to make this recipe dairy-free or vegan, use a plant-based mayonnaise and plant-based yogurt in place of the regular mayo and sour cream.
- Light Version - To keep this buffalo ranch sauce a bit lighter, try using a low-fat mayonnaise and sour cream, or swap the sour cream for Greek-strained yogurt.
- More Tang - Yes, some folks will want even more tang! Who knew. If so, you can up the lemon juice of white vinegar from 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon.
- Buttermilk - One great way to add more tang, as well, is to use buttermilk. If your ranch sauces extra tangy and a bit looser, try using ¼ cup of buttermilk and reducing the amount of sour cream to ¼ cup.
Serving Suggestions
So how exactly should you use this ranch sauce? It's good on so many things! I love it as a dip for our Air Fryer Steak Fries or our Crispy Herb Roasted Potatoes. I love it drizzled over our Purple Cabbage Slaw and Sheet Pan Tofu Fajitas (Buffalo Ranch Tofu Fajitas? Yes, please!). This sauce ever makes a delicious topper for our Loaded Potato Bowl. Seriously, we get a lot of use out of this ranch sauce in my household!
Storage
This sauce will keep in an airtight container like a mason jar stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Be sure to label it so you know when you made it. I don't recommend freezing this sauce since it has cream-based products. And for food safety reasons, do not leave your mayo or sour cream-based sauces at room temperature for more than 2 hours.
FAQ
Buffalo Ranch Sauce is typically made with mayonnaise, sour cream (and/or buttermilk) and Frank's Red Hot Sauce. Add flavorings like garlic powder, dried dill, fresh chives and lemon juice, as desired.
Store leftover homemade buffalo ranch sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Buffalo ranch sauce is tangy, spicy and zesty. It has a creamy texture, a bit of heat from Frank's Red Hot Sauce and plenty of tang from sour cream and lemon juice or vinegar.
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Recipe
Buffalo Ranch Sauce
- Total Time: 5 min.
- Yield: 1 ¼ cup 1x
Description
This one-bowl homemade Buffalo Ranch Sauce is spicy, tangy and delicious. It is the perfect dip for a fresh vegetable platter, chicken wings and even a tofu wrap. You'll want to put this sauce on everything!
Ingredients
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- ½ cup sour cream
- ¼ cup Frank's Red Hot Sauce, plus more for garnish
- 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh chives, plus more for garnish
- 1 tsp. lemon juice (or white vinegar)
- 1 tsp. garlic powder
- ½ tsp. dried dill
- salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Add to a medium mixing bowl the mayonnaise, sour cream, hot sauce, chives, lemon juice, garlic powder, dill and salt and pepper. Stir well until smooth (use a spoon or whisk, as desired). Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. When ready to serve, garnish with more chives, hot sauce and black pepper.
Notes
- While Frank's Red Hot Sauce is the quintessential flavor for buffalo sauce, you can always pick your favorite hot sauce instead.
- To make this recipe vegan, swap out the mayonnaise for a plant-based mayo and use a plant-based plain yogurt instead of sour cream.
- If you want to use buttermilk, use ¼ cup of buttermilk and reduce the sour cream to ¼ cup.
- Serve this Buffalo Ranch Sauce with our Loaded Potato Bowl, Sheet Pan Tofu Fajitas, Air Fryer Steak Fries and Crispy Herb Roasted Potatoes.
- Prep Time: 5 min.
- Cook Time: 0 min.
- Category: sauces
- Method: No Cook
- Cuisine: American
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