Roasted Garlic Ranch Dip
August 26, 2019 by Nicole Collins
I've had the strangest cravings this summer.
I get some pretty intense cravings on the regular, but this summer in particular has been a weird one for me.
For starters, I've actually found myself (on more than one occasion) craving hot dogs. Now, that may sound like no big deal, because hot dogs are a summer staple.
But for me, until this summer, I hadn't touched a hot dog in at least 20 years.
Growing up, I use to live on bologna sandwiches and hot dogs with beans. But, I reached point somewhere around high school where I decided hot dogs were disgusting. And, I didn't go anywhere near them, until this summer.
Even worse, I've been craving hot dogs with mustard. I don't even like mustard!
But as soon as I get a hot dog with ketchup, mustard, and raw onions in my mouth lately; I'm a happy girl.
Another thing I can't get enough of lately is raw veggies. That's certainly not a bad thing! But, I've found my fridge stocked with a variety of vegetables most of the summer. However, the kid in me can't eat veggies without some kind of dip.
And, that brings us to today's recipe.
Today, we're making Roasted Garlic Ranch Dip!
I've told you guys before that I'm and Aldi shopper, but that comes with a bit of a love/hate relationship. A few months ago, I picked up a roasted garlic salad dressing that is absolutely amazing. I lick up every last drop whenever I use it. But of course, it was one of those special buys that I haven't seen in the store again since. So, I've been savoring the last little bit of that dressing and stretching it as far as I can.
But, that dressing gave me the idea for today's dip.
We start with a head of roasted garlic. Roasting garlic is one of the easiest things to do. Chop off the top of a full head of garlic, drizzle it with a little olive oil, season it with salt and pepper, then wrap it up in a little tin foil packet before letting it go in the oven for 45 mins. We want to use a bigger head of garlic for this recipe, because we really want that sweet, pungent flavor to take over our dip.
For the base of the dip, we're going to use a mix of sour cream, mayo, and buttermilk. I used lowfat sour cream and buttermilk in this recipe, and it worked great! So, low fat or full fat, use whichever you have or prefer.
To flavor the dip, we're going to use classic ranch spices: dill, chives, parsley, onion powder, salt, and pepper. And, I like to add paprika to my ranch dips, so there's some of that in here too.
Once the garlic is finished roasting, we squeeze the softened cloves out of their skin and give them a good mash. Then we add it to the rest of our ingredients, and give it a good blend with our hand mixer.
Though it might seem like an old school appliance, I love using my hand mixer for smaller jobs like this. A food processor is not the way to go here, because we don't want to pulverize the spices. But, we're really not making a enough dip to warrant breaking out the stand mixer. We could stir my hand, but a hand mixer does the best job of incorporating all of our ingredients together in the best way.
The end result is a fragrant, tangy, garlicky, creamy dipping sauce that begs for some fresh veggies to go swimming in it. This dip also tastes great with potato chips. Or, it's thin enough that you could even use it as a thick salad dressing. This is way more than just a dip!
I want to know what you guys have been craving this summer too. Tell me all about it so I can help satisfy those cravings!
'Til then, enjoy! And, let's eat!
Roasted Garlic Ranch Dip
Serves: about 2 cups Print
Ingredients:
1 cup sour cream
½ cup mayonnaise
¼ cup buttermilk
½ tsp dried chives
½ tsp dried parsley
½ tsp salt, plus more to taste
¼ tsp dill weed
¼ tsp onion powder
¼ tsp pepper, plus more to taste
1 head of garlic
olive oil, for drizzling
Directions:
Roast the Garlic: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut the head of garlic horizontally, about halfway from the top, to expose the cloves of garlic. Place cut garlic on a sheet of aluminum foil. Drizzle olive oil slowly over the garlic covering the entire top surface (less than 1 tbsp). Season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Wrap foil around the garlic to create a closed pouch, and place on a baking sheet. Roast for 45 mins. When finished, let cool for a few minutes before carefully opening the foil. When cool enough to touch, squeeze out the roasted garlic cloves, and mash with a fork.
In a mixing bowl add roasted garlic, sour cream, mayo, buttermilk, and remaining spices including ½ tsp salt and ¼ tsp pepper. Use a hand mixer to blend ingredients until fully combined and smooth. Chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours before serving. Enjoy!
Recipe notes:
*A hand mixer might seem like an old school appliance, but it's perfect for small jobs like this that aren't worth the effort of breaking out the stand mixer.
*I almost always prefer fresh herbs, but we want to stick with dried in this dip. We don't want moisture from fresh herbs watering down our dip. Using dried herbs also extends the shelf life of the dip.
*Go for one of the bigger heads up garlic to make your roasted garlic. We don't want a little whimpy garlic head for this. We want as much garlic flavor as we can get!
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