SANTA Fe Ranch Dip
SANTA Fe Ranch Dip- Homemade ranch dressing made with a taco twist decorated to look like jolly ol’ St. Nick.
December 1, 2023 by Nicole Collins
Today, we’re making SANTA Fe Ranch Dip!
WELCOME to 12 Days of Dips!!!
If you’re new here, every year in December we do a holiday themed 12 Days of… series. We’ve done appetizers. We’ve done drinks. We’ve done hot chocolates. We’ve done cookies. We’ve had some amazing recipes come from this series.
I had a thousand different ideas of what direction to go this year, so I did what I always do when I can’t make a decision on my own…I turned to the people of Instagram and put up a poll. I did two rounds of voting. The first round was a pretty clear winner. The second round what not so clear…we were pretty evenly split between small bites and dips. And since we’ve already done appetizers in previous years, I made the final decision that dips were the way to go. And if I do say so myself, there are some EPIC recipes coming atcha over the next 2 weeks. I. AM. PUMPED.
For Day 1, we’re honoring the big guy and making an adorable dip that serves as both décor and a delicious delight.
Let’s start with the base dip. We’re making my go to ranch dip/dressing recipe. Why mess with perfection, right? So we’ll start with some sour cream, some mayo, and a little splash of milk. I’ve recently been subbing nonfat plain Greek yogurt for the sour cream, and that works absolutely perfectly too.
Then, we’ll add our spices. I like to go for dried spices for this mix, because it extends the shelf life of the dip by a little bit. That’s assuming everyone can keep themselves from drinking this ranch straight from the jar though. Trust me, it’s harder than it sounds not to. Regardless, we’ll use some dried chives, parsley, dill, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, and a little sprinkle of paprika. Then to make this a SANTA fe inspired dip, we’ll also add in a dabble of store bought taco seasoning. Mix everything together, and that’s our dip.
The magic of this dip is in the presentation. Serving this in a round bowl is a must. But, I also like to serve this in a soup crock with a handle so we can kind of extend Santa’s hat a little bit. You can do whatever you prefer.
For Santa’s hat, we’ll use some diced red bell pepper. Form the pepper bits around the top of the bowl to resemble the top of the hat. For Santa’s beard and eyebrows, we’re going to use some very small cauliflower florets. Arrang them along the bottom half of the bowl and partially up the side for his sideburns. For Santa’s nose, we’ll take half a grape tomato and nestle in in the center of the bowl right above his beard. And for Santa’s eyes, we’ll make little black circles under the hat. If you like black olives, those would work perfectly for this. I don’t like olives, so I went a different route…black sesame seeds. You can pile the sesame seeds into a little circle, and it works just as well.
And that’s all there is to it! I know it almost feels illegal to eat any part of Santa’s face, but honestly this dip is so good. The ranch base is pure heaven already. But add that extra little kick from the taco seasoning and it somehow manages to even get more delicious.
Ok, everyone. Day 1 is in the books! Stay tuned tomorrow for a new spin on a classic holiday dip.
I hope you guys enjoy, and let’s eat!
Santa Fe Ranch Dip
Serves: 8 Print
Ingredients:
1 cup sour cream or nonfat plain Greek yogurt
½ cup mayonnaise
¼ cup milk (I used 1%)
½ tsp dried chives
½ tsp dried parsley
½ tsp salt
½ tsp garlic powder
¼ tsp dill weed
¼ tsp onion powder
¼ tsp pepper
¼ tsp paprika
1 tsp taco seasoning
2 mini bell peppers, diced
¼ cup cauliflower, chopped into small florets
½ grape tomato
Black sesame seeds or black olives, for the eyes
Directions:
Make the Ranch Dressing: To a mixing bowl, add sour cream, mayo, milk, dried chives, parsley, garlic powder, salt, dill, onion powder, pepper, paprika, and taco seasoning. Stir to combine. Set aside in the fridge to chill at least 1 hour.
To assemble, transfer dip to a small round bowl (I like using a soup crock). Arrange diced red bell pepper around the top of the bowl for Santa’s hat. Arrange cauliflower around the bottom and sides of the bowl for Santa’s beard. Arrange the tomato cut side down in the center for Santa’s nose. And, arrange sesame seeds into small circles for Santa’s eyes. Top eyes with more small pieces of cauliflower for eyebrows. Serve, and enjoy!
Recipe notes:
*You can check my social media (@theyummymuffin02 on IG and Tiktok) for a video on how to assemble this Santa Fe dip if you prefer a visual tutorial!
