My 2-Second Trick for Making Store-Bought Ranch Dressing Taste 1,000x Better
One of my New Year’s resolutions for 2024 was to eat more salads. Not because I’m trying to be super “healthy.” No, specifically, I want to make every single one of our Culinary Producer Rachel Perlmutter’s Salad Person salads.
Each month, Rachel drops a new and impossibly delicious salad — honestly, these are restaurant-worthy — and she’s constantly making me rethink the rules of making a salad. (Spoiler: There are none!) In January, she convinced me that the absolute best kinds of salads are made on a sheet pan. In April, her chicken shawarma salad taught me to never throw out pickled pepperoncini brine because it instantly makes salad dressing way more exciting. And it was shrimp taco salad in August that made me realize pickled jalapeño brine was the ingredient I never knew ranch dressing was missing.
To be totally transparent, I’m a very lazy home cook. If friends or family are coming over, I can’t help but want to impress and go the extra mile — even when no one will notice or care. (Hence my poor decision to stay up late baking 60ish cupcakes for a 5-year-old birthday bash.) But if it’s just me, my husband, and the kids? I’m taking all the shortcuts.
To make Rachel’s jalapeño ranch as she intends it, you’ll need to combine finely chopped pickled jalapenos, sour cream (or Greek yogurt), and a tablespoon of ranch seasoning powder. Admittedly, that’s pretty easy and undoubtedly excellent. But I’m here to tell you that using your favorite store-bought ranch, and skipping the chopping by using the brine, will also yield pretty great results.
Pickled jalapeno brine stirred into ranch dressing has become our new two-ingredient house dressing. Most often, I use it to dress lettuce. But I also use it as a dip and, most importantly, to drizzle over pizza. It’s a little two-second step that makes a world of difference and gets me excited every time. Lazy? Yes. But also so absurdly good that I guarantee friends would notice, care, and praise you endlessly if you served it to them for dinner.
Do you have any brilliant salad upgrades? Tell me about them in the comments below!
Further Reading
Why People Are Ditching Their Seltzer After a Disturbing Study
We Asked 3 Chefs to Name the Best Ice Cream, and They All Said the Same Thing
Tuscan Chicken Is the "Most Delicious" Dinner of All Time, Says Everyone Who's Tried It
