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This poblano ranch dressing is creamy, a little spicy, and packed with classic ranch flavor. It’s made lighter with Greek yogurt and perfect for using as a salad dressing or topping your favorite tacos, nachos or using as a veggie dip.
You’ll love my Cottage Cheese Ranch Dressing too!
Level Up Your Salads with Poblano Ranch
This lightened up and smoky, spicy twist on classic ranch is so good and the perfect way to change up your salads. Here’s why I love it (and you will too!):
- Lightened up: Ranch salad dressing recipes can be heavy on the mayo and sour cream. This one is made with a Greek yogurt base for a healthier version.
- Protein: One serving has 5 grams of protein (thanks Greek yogurt!) which is pretty impressive for a salad dressing to bump up the protein of your meal or snack.
- Easy: The hardest part is roasting your pepper- after that you just have to throw everything in a blender and it’s ready to go.
- Homemade: Homemade dressings are surprisingly easy to make and they are just so much better than the store version. It’s worth the extra few minutes!
- Versatile: You can use this from everything from salad dressing to a veggie dip to drizzling over grilled chicken.
Ingredients
- Poblano pepper: Roasted poblano peppers give this ranch a smoky flavor and spice. The spice level varies from pepper to pepper so start with ½ a pepper!
- Greek yogurt: Plain Greek yogurt is a great sour cream swap and helps balance out the poblano. It also adds a boost of protein!
- Mayonnaise: Just a tablespoon of mayo adds that classic creamy dressing flavor but keeps things a little lighter.
- Lime juice: A little citric acid from fresh limes helps cool the spicy peppers and add bright flavor. Lemon juice or apple cider vinegar work well here too.
- Milk: A few splashes of milk help to thin out this delicious dressing to make it pourable for salad.
- Garlic: Fresh garlic adds tons of flavor that really stands up to the other bold flavors.
- Fresh Herbs: Dill and chives add those classic creamy ranch flavors and using fresh herbs really elevates this simple dressing.
- Spices: Onion powder, salt and black pepper is a simple combination of spices that add just the right amount of natural flavors.
How to make poblano ranch
1. Roast your pepper: Preheat oven broiler. Place poblano peppers on a lined baking sheet and broil for 5-8 minutes on the top rack until skin blackens and begins to crack. Turn peppers over and broil an additional 5 minutes.
2. Loosen the pepper skin: Next, place roasted peppers into an airtight container for 5 minutes to loosen the skin (it needs to be peeled before blending).
3. Peel the pepper: Remove charred skin from pepper and discard seeds, skin and stems. Slice the poblano pepper in half.
4. Add ingredients to blender: Add half of the poblano pepper and all other ingredients to a high speed blender or food processor. *Note: I recommend starting with half so that you can add more depending on the spice level.
5. Blend: Blend dressing until completely smooth. Taste test and add remaining 1/2 pepper if you want it spicier. Add additional salt, pepper and milk to thin as desired.
6. Enjoy! Serve as a salad dressing, as a dip for veggies, drizzled on tacos or nachos, or even as a poblano ranch sauce for grilled chicken.
How to store
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Jamie’s Tip
Recipe Tip
Start with 1/2 of the poblano pepper and then do a taste test to make sure it’s not too spicy. Friendly reminder: hot peppers can vary in spice level, so sometimes you get a really spicy one (or a really mild one!).
Variations
- Make it a dip: Skip the milk and use this dressing as a thicker dipping sauce.
- Change up the peppers: Try different peppers like serrano chili peppers, green jalapeno or anaheim peppers.
- Add healthy fats: Add a drizzle of olive oil for an even silkier dressing and a boost of healthy fats.
- Extra spicy: If you get a mild pepper or you like it extra hot add ¼-⅛ tsp cayenne pepper for an extra kick.
- More ranch flavor: Add 1-2 tsp ranch seasoning for extra ranch flavor. You can also swap the herbs and spices for 3 tbsp of ranch dip mix.
More dressing and dip recipes you’ll love
Poblano Ranch Dressing
Ingredients
- 1 poblano pepper
- 1 cup Greek yogurt, full-fat
- 1 tbsp mayonnaise
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- 2 tbsp milk, more to desired consistency
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/4 cup fresh dill
- 2 tbsp fresh chives
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp salt, more to taste
- black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven broiler. Place poblano peppers on a lined baking sheet and broil for 5-8 minutes on the top rack until skin blackens and begins to crack. Turn peppers over and broil an additional 5 minutes.
- Next, place roasted peppers into an airtight container for 5 minutes to loosen the skin (it needs to be peeled before blending).
- Remove charred skin from pepper and discard seeds, skin and stems. Slice the poblano pepper in half.
- Add half of the poblano pepper and all other ingredients to a high speed blender. *Note: I recommend starting with half so that you can add more depending on the spice level.
- Blend dressing until completely smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides as needed. Taste test the dressing to determine spice level since spiciness greatly varies in peppers. If you’d like it spicier, add the remaining ½ of pepper and blend until smooth.
- Add additional salt and pepper to taste, as well as any additional milk (I recommend 1 tbsp at a time) to thin the dressing as desired.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated and should only be used as an estimate.
