Oh-so creamy and tangy, you’ll want to put this Vegan Ranch Dressing on everything! Cashews are blended with zesty lemon juice and fresh dill to give you the perfect pizza dip, burger spread, salad dressing, and more.
If you’re looking for more creamy vegan sauces, you’ll also love my Vegan Sour Cream, Vegan Cheese Sauce, Vegan Caesar Dressing, and Vegan Tartar Sauce.
This Vegan Ranch Dressing is undoubtedly the best! It’s super creamy, totally ‘dill-icious’, and just as addictive as the real thing. You’ll want to use it on everything!
Can you believe that the secret behind this realistic vegan dressing is soaked and blended cashews? When you blend cashews with a little water, they transform into a thick and creamy cashew cream, which almost has the same richness as real dairy. Stir in a few flavor boosters, like garlic, fresh dill, and lemon, and you’re left with a delicious homemade vegan ranch dressing.
It’s the perfect dip for vegan pizza or cauliflower wings, can be spread on a veggie burger, drizzled over a salad, and so much more.
Why this is the best vegan cashew ranch dressing
- Rich, creamy, and silky smooth – It’s amazing how blended cashews easily transform into a thick and creamy base for this ranch dressing.
- Quick and easy – Making vegan ranch is as easy as blending the handful of ingredients in a blender until smooth.
- Endless ways to use it – You’ll want to drizzle this dressing on salads, spread it on sandwiches, use it as a dip, and so much more. It never lasts long in my house, so it couldn’t hurt to double the batch!
How to make vegan ranch dressing
Find the complete recipe with measurements in the recipe card below.
Place the cashews in a bowl or measuring cup and cover them with boiling water. Set aside to soak for 5 to 10 minutes.
Tip: You can also soak the cashews overnight in room temperature water.
Drain the water and add the cashews to a blender along with the remaining ingredients (except the dill). Blend until smooth.
Add the dill and pulse a few times to combine. Don’t overblend or else the vegan ranch will turn green!
For a stronger herby flavor: Add 2 to 3 teaspoons of fresh chives and fresh parsley along with the dill.
Serve the ranch dressing on everything and enjoy!
Serving suggestions
I highly recommend keeping a jar of this dressing in the fridge at all times because it goes well with pretty much everything! Here are just a few ways you can use it:
- As a dip: Pour the ranch into a bowl and surround it with cut veggies like carrots, celery, peppers, or cucumbers, or pair it with my Buffalo Cauliflower Wings, Vegan Pizza, or Air Fryer Fries.
- As a spread: Spread it onto your veggie burgers, vegetable wraps, vegan BLTs, or BBQ jackfruit sandwiches.
- As a dressing: Drizzle it over simple green salads, hearty lentil salads, or a loaded vegan cobb salad. It’s also great on grain bowls or tossed in your favorite pasta salad.
Frequently asked questions
While blended cashews do yield the creamiest and richest vegan ranch sauce, raw slivered almonds should work well as a substitute. Or make the version using vegan mayo.
Yes, you can substitute the nuts for an equal amount of sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, or hemp seeds. Tofu vegan mayo also works as a base (store bought or my homemade tofu mayo).
Sure, you can use 2 cloves of garlic as a substitute for the garlic powder. Or, for a deeper savory flavor, blend in a head of roasted garlic.
Pour the leftover ranch into an airtight container or glass jar and store it in the fridge for up to 1 week.
Technically yes, you can freeze it. However, the consistency tends to be watery after it thaws. I recommend blending the leftovers before serving to make them creamy and smooth again.
Vegan Ranch Dressing
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups raw cashew pieces
- 3/4 cup water
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- juice from 1 lemon (about 2 tablespoons)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons onion powder
- 1/4 cup fresh dill OR 2-3 teaspoons dried dill*
Instructions
- Soak the raw cashew pieces in hot water for 5-10 minutes. I heat up water in my electric kettle and pour it over the cashews to soak.
- Drain the cashews and add to your blender. Add the remaining ingredients except the dill, and blend until very smooth.
- Now add the dill, and pulse a few times to combine. You don’t want to blend the dill or it will end up very green.
- Serve on salad or with fresh vegetables for dipping. This will keep for up to a week in the fridge. It will thicken in the fridge, just thin out with water until it reaches the consistency you prefer.
Notes
- If you don’t care for dill, you may substitute with parsley (1/3 cup fresh chopped small, or 2-3 teaspoons dried).
- For Sriracha Ranch, add 2-3 teaspoons Sriracha, or to taste when blending.
- Without nuts – Substitute 1 cup of vegan mayo for the cashews and water. Simply whisk everything in a bowl and that’s it!
Nora Absolutely Perfect!
I think this is the closest to a real dairy ranch dressing there is out there.
You should bottle this.
You would knock out the competition!
I made this with 11 servings on the toggle bar.
2 cups of cashews I soaked overnight.
3 Tablespoons of fresh Dill Weed.
2 1/2 Tablespoons of Fresh Italian Parsley.
Tastes Delish!!!!
I can see it’s pretty thick now.
Perfect for Dip!
I’ll probably thin it out for dressing once it’s sat in the fridge for a while.
So Happy and Proud of making your Superb Dressing,.
Magic, Wala! Awesome Ranch!
Hi Lili. Thank you for your kind words and wonderful comments! I appreciate both so much! I’m glad you love the vegan ranch!
Delicious ❤️ My non vegan co workers loved it with my carrot sticks
I’m glad the dressing was a hit! Thanks for sharing your terrific review!
This is delicious!!! I subbed the lemon with ACV and added fresh garlic and some black pepper. This is like a blank canvas- I plan to trick this recipe up all KINDS of ways!!! Thanks!
Thanks for sharing your great review! I’m glad you love the ranch! Enjoy!
This ranch is amazing! My family loves it. I add a shallow teaspoon of Dijon mustard for some extra tang and it really cancels out any leftover sweetness from the cashews. I did have a question – what do you consider “1 serving” of this ranch? The health information just says 1 serving and I’m not sure how much to serve. Thank you!
Thanks, I’m glad you enjoy it! It’s 1 of 8 servings. I think that’s about 1/4 cup, but I just pour on as much as I like. 🙂
This is the best vegan ranch dressing I have tried. I have to leave out the garlic, because I am allergic, and it is still very flavorful. Sometimes, I add a little celery seed too. Thank you for another outstanding recipe!
I’m glad you’re loving the ranch, Colleen! Thank you for sharing your great review!
Looks delicious!
This is so delicious!! Great to mix with Buffalo sauce for a veggie dip!
Could I freeze this after I make it?
Hi Katie. I’m so happy you enjoyed this ranch, I absolutely love it! I think it would freeze well, but I haven’t tried it myself. Let me know how it goes if you freeze it!
The taste is perfect! Just like real ranch but healthier and fresher! It is a bit too thick to easily pour on a salad though. Could you recommend the best way to thin out the sauce please?
All you have to do is thin it out with water to your desired consistency. 🙂 I do this often because it does thicken in the fridge. Glad you enjoyed it!
This is the best damned ranch dressing ever! I just made this and it surpasses any vegan (or non-vegan for that matter) ranch I’ve ever made. Simple, easy to make!
I’m glad you love the ranch dressing, Jan-marie! Thank you!
Just made this and all I can say is, WOW!! This is amazing!! I didn’t have enough onion powder so I added a clove of garlic while blending. I made a tofu “egg” salad sandwich using this dressing (as the mayo base) added spicey mustard, onions, celery, and celery seed. Put it in a wrap with lettuce, tomato, and pickles perfect!! Thank you for the recipe definitely a keeper!!
I’m so glad you like it, Erin! Your meal sounds so delicious! Thank you so much for sharing!
Nora did it again y’all! Literally every recipe I have tried of hers has been killer! This is no exception. Perfect balance of creaminess and acidity. Thanks Nora!
Hi Michelle. I”m so glad you love the ranch! Thank you for using my recipes, and for taking your time to share your comments! I appreciate it so much.
Oh! Also wanted to add that I had no rice wine vinegar but white wine vinegar made an excellent substitute. And 2 tsp of dried dill was the perfect amount.
Thanks again!
Oh. Hella. Yeah!
This is amazing. Perfect blend of flavors and very, very easy.
I had to add about 1/4 c extra water as it was blending bc it was just way too thick to chop up the cashews at first. I’m thinking it’s more that I have a pretty weak blender, lol. I may not have measured quite accurately either but in any case I love that it’s fixable! Ty for a wonderful addition to our dairy-free pantry!
Hi Debra! I’m glad you love my ranch dressing! Thank you for your great enthusiasm, and for taking the time to share!
Any substitute for cashews in the vegan ranch recipe? We have a nut allergy in the family.
Hi Melanie, sorry I haven’t tried it with anything else so I’m not sure. Raw slivered almonds or sunflower seeds may work, possibly even hemp seeds, if those are not an allergy food for your family. But I haven’t tested it to know for sure.
I’ve had success replacing cashews with white beans. I almost always use cannellini beans.
This was so amazing and my first attempt at ranch dip with cashews! Could you please share how much a serving size is? Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe!
Omg best ranch dressing ever !!! Thanks Nora 🙂
Thank you! ?
I love this recipe for my salads & dipping veggies!!! I do have a question though, how long does it last in the fridge?
I’m so happy you are enjoying it! It will last about a week in the refrigerator.
Okay, so I’m giving this 5 stars because I know it has 5 star potential- the texture and consistency are perfect…however mine turned out way too lemony to truly taste like ranch. I’m sure that is my fault for picking too large of a lemon, but your recipe call for such. Could you, or others how have had success, possibly give me an idea of how many TBS of lemon juice you use so I can make the recipe a bit more precisely. Thanks!!
Thank you so much! I updated the recipe, because you are correct it can vary a lot! About 2 tablespoons is all you need (a little more if you want more tang). That should help!
Just want you to know this came out amazing!!! Thank you for this recipe! I added a lil but IOC mable syrup to balance out the bitterness oooh soo good!!
What can u sub for rice vinegar ?
More lemon juice or white vinegar works.
Hi Nora, can you use ACV instead of white vinegar?
Sure!
Tasty and very easy to make. It comes out rather thick.
We used this tonight for a creamy pasta salad! It was delicious! Thank you!
You’re welcome!
Im not really vegan but I love your ranch! It is so yummy I brought some to work along with cauliflower “hot wings”! Thank you
You’re welcome!
I may have an addiction to this! I use 5 fresh cloves of garlic, fresh dill and fresh italian parsley. First time I made it, I didn’t let it blend quite long enough. I have to add about 3 tbls extra of water to thin out in blender. This recipe is truly the best, I can’t say it enough! Thank you!
I’m so glad you are enjoying the dressing, thank you!
SO SO SO DELICIOUS – AND SUPER QUICK AND EASY TO MAKE!
Non vegan family members loved as well. Nora, you’re my new go-to vegan recipe source. Thank you!
You’re welcome! Thanks for the comment!