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!
I’ve made this at least 6 times and have tried tweaking it a bit by adding more water but I always regret it.
I’m 95% wfpb and I’m always looking for delicous ways to make veggies taste better and this is definitely one of the best sauce recipes I have come across! My vegetarian boyfriend (who swears he HATES ranch) likes this a lot as well.
Another great recipe 🙂
Hi Jess. This is so good on so many things! I’m so glad you and your boyfriend are loving it! Thanks for your awesome review and feedback!
Nora, as is with everything I’ve made of yours this ranch dressing is so delicious! It’s been about two months since I discovered it and we’ve had it on hand ever since — a new staple in our house for sure.
My girls (aged 14 and 9) use it to dip veggies into and when we toss it with some massaged kale and a few nuts they eat every last piece on their plates. Thank you for helping me get them to eat more greens and veggies, a constant mission of mine!
Very tasty for a ranch dipping sauce. Ours turned out thicker so I wonder if adding some non dairy yogurt might thin it out, without diluting the incredible flavor! Still delicious and my son said he wouldn’t change it. 🙂
We dipped battered zucchini fries in it and they were awesome.
I only have roasted cashews. Will it work? The recipe calls for raw cashews.
Roasted might work okay but you will probably taste them. Raw cashews are very neutral.
Delicious! I make this at least twice a month. Thank you!
You are welcome Connie! I’m thrilled you are loving the dressing! I appreciate your stellar 5 star review!
Very good! I love your site and I wish I had time to leave a review of all my favorite recipes–there are so many! Like several posters, I have made many vegan ranch recipes, but this one hits the spot. I sub oat milk for the water and distilled white vinegar for the rice vinegar. Thank you for your creativity, thoughtfulness, and skills!!!
Thank you again, Brooke, for your encouraging and thoughtful feedback! I do love creating recipes, and your gratitude for them is inspiring! I appreciate you! I’m thrilled you are loving the ranch dressing! Love your sub ideas! Happy cooking!
Made this and love it. I used 50/50 cashews and sunflower seeds (and I think you could use all sunflower seeds if nuts are a problem) and a teaspoon of dill AND a teaspoon of parsley. I did add a bit more water.
This turned out deliciously. Thank you! Love the dill touch.
OMG! Another winner by Nora. I had a lot of kale and greens from CSA and stuck last night with no inspiration and a bowl full of something lol – Made this dressing and Voila! Magical transformation from Dull to Wow!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!you make creative, tasty recipes accessible to normal folks like me💕🙏
Hi Jayasree. What fabulous and inspiring feedback! Thank you! I appreciate your wonderful review and feedback! I’m glad my recipes are so helpful! Wishing you happy cooking!
Nora this was fantastic! I have tried making vegan ranch before from other sites and they have not turned out very good. Your recipe was awesome! Perfect consistency! Delicious! Love it! Made it exactly how you had it posted! Thank you for another awesome recipe!
You are welcome, David! Your stellar review and comments are so encouraging! Thank you for taking time to share! I’m thrilled you loved the dressing!
This ranch dressing is BOMB!!! I’ve been missing ranch so much since going vegan. The flavors of this are spot on. I rarely make a recipe where I don’t have to make tweaks to fit my tastes/preferences. This was 100% perfect. Definitely measure your lemon juice though. I got 2 tablespoons out of half a lemon.
Thank you so much, Lou! I’m thrilled you loved the ranch dressing 🙂
I enjoyed this dressing. I have a great blender, but not a Vitamix, so I poured boiling water over the cashews and soaked them in the fridge overnight before draining them and blending them into a beautiful creamy white dressing. It still has the tiniest bit of texture but it isn’t anything that impacted the mouth feel. The onion flavor is strong, so I’m going to serve it as an onion dip with chips for today’s game! Thanks for the recipe!
I’ve been looking for an alternative ranch recipe cause I live in a small town and there aren’t a lot of options for vegan alternatives. My local place just brought in vegan sour cream, and alone it’s kind of gross but it worked well for this recipe. I also did not have access to cream so I just used coconut cream. (I have also tried with a dairy alternative, the sauce is still good just more liquid) Was wonderful thank you!
Hi Emily. How wonderful that this recipe was wonderful for you! Thanks for sharing your wonderful review and feedback!
Thank you for this fabulous recipe, Nora ! I always look for the “best” recipe and if yours doesn’t show up in the search , I keep scrolling or go straight to your site- I think every recipe you create is elite ! The rice wine vinegar is just perfect for vegan ranch !! Genius ! Everyone who sees this review please rate it and let’s make it the *best vegan ranch* recipe !
Hi Rani! Your comments are very inspiring to me! Thank you for sharing the fabulous review and your feedback! I am thrilled you loved the dressing!
This is the best vegan ranch recipe I have tried, and I’ve tried many! I made it as is, using the fresh dill. Thank you Nora for providing my family with so many delicious options!
Hi Nora, big fan of your recipes. This one wasn’t a hit however.
2 tbsp of vinegar was way too much, it’s literally all I could taste. I had to balance it out with maple syrup.
Also it would not blend with the amount of water, I had to nearly double the water.
The flavour is better after sitting overnight in the fridge, but not the best.
Thank you
Thanks for sharing your feedback, RJ.
This recipe is insanely good. Thank you!!
Hi Nora!
If I am short on time and need to make something quick, I know I can count on you. Today I made a vegan salad and wanted vegan ranch. It didn’t disappoint. I subbed parsley for dill, but still want to try it with dill too.
I have also done Vegan pancakes and waffles several times too!
THANK YOU!!!
You are welcome, Jennifer! Thank YOU for your wonderful review and feedback! Happy cooking!
I didn’t soak the cashews. The dressing was extremely thick so I increased the water to 1 1/1 cup. From a flavor perspective I added a teaspoon of Bragg’s Liquid Aminos and 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar which kept the flavor of the cashews from being too strong.
Overall a great recipe.
Simple and delicious!
Cashews are actually of the poison ivy family and I am highly allergic, can I use pistachios instead?
Hi Nicolas. I have not tried this with anything other than cashews, however, I think slivered almonds, sunflower seeds, or even hemp may work. If you can have sunflower seeds, they will work quite well if you soak them first and have a high powered blender. You could also sub silken tofu for the cashews and water. It works pretty well. Hope that helps!
This is a game changer for me. It’s my second day doing WFPB-NO. The thought of salads without ranch…no way. As soon as I tasted it I grab some celery. So easy to make and so delicious. Thank you!!!
Thank you for your wonderful feedback and review!
Can you substitute almonds for cashews. Thank you.
I haven’t tried it, but raw slivered almonds might work as a substitute.