We Can't Believe Texas Roadhouse Doesn't Make This Salad Dressing From Scratch

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

Among steakhouse chain Texas Roadhouse's most beloved items is its ranch dressing, so it's surprising that the restaurant doesn't make this item fully from scratch. This incongruence is compounded by the number-one fast casual chain claiming on its website that "... we make our food from scratch, even the bacon bits, croutons[,] and dressings."

So, what is in this creamy sauce? On a Reddit thread posted in 2021 wherein a diner was hunting for an at-home replica, a Texas Roadhouse employee shared the recipe that their location used: "4 packets ranch salad dressing mix serial # 52500-09269 from [Sauer] brands ... 6 quarts of buttermilk[,] 4 gallons of mayonnaise."

Other commenters cited that this simple blend (presumably reduced to a more feasible quantity for a single household) met the mark. Some mentioned using a similar ratio of ingredients with a different brand of seasoning packet, and this seemed to work, too — the ingredients found in the Sauer packet and the popular Hidden Valley ranch packets, for instance, are almost identical.

Depending on who you ask, using a seasoning packet wouldn't necessarily disqualify something from being a from-scratch dish. Texas Roadhouse's ranch dressing isn't delivered to the restaurants in pre-mixed bottles, so it's a bit fresher than that.

Pre-bottled ranch dressing often has a host of preservatives and additives. Hidden Valley's bottled ranch has has 260 milligrams of sodium and 1 gram of added sugar per serving, while one serving of their unmixed seasoning only has 60 milligrams of sodium and no added sugar. Mayonnaise would add a little more sodium, but not enough to meet the levels found in the bottle. The bottle also includes preservative chemicals (sorbic acid and calcium disodium) that don't show up in the packet.

Still, there are a few ingredients that you'll find in completely homemade ranch dressing recipes that are delivered in dried form or are absent in the seasoning packet — namely, lemon juice, vinegar, and fresh herbs. Some copycat recipes for the Texas Roadhouse ranch dressing opt for whole ingredients over a packet, and the reviews suggest that they've succeeded from this angle as well. Regardless of what's in the restaurant's dressing, fans across the internet proclaim that it's some of the best ranch they've ever had; clearly, something's working.