The One Salad Dressing Texas Roadhouse Does Not Make From Scratch

One of the many interesting things to know about Texas Roadhouse is that it makes most of its food from scratch. Everything from the fan-favorite seasoning it uses on its USDA Choice cuts of beef to our highest-ranked Texas Roadhouse menu item (dinner rolls with whipped honey cinnamon butter) is made in-house. Texas Roadhouse salad dressings are especially beloved by customers, as evidenced by the countless copycat recipes and Reddit threads asking if the restaurant sells it bottled. The one salad dressing Texas Roadhouse does not make from scratch, however, is its low-fat ranch.

While Texas Roadhouse ranch, blue cheese, and Italian dressing have been lauded and imitated, a few Texas Roadhouse employees took to social media with the disclaimer that the restaurant outsources its low-fat ranch. Various Reddit threads about other scratch-made salad dressings and about the ingredients in Texas Roadhouse mashed potatoes contain statements from self-proclaimed employees and ex-employees. Why Texas Roadhouse doesn't make low fat Ranch from scratch is anyone's guess. Perhaps the demand isn't high enough to warrant the extra expense of buying low fat ingredients in addition to full fat ingredients in bulk. So, if the low fat Ranch dressing isn't on par with the other scratch-made dressings, Texas Roadhouse chefs aren't entirely to blame.

A standard ranch dressing recipe is mayonnaise-based and usually supplemented with buttermilk. A high fat content in both of these ingredients contributes to the dressing's richness, using the herby and aromatic seasoning packet and acidity of the buttermilk to cut through the fat to balance the flavor profile. Fat is a key flavor agent, but both mayo and buttermilk come with low-fat options. Some low fat ranch dressings also use other low fat dairy products like sour cream or Greek yogurt in addition to low fat buttermilk and low fat mayonnaise. While the herbs and aromatics in ranch seasoning blends like this classic Hidden Valley packet is the defining flavor in both low fat and regular ranch dressings, the low fat ingredients make for a considerably thinner and lighter consistency.

In another Reddit post, a former employee divulges the Texas Roadhouse Ranch recipe as a blend of a certain brand of ranch seasoning packet, mayonnaise, and buttermilk, with exact ratios to boot. So, if you wanted to recreate the Texas Roadhouse ranch recipe in low-fat form, you could simply swap in low-fat mayo and nonfat buttermilk. If you're dining at Texas Roadhouse and opt for the low-fat ranch, you can still count on a high quality salad elaborated with other unexpectedly scratch made ingredients like bacon bits and croutons.