When it comes to eating our greens — salad, specifically — humans have long sought to brighten the experience by adding dressing, dating at least back to the ancient Babylonians. They relied on a simple mixture of oil and vinegar, which just goes to show that lettuce alone was considered a joyless meal even some 2,000 years ago. Dressing has evolved significantly since then, with entire grocery store aisles devoted to bottles containing everything from delicate vinaigrette to the thick and aggressive blue cheese studded with crumbles.
With so many options, you might think Americans would be very divided in their preferences. However, one condiment has emerged as a national favorite, and it’s actually not the long-popular Italian. That dressing won over American palates in the mid-20th century with the launch of Wish-Bone and Ken’s Steak House. Those brands of zesty dressings ironically originated in stateside restaurants rather than in Italy and are still around to this day.
But ranch now tends to be the dressing U.S. diners reach for, whether dousing leaves of iceberg or dunking slices of pizza. According to Statista, a market and consumer data aggregator, 143.21 million Americans named that variety as their go-to, making it the No. 1 selling dressing in the country. A Kraft sales report released exclusively to The Takeout in 2023 backed up those findings: Ranch controlled the market in 13 states (primarily those located in the Midwest and South), though it tied with Catalina, a dark-horse dressing race candidate if there ever was one.
Seemingly obsessed with ranch
Our obsession with ranch isn’t a new phenomenon. It officially bumped Italian out of the top sales spot in 1992. The original ranch blend of dried herbs, garlic, pepper and onion powder incorporated with buttermilk was developed in the mid-20th century by Steve Henson, a Nebraska-born cowboy who was working as a plumbing contractor in Alaska, occasionally doubling as the site cook. Henson’s mix found a wider audience in 1954 when he and his wife opened a dude ranch near Santa Barbara, California, called Hidden Valley, where guests couldn’t get enough of the stuff. Hidden Valley soon became a mail-order business that the Clorox Company purchased in 1972, growing the brand into a market behemoth.
Ranch frenzy wouldn’t officially kick off, though, until more than a decade later. In 1986, FritoLay launched a new flavor of Doritos: Cool Ranch — a tangy, refreshing version of the classic Nacho Cheese, opening the dressing flood gates to all manner of ranch combinations. It’s since been sprinkled on anything from popcorn to Bugles, folded into Hot Pockets, and infused in ice cream and lip balm. Real fanatics can even do ranch keg stands thanks to Hidden Valley’s 5-liter dressing cask. The country went ahead and doubled-down on its ranch craze in 2023 when Taylor Swift was captured eating “seemingly ranch” during a Kansas City Chiefs’ football game, prompting viral corporate campaigns. And if American pop royalty is into ranch, rest assured that the dressing won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.
Static Media owns and operates Tasting Table and The Takeout.
