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This Old-School Salad Dressing Walked So Our Beloved Ranch Could Run By Bobby Lewis Sept. 21, 2025 3:39 pm EST

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Ranch has been a favorite American salad dressing for decades. As of 2025, its rampant popularity finally made ranch dressing America's favorite condiment as well, knocking ketchup out of the top spot (via HOT 96.9 Boston ). But ranch dressing as we know it is actually a direct descendant of a lesser-known dressing, named after the key ingredient it shares with ranch.

It's unknown who first created buttermilk dressing (or where, or when), but it started emerging among Texas cowboys in the late 1930s. Buttermilk was a common ingredient for cowboys given their profession, and after a few generations, there were plenty

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