Vegan Sriracha Ranch Dressing

When you add hot peppers and loads of fresh herbs to a vegan ranch dressing you get a spicy creamy sauce that is both fresh and healthy.  This will be a big hit for parties – use it to dip your veggies, on chicken and shrimp, or even on your pizza crust for something especially different!

It’s National Ranch Dressing Day and I love to make my own dressings!   There is just so much more flavour in a homemade dressing plus you’re eliminating sweeteners, preservatives, artificial colours and high levels of sodium.

That’s why my sriracha dressing is green! ha!  You’d expect to see it red but I added loads of cilantro and parsley and this is the resulting colour.

You know I love my Vitamix and when they offered to send me a new one in the Ascent Series, I was beyond excited!  This is a tank!  When I opened it, I was so impressed with the look of it – so sleek and sexy but so powerful.  Sounds like I’m describing some Hollywood action film star, right?  Well, I’d pass one of those over any day for this awesome blender.

It’s so easy to sound like you’re going overboard when describing this machine but for any owner of a Vitamix, you know exactly what I mean.  For those of you who are new to this brand, this magical machine can crank out hot soups, baby food, flours and doughs, nut butters, frozen desserts, smoothies, and dressings and sauces just to name a few.

The truly great part about using a Vitamix is the speed in which you get your results.  Hot steamy soups in 10 minutes, a perfectly creamy smoothie in 1 minute, and this dressing only took 60 seconds even though there are cashews in it.  So easy – just toss it all in!

I forgot to include the dates in this photo but you’ll see them in the video.  They are such a nice addition of natural sweetness.  If you’re not a cilantro fan,  you can leave it out.  I know how militant you cilantro haters are, ha!

I love the touchscreen controls in this new model and the five different program settings lets you turn it on and walk away.  There is also a awesome self cleaning program that runs for 60 seconds and changes speeds all by itself.  Can you tell I’m still freaking out about this machine? ha!  I’ve had it for 3 months now and use it at least 5 times a week and I’m still thrilled every time I turn it on.

If you’re a regular reader here you know I’m a big fan of shrimp so naturally I had to try this spicy dip with my latest discovery of wild Argentinian shrimp.  Oh my!  Such a delicious combination.  I ended up making it again for a birthday party and it was a big hit with everyone.

Did I mention that this is a great salad dressing too?!   That’s the great thing about ranch dressing is that it can serve so many different purposes and adding some spice to it makes it even more versatile.

What’s your favorite thing to do with ranch dressing?  Share your photos with me on Instagram using the hashtag #simplyfreshdinners so I can see what you’re up to.   Cheers!

This post was sponsored by Vitamix but the enthusiasm for this product is all my own.