The Popular Condiment Brand With One Of The Unhealthiest Ranch Dressings
When it comes to ranch dressing, the nutrition facts and ingredients can vary greatly between brands. Some are packed with saturated fat, calories and sugar, while some have more wholesome ingredients. One of the unhealthiest options? Ken's Steakhouse Ranch.
Looking at the nutrition facts for Ken's ranch, the total fat is 15 grams for a single 2-tablespoon serving. That includes 2.5 grams of saturated fat — which makes up for about 15% of the recommended daily limit. 2 tablespoons isn't a whole lot, so the amount of fat increases if you end up having more than the serving size. Comparing this to a healthier ranch option, Marzetti Simply Ranch Dressing, helps put it into perspective — this option contains just 4 grams of fat, which accounts for about 5% of the recommended daily limit, in the same sized serving.
Unfortunately, many of Ken's dressings are some of the unhealthiest store-bought dressings that you can buy. However, if Ken's is your favorite ranch out there, there's no need to stop buying it altogether — as long as you keep its nutrition facts in mind and enjoy it in moderation.
What's in Ken's Steakhouse Ranch that makes it so unhealthy?
Additionally, the calorie count is strikingly different between these two ranch dressings. Ken's Steakhouse Ranch contains 140 calories per serving, while Marzetti Simply Ranch contains just 50. Looking at the ingredient list also gives us some insight. Buttermilk, which is easily the key ingredient in ranch, is listed first in Marzetti, which is where you would expect it. However, with Ken's, there are five ingredients listed before buttermilk solids — two of them being oil and sugar — then over ten more ingredients listed until actual buttermilk appears.
While it's great to know about some delicious yet healthy store-bought dressings to buy – such as Marzetti Simply Ranch or, for another option, Drew's Organics Vegan Ranch — it also may be a good idea to consider making a batch of ranch at home. If you make your own ranch, you can control exactly what goes into it and you don't have to worry about scrutinizing over the label to figure out how unhealthy or healthy it is.
You can use Daily Meal's recipe for homemade ranch dressing, which uses reduced-fat mayo for less saturated fat content. Or, for any even healthier option, you can make our Greek yogurt ranch dressing, which uses the yogurt in place of buttermilk to make for a much lighter option.