Ranch dressing is everywhere, not just in your fridge. It’s all over social media, in the snack aisle, and in restaurants, too. You might think a dressing is for salad, and usually that’s the case—but not with ranch. While it may have started as a dressing, it is now so ubiquitous we don’t even bother to say “dressing”—when anyone says ranch, we know what they mean. To learn more about ranch and what’s behind its surge in popularity, we spoke to food experts who share their insights on this American phenomenon.
Always popular, ranch dressing is having even more of a moment lately. One out of five restaurants in the U.S. offer ranch on their menus, according to Miriam Aniel, head of marketing communications and food insight lead at Tastewise. And it’s a “breakout” search term on Google Trends. Why are we so obsessed with it? Aniel says the top consumer motivations—the “why” …