As Americans eat $1 billion worth of ranch every year, restaurants have had to respond, but unlike ketchup, they can't just plop a bottle of Hidden Valley Ranch onto diner's tables. Restaurants like to have an air of mystery about how they make such excellent food, but when it comes to ranch dressing, they might be serving Hidden Valley, just not in the form you'd expect.

Bottles of ranch are full of vegetable oil, which is fine, but ranch made from a packet with buttermilk, mayonnaise, and sour cream hits differently. Using Hidden Valley Ranch packets gives restaurants plenty of freedom to use their favorite buttermilk or dairy to enhance their take on the ranch, or they can fiddle with the ratios to make a liquid drizzle or a stiff dip.

You can recreate this tasty dressing at home by purchasing Hidden Valley Restaurant-Style Dressing packets at the supermarket or on Amazon. The list of Hidden Valley seasoning mix packets is plentiful, so be sure to look for the one proclaiming to be the buttermilk receipt, and then try adding some heat with cayenne, fresh herbs, or lavender to take your ranch up a notch.