Savory, tangy homemade ranch popcorn seasoning has only 5 simple ingredients and takes just 5 minutes to make. Movie night just leveled UP!
Table of Contents
Y'all, I love ranch, and ranch popcorn has become one of my favorite quick snacks! It's a great way to get that ranch fix without a lot of work.
You can use ranch popcorn seasoning on other foods, too! Try it sprinkled onto a baked potato, crispy potato slices, mashed potatoes, roasted veggies, or rice. It's also great for seasoning roasted nuts or even potato chips.
If you are a fellow ranch lover, also try my recipes for cashew ranch dressing and nut-free tahini ranch! They are delicious on salads or for dipping tater tots, fries, etc.
This ranch popcorn seasoning doesn't have any added salt, because I wanted it to be as versatile as possible. If your vegan butter is salty, you may not need to add any salt, for example. Salt your popcorn or whatever else you put the seasoning on to taste.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- dried dill/parsley brings the herbal flavor that you love about ranch. You can do all dill, all parsley, or half and half.
- onion powder and garlic powder bring umami flavors to the table.
- lemon pepper brightens up the flavor and adds the mildest of kick.
- nutritional yeast adds that creaminess you'd want in a cool ranch.
- popcorn kernels are, of course, essential.
- melted vegan butter adds creaminess and helps the ranch seasoning stick to the popcorn. You can drizzle on olive oil to help the seasoning stick instead, if you prefer. You'll just need more salt in that case.
🍿 How to Make Ranch Popcorn
In a small bowl, combine the dill, parsley, onion powder, garlic powder, lemon pepper, and nutritional yeast.
Mix well.
Pop the popcorn using your preferred method. I used my air popper. Meanwhile, melt your vegan butter in the microwave or over low heat on the stovetop.
Transfer the popcorn to a large bowl. Drizzle half of the melted butter onto the popcorn, then shake on half of the ranch popcorn seasoning. Shake the bowl to toss the popcorn in the butter/ranch mix.
Repeat the drizzle, shake, and mix with the rest of the butter and seasoning.
Season to taste with salt, and serve immediately.
💡 Serving Suggestions
This homemade ranch seasoning is great on popcorn, but it also has tons of other applications!
- Rub it onto tofu before baking.
- Mix it into your hummus
- Stir it into your next batch of cauliflower mashed potatoes.
- Whisk it into vegan mayo for instant ranch dressing.
- Sprinkle it onto baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, or rice.
This ranch seasoning is versatile stuff, is what I'm saying here!
Ranch popcorn is the bomb. Seriously, I never thought I'd find anything to rival good, ol' nutritional yeast popcorn, but this gives it a run for its money.
Mix up the homemade ranch on its own, or use the full recipe below to make the ranch seasoned popcorn of your dreams!
🫙 Storage Directions
Feel free to multiply this recipe and keep it around to add ranch to whatever you happen to be cooking! Store it in a glass container. It will stay fresh for up to six months.
Like any spices, ranch seasoning loses flavor the longer it stays on the shelf.
You can keep the ranch popcorn for up to a day in an airtight container, but know that it is best served immediately after you pop and season it. Popcorn naturally goes stale pretty quickly, so eat it ASAP.
Frequently asked questions
For popcorn, this will definitely not work. Ranch dressing will instantly turn the popcorn soggy.
To get the ranch seasoning to stick to your popcorn, you want to add it slowly and use a little bit of melted vegan butter to help it stick.
I like to add half of the butter and seasoning to the popcorn in a large bowl with high sides. Toss and shake to distribute the seasoning, then repeat with the remaining butter and seasoning.
Adding in two parts gets you more even coverage and leaves less seasoning at the bottom of the bowl.
Oh goodness, no! Ranch dressing can use mayo as its base, but the taste of ranch seasoning is all about three key flavors: dill and/or parsley, garlic, and onion.
You can add other seasonings, like paprika and black pepper, but if you're looking for ranch's true essence, it's about those three to four simple spices. This recipe adds lemon pepper to bring in that bright flavor and a mild kick.
Yes! It's naturally gluten-free. It's also soy-free and nut-free, as long as you choose a vegan butter that is soy-free and/or nut-free.
🍿 More Popcorn!
📖 Recipe
🍿 Ranch Popcorn Seasoning
Ingredients
For the homemade ranch seasoning
- 4 teaspoons dried dill and/or dried parsley Use all dill, all parsley, or 2 teaspoons of each, depending on how dilly you like your ranch.
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon lemon pepper
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
For the popcorn
- ⅓ cup popcorn kernels
- ¼ cup vegan butter melted (Measure then melt.)
Instructions
Make the ranch seasoning
- In a small bowl, combine the dill, parsley, onion powder, garlic powder, lemon pepper, and nutritional yeast.
Make the popcorn
- Pop the popcorn using your preferred method. I used my air popper. Meanwhile, melt your vegan butter in the microwave or over low heat on the stovetop.
- Transfer the popcorn to a large bowl. Drizzle half of the melted butter onto the popcorn, then shake on half of the ranch popcorn seasoning. Shake the bowl to toss the popcorn in the butter/ranch mix.
- Repeat the drizzle, shake, and mix with the rest of the butter and seasoning. Season to taste with salt, and serve immediately.
MICK
Thank you for this excellent recipe! The blend is perfect with that addition of nutritional yeast! I learned from another site that using a mortar and pestle to grind the ingredients prior to use helps to keep them uniformed. And yes it does! I put this in a shaker bottle and Ranch Blend looks just like the commercial blend, but smells and tastes way better!
I also use Flavacol popcorn salt
and popcorn butter first, then begin layering on the Ranch seasoning. Wonderful flavor. I received numerous compliments, many thought I bought the popcorn already flavored!
Becky Striepe
Oh that is so great to hear! I bet grinding them down with the mortar and pestle helps the spices stick, too. Thank you, Mick!
M07LOVE
Added 1/2 tsp salt. It was awesome!!
acookinthemaking
Yum--this looks like it would make an awesome snack! I love anything that takes less than 5 minutes to put together :)
Becky Striepe
Haha I am with you on that! Quick is key for me these days.