Holiday Calendar

National Ranch Day

Next celebratedWednesday, March 10, 2027

An annual observance on March 10 celebrating ranch dressing, the buttermilk-based salad dressing and all-purpose dip popular across the United States.

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Last updated March 18, 2026 · by the Holiday Calendar TeamHave an update or spot an error?
YEARLY DATEMarch 10
OBSERVED INUnited States
CATEGORYFood
SUBCATEGORYSide Dishes
ORIGIN

Community Origin

FOUNDING ENTITY
Not documented
FIRST OBSERVED
Not documented
HOW THE HOLIDAY CAME TO BE

A food holiday with no traceable author.

No documented founder or establishment record has been identified for National Ranch Day, also called National Ranch Dressing Day. The observance circulates on holiday calendars with a March 10 date, and ranch maker Hidden Valley has become its most visible promoter.

+ Know the story? Submit a founder Help us complete this holiday
INTRO

How a plumber's mix became America's favorite dressing

The name conjures cattle, boots, and open country. National Ranch Day celebrates none of that. It marks ranch dressing, the cool buttermilk-and-herb condiment that outsells every other salad dressing in America.

The origin is stranger than the name. Ranch was not born on a ranch at all. A plumbing contractor named Steve Henson worked it out to feed his hungry crews in the Alaskan bush, years before it ever reached a salad bar.

The day even travels under two names, National Ranch Day and National Ranch Dressing Day, both landing on March 10. What follows is how a camp cook's buttermilk fix became a national staple, and why no one can say who gave it a holiday.

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ORIGINS

Ranch Day history

CHAPTER 01

An accident in the Alaskan bush

Ranch dressing did not come from a ranch. It came from a plumbing job. In the early 1950s a contractor named Steve Henson was working camps near Anchorage, Alaska, and mixing buttermilk with herbs and spices to feed his hungry work crews. The recipe traveled home with him when the northern work dried up.

CHAPTER 02

The ranch that gave it a name

Henson did well enough up north to retire at 35. In 1956 he bought the old Sweetwater Ranch on San Marcos Pass above Santa Barbara and renamed it Hidden Valley Ranch. Guests could not get enough of the dressing, so he began selling it for them to take home. Word of mouth turned a house recipe into a national mail-order business, and the flavor kept the name of the ranch it grew up on.

CHAPTER 03

A day with no author

The dressing's rise is easy to trace. The holiday is not. No record shows who first called March 10 National Ranch Day, or when, and its other name, National Ranch Dressing Day, appears just as often. Hidden Valley, now the flavor's biggest promoter, treats the date as one it inherited rather than invented.

WHY THIS DAY MATTERS

Why We Love National Ranch Day

Durability

Hidden Valley has grown its share in 26 of its last 29 quarters.

Ranch did not win once and fade. Hidden Valley has grown its share in 26 of its last 29 quarters, a streak few grocery staples can claim. Forbes

Economy

A dressing that built a business

The flavor anchors a large grocery category. Hidden Valley alone drew about $450 million in a single year, and it is only one label inside the wider ranch aisle. reported by TODAY

Identity

America's default dip

Ranch long ago left the salad bowl to become an all-purpose American dip, a shift food writers credit for its steady climb. Forbes

BY THE NUMBERS

National Ranch Day by the Numbers

1992
Year ranch became America's top dressing
~2x
Ranch share vs blue cheese
75%
Americans who like or love ranch
44%
Americans who use ranch weekly
40%
Americans who call ranch their favorite

GOOD TO KNOW

Surprising facts about National Ranch Day

Its first restaurant was a stagecoach stop

The first place to serve ranch away from Henson's property was Cold Spring Tavern, an old stagecoach stop in the Santa Barbara hills. Its owner, Audrey Ovington, was his first commercial customer. Wikipedia

A packet empire run out of the family home

Demand for the dried seasoning grew so fast that orders arrived from all 50 states and more than 30 countries, and a 65,000-square-foot Los Angeles plant was soon shipping about 35,000 packets every eight hours. Santa Barbara Independent

A bleach company owns America's favorite dressing

The Clorox Company, best known for bleach, bought the Hidden Valley Ranch brand in 1972 for $8 million and has owned it ever since. Wikipedia

A $35,000 bottle of ranch

For National Ranch Day in 2018, Hidden Valley gave away a single bottle set with diamond, sapphire, and 18-karat white gold, finished in royal blue as a nod to the British royal family and designed by an undisclosed A-list jeweler. TODAY

MYTH VS FACT

Common Misconceptions

The myth

National Ranch Day celebrates cattle ranches and cowboy life

The truth

It celebrates ranch dressing, the buttermilk condiment. The cowboy and cattle-ranch holiday is a separate observance, National Day of the Cowboy, held on the fourth Saturday in July.

The myth

Ranch has passed ketchup as America's number one condiment

The truth

That is a contested marketing claim, not a settled figure, because it weighs a whole flavor sold across the store against ketchup in a bottle. Hidden Valley's own brand studio director framed it that way, calling ranch "a mega-flavor in food that's found across the store, where ketchup is really bound by its bottle in the condiments aisle." <a href='https://www.today.com/food/ranch-dressing-more-popular-ketchup-t161941'>TODAY</a>

The myth

Hidden Valley created National Ranch Day

The truth

No record shows who created the day or when. Hidden Valley's announcements treat March 10 as pre-existing, and the company became the day's promoter, not its founder.

GET INVOLVED

How to Celebrate National Ranch Day

EDITOR'S PICK

Make a batch from scratch

Whisk buttermilk and mayonnaise with fresh dill, parsley, chives, and garlic, then taste how close a homemade version comes to the bottle.

DIP

Dip well beyond the salad

Put ranch where bottled dressing rarely goes: pizza crust, chicken wings, fries, and raw vegetables.

RUN

Run a blind taste test

Line up two or three brands, plus a homemade batch, and rank them without looking at the labels.

FOLLOW

Follow the brand's March 10 stunt

Hidden Valley runs a promotion most years, including a 2026 hunt for four fans to work as ranch ambassadors across Europe. Hidden Valley

USE

Use the day's other name

March 10 is also National Ranch Dressing Day, so search both names to find events, coupons, and recipes.

Test your knowledge

How well do you know National Ranch Day?

1 / 6

Where was ranch dressing first mixed?

Answer

No. It is an unofficial food-appreciation day, not a federal or public holiday, so nothing closes and no one gets the day off.

COLOPHON

Sources

How we know what’s on this page. References, not endorsements.

8sources
3primary records
5independently dated
Primary records
PR Newswire (Hidden Valley Ranch)2026-03-10
Your Dream Job Awaits: Hidden Valley Ranch is Hiring Four Ranch-bassadors for a Flavor Quest Across Europe
Hidden Valley's own 2026 announcement, which uses the exact name National Ranch Day for March 10 and details its Ranch-bassador hiring stunt tied to the US 250th anniversary.
View source
The Clorox Company2017-03-10
Hidden Valley Encourages America To Get Dippin' On National Ranch Dressing Day
Corporate press release documenting Hidden Valley's stewardship of the March 10 observance, including its 2017 Ranch Out campaign.
View source
Hidden Valley
About Us
The brand's own account of its origin, dating the dressing to a Santa Barbara guest ranch and describing the buttermilk and herb recipe.
View source
Additional coverage
Wikipedia
Ranch dressing
Encyclopedia overview covering Steve Henson's Alaska origin, the Clorox acquisition, and the 1992 milestone when ranch became the top US salad dressing.
View source
The Santa Barbara Independent2015-11-25
Ranch Dressing Originated in Santa Barbara's Mountains
Local history of Henson buying and renaming Hidden Valley Ranch in 1956 and building a national mail-order seasoning business.
View source
Forbes2026-03-03
One Nation Under Ranch: Why America's Favorite Condiment Keeps Climbing
Feature on ranch's durable lead, citing Datassential figures that 75 percent of Americans like or love ranch and 44 percent use it weekly, plus its share over blue cheese.
View source
TODAY2018
Hidden Valley releases $35K bottle of ranch dressing
Coverage of the 2018 National Ranch Day giveaway of a jeweled bottle set with diamond, sapphire, and 18-karat white gold.
View source
TODAY
Is ranch dressing really America's most popular condiment?
Report weighing the contested ranch versus ketchup claim, with a Hidden Valley brand studio quote and category sales figures.
View source
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