The One Newman's Own Salad Dressing We Wouldn't Pick Up Again

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Since the early 1980s, Paul Newman has been slinging salad dressings for a good cause. The actor started by simply giving away his signature salad dressing as a holiday gift. But it was so popular that Newman decided to team up with his friend A.E. Hotchner and start selling it — and donating 100% of the profits to charity. The brand took off and has since expanded to produce a wide variety of products and dressings, with some, of course, being better than others. Unfortunately, in our ranking of Newman's Own salad dressings, the bottom spot was held by an American classic: Good old ranch dressing. 

In addition to sampling each of the dressings over fresh salad greens, our taste-tester also tried each of them straight from a spoon, ensuring that she got the full flavor profile from all angles. As with any ranking, there has to be a last place pick, but given that ranch dressing originated in California right around the same time that Newman was a local, you might've expected his brand to have a decent recipe. Alas, we were none too impressed.

It's not that we thought that Newman's ranch dressing was horrible, just that it fell behind the other offerings. It landed right in the middle of the ranch dressing spectrum. Its texture was on the thinner side compared to the original Hidden Valley ranch, with a flavor that was a bit too oily and mayonnaise-heavy — not the tangy, creamy, herby tasting sauce one usually looks for.

A quick scour of the internet will show you that the rating we came up with is pretty consistent with the overall opinion of this particular salad dressing. Newman's Own ranch dressing has an average of 3.3 stars out of 5 on Amazon reviews, and 3.1 stars out of 5 over at Walmart. Though among the less positive tirades are plenty of positive ones, too.

Ranch dressing is a divisive topic, with significant brand fandom, and Newman's Own is not immune to this. There are many keyboard connoisseurs who are passionate about this dressing one way or the other. Particularly among the Walmart reviews, people seem to either love it or hate it. You can find plenty of folks deriding this ranch recipe, saying things like, "Sweet, lemony, oily and funky as heck. I threw both bottles out ... this one is the worst ranch dressing I have ever tasted." But the opposite end of the spectrum is out there as well. Many tout the dressing's charms, with reviews like, "Best, most unique Ranch dressing! I had stopped eating Ranch a long time ago, because I was tired of the same old salty or bland flavor. Enter Newmans: It is so different."

In the end, it seems like the issue might come down to this ranch breaking from tradition. For some, that is a crime, and for others it is a fresh new take. But if you want our advice, you're better off picking up with Newman's Own Italian dressing, which might just be the absolute best store-bought Italian dressing out there.