Fresh vs Famous: I Blind-Tested My Ranch Against Wingstop and Dunnes

Dunnes and Wingstop both make a great ranch. They were staples in our house. I just knew I could make better — so I put it to the test. Blind. And I let the tasters decide.

Here's the thing, though: I wasn't even playing the same game. Dunnes Buttermilk Ranch and Wingstop's ranch are ready-made, pre-blended dips — open the tub, done. Shay's Ranch is a dry seasoning blend you mix fresh: a scoop into sour cream and you've made it yourself. So the real question wasn't "whose dip is best." It was: can a fresh, homemade blend beat the famous ready-made stuff?

How I tested it

No guessing, no bias. I ran it blind.

• Three ranches in identical unmarked pots — labelled only A, B and C. (A was Dunnes, B was mine, C was Wingstop — but nobody knew that until the very end.)
• Three tablespoons of each, so everyone got a fair go.
• Five different foods to dip — because a ranch that's great on a chip might fall apart on a carrot stick. I wanted to see how each one held up across the board.

The five carriers: celery sticks, carrot sticks, Big Smoke bacon-wrapped chicken bites (chicken seasoned in The Big Smoke, wrapped in bacon coated in brown sugar and more Big Smoke — sweet, smoky, the works), chicken wings seasoned in Shay's Magic Dust, and plain salted crisps. Veg, sweet, savoury and salty — the full spread. Everyone tasted one food at a time against all three ranches — celery in A, then B, then C, and so on — and logged their verdict on SurveyMonkey. The blends weren't revealed until every result was in.

What happened

Out of ten tasters, nine put mine first. Eight of them had the exact same running order across every single food: Shay's first, Dunnes second, Wingstop third. Not close.

Then it got interesting. One taster also put mine first for every carrier — but their second place kept switching: Dunnes edged it on the veg, Wingstop on the meat. Their note was the telling bit: Wingstop tasted different every time they went back to it, while the other two stayed consistent. 

And then the tenth — the one who didn't put mine first. That was my brother and my nephew, on their own sofa on a Saturday night with a few beers. Their verdict: Dunnes first, mine second, Wingstop third. Fair enough — Dunnes was their favourite. But even they said Dunnes was their favourite dip, not the best ranch — and that mine tasted closest to proper American ranch. Their exact words: it was like eating a Cool Ranch Dorito.

The bit I still laugh about

My nephew's all-time favourite ranch is Wingstop. Loves the stuff. In the blind test, he tasted pot C, and ranked it dead last. When I told him C was Wingstop, didn't believe me. I had to dig out the receipts from the restaurant to prove I hadn't swapped it.

Which tells you everything. Wingstop on its own? Delicious. Put it beside two stronger ranches, one after the other, and it slips. That's not me knocking it — it's just what happens when you taste them side by side, blind. So I'm including dry ranch seasoning in our Range. Shay's Ranch will be the very first dry Ranch seasoning blend to be made in Ireland. If you try it, let me know how you go. 

The result

Fresh beat famous. A homemade dry blend, mixed at a kitchen table, came out ahead of two of the best-known ranches you can buy in Ireland. I'll say it again — theirs are great. Mine's just better. And you can make it yourself in about two minutes, always have a dry store of it in the press - pull it out whenever you need it. 

Shay's Ranch — Ireland's first dry ranch blend — launches in August. Join the waitlist and be the first to taste it.

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