I Tried the Van Leeuwen Ranch Ice Cream (And Asked Chefs How They’d Eat It)

By now, you have probably heard the news: There’s a new ice cream flavor in town, and that flavor is ranch dressing (Hidden Valley Ranch, to be specific). We can get through a few of your questions right off the bat: Yes, there’s really a ranch-flavored ice cream; no, it’s not a joke. Announced on March 9 in advance of National Ranch Day, which was March 10 (this is, indeed, a real thing), ice cream wizards Van Leeuwen’s newest ~*weird flavor*~ has been revealed to be a collab with Hidden Valley Ranch (a.k.a. your favorite ranch-obsessive’s favorite grocery store ranch). Van Leeuwen has done some other bizarre flavors (Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, a mystery flavor [it’s onion LOL!] for Netflix’s new Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery), and the beloved brand’s newest stunt drops today, March 20. If you’ve read this far, you probably have more questions and concerns, and let me anticipate them and offer some answers. Yes, I tried it; more on that below. No, we don’t need to stop making strange ice cream flavors (some of them are actually good). Yes, the ranch ice cream is available to the public… if you can find it (i.e. get your ass to one of the 3,500 participating Walmart stores that are stocking this limited-edition flavor). Upon launch, it’s not available online, which isn’t a bad thing; on the contrary, that means you can stop and pick up some French fries on your way home from snagging it in person.

So, you’re now probably wondering: How does it taste? From personal experience, it’s (unsurprisingly) weird and tastes like eggy French ice cream mixed with onion powder. Instead of giving you another four paragraphs about my wacky experience tasting the funky new flavor on the streets (see any other coverage of the product for this), I decided to do something different. Yeah, this is a fun gimmick, I thought. But what would I do to make it taste truly great? How would a real culinary genius approach ranch ice cream? So, I talked to some food freaks and restaurant pros about what they would do with ranch dressing ice cream. I started with one of Hidden Valley Ranch’s PR guys. “I recommend dipping pretzels or potato chips,” he said. “You will not be disappointed!” That was a great starting point, but I was looking for ranch ice cream pairing options that could take this beyond the level of the iconic Wendy’s Frosty x French fries combo that society still collectively stans.

First, I reached out to Daniel Parker and Liz Bendure, the owners of popular Chicago pop-up dinner series Txa Txa Club. “Chicken wings, fried pickles, salads, soups, many a crudité, and fish frys” were what came to mind when thinking about ranch dressing, they told me. Intrigued by Van Leeuwen’s new release, they actually tested their own ranch dressing ice cream, but went further, including a grip of fresh herbs: scallion, sweet basil, dill, mint, and parsley. For serving a ranch ice cream, they recommended going with crunchy, herbal toppings: “We added some puffed amaranth, nigella, and lavender. But, honestly, those salty fried shallots you can buy at any Asian grocery (or French’s) would be just fine.” (Pro tip: If you don’t keep fried onions on hand at all times, you really need to reassess your pantry.)

Then, I went to Nick Bognar, a 2020 Food & Wine Best New Chef from St. Louis whose Southeast Asian restaurant, Indo, was named a Best New Restaurant in America by both Esquire and GQ; Bognar and Indo were semi-finalists for Rising Star Chef of the Year and Best New Restaurant, respectively, by the James Beard Foundation the same year. (Bognar is also a newly minted  breakout star on VICE’s own MUNCHIES.) For dessert at Indo, his team makes fresh ice creams daily, so he’s no stranger to unique dessert flavor combos. Bognar said, “Just rip off the skin from a Lee’s crispy chicken thigh and sandwich a scoop of ranch ice cream in the middle. Seems natural.” 

Curious about what someone on the pastry side of things might do, I reached out to Danielle Bailey, pastry chef at ice cream-focused cake shop Holler Treats in Portland, Oregon. (She’s also the pastry chef for the entire Holler Hospitality group.) She said that since ranch ice cream won’t be super sweet, she’d do more of a savory application, like as a salty element for a modernized strawberry shortcake. “[I’d use] a biscuit as the shortcake component for a more savory option rather than angel food or pound cake,” she said. “Lightly macerated strawberries, of course, and sprinkling of dried/candied fennel to tie the sweet and savory together a bit more with some crunch.” That seems good, because adding fruit to ice cream means it’s healthy.

Finally, I thought about how a beverage master would deal with this creamy, onion-y delight treat ingredient, so I talked to Chris Voll, a wine rep for Midwest wine distributor Bommarito Wines & Spirits; Voll previously ran bar programs at numerous nationally recognized restaurants. “I’m thinking [I’d serve this with] a Bloody Mary granita made with Frank’s RedHot,” he said. “The other thing I’m thinking of is a French dessert wine. Sauternes might be a little too honey; but Banyuls is a red wine, so it’d be a little more sweet-savory.”

In the end, the Hidden Valley Ranch x Van Leeuwen is worth trying on its own, just because of how weird it is (keep an eye on Walmart.com to see if it comes into stock for online ordering); that said, if you can’t find it, just get some good vanilla ice cream and sprinkle a bit of onion and garlic powder over it and you’ll get the idea. Ultimately, if you do track down the collab and manage to chef-ify it, maybe you’ll be the one coming up with weird pairings when Van Leeuwen inevitably drops another ridiculous flavor.

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