When it comes to ordering pizza from the popular range of chains, I always go with Papa Johns. I've always been a fan of there hand-tossed pies and perfectly melted (extra) cheese. Usually I go with a staple: pepperoni pizza on original crust. But there is one extra item that I always get every single time, without question, and that is the $0.59 sauce cups, specifically several of the ranch cups.
"Wouldn't it be easier just to have a bottle of ranch dressing on hand at home?" Yes, it probably would be easier, but it's not the same! I like the convenience and simplicity of using the Papa Johns sauce cups. I admit I'm a late-comer to the pizza-and-ranch-dressing combination, having only tried it in recent years and now I can't get enough. Ranch is an absolute must with my pizza and the cups make it easy to open the seal and dip my pizza.
I could pour out dollop after dollop on a plate or in a separate bowl, but I appreciate being able to dip it with ease into the provided cups. It's well worth spending a few extra dollars to get multiple ranch cups each time I order a pizza.
Other pizza chains also provide these dressing cups, it's not a specific Papa Johns thing, but since they are my go-to pizza spot, it's there that I find the bubbly cheese, tomato, and savory pepperoni works in perfect cohesion with the buttery, tangy ranch. Plus, I like to roll up the dough and really ensure I'm getting every drop of ranch out of those little cups, it just works. Spreading the ranch around on a plate is more of a mess, whereas the cups make it an easy clean-up and less dishes for me!
For those who have been hesitant to dip their pizza into ranch dressing, I implore you to give it a chance. It sounds like an odd combination on the surface, and that's why I avoided it for a time, but it was genuinely a life-changing experience when I finally gave it a chance.
Adding ranch to pizza is popular with many, but like many pizza combinations, it can also be highly divisive. People have strong opinions about how they like their pizza served and for some, ranch doesn't belong anywhere but on a salad.
It's hard to say where the combination originated, with some sources suggesting that it started because people got adventurous with a sauce intended for breadstick-dipping, but there are actual scientific reasons for why this combo is so addictive.
Mashed did some research and found that the acid in the dressing might work as a salve for the typical abundance of grease found on pizza. Not only that, but they make a strong comparison to when we dip our spicy chicken wings into ranch dressing. The buttermilk from the ranch has a protein known as casein, which can counteract the spice of the chili pepper extract capsaicin, often used in spicy foods. The reaction of pizza and ranch could work similarly.
Regardless, whatever it is that makes this combination work so well, I'm happy to continue spending a little extra to get my convenient cups of ranch from Papa Johns each and every time.