Full-fat creamy dressings are ~50 g fat per 100 g. A 2-Tbsp portion is ~144 kcal. Portion errors on dense fats reach 50–200% (Almiron-Roig et al., Appetite 2013). Whitton 2022 found dressings are omitted from food logs 1–80% of the time. Tracking starts with weighing, not pouring.
How should I track Ranch dressing?
With calorie-dense foods like Ranch dressing, a kitchen scale is your best friend. Research shows that portion estimation errors reach 50–200% for fats and oils (Almiron-Roig et al., Appetite 2013) — even a tablespoon off can mean 40–120 extra calories. Weigh on a scale rather than eyeballing — this applies to both liquid oils and solid fats like butter. If you use cooking sprays, note that "0 calorie" labels are per fraction-of-a-second spray — a realistic burst is closer to 5–10 calories, and multiple sprays add up.