Sure, you can buy any salad dressing at the grocery store. But homemade salad dressing recipes have so many advantages. When freshly made, every ingredient in the dressing is at peak flavor. In this blue cheese dressing recipe, the blue cheese is tangy, the seasonings are bright and the dairy tastes rich and full.
You can adjust the recipe to suit your palate, swapping spices or tinkering with ingredients to switch up the flavor profile. Since it takes mere minutes to whisk up, this dressing is a low-effort way to instantly improve all sorts of side salad recipes.
Here’s how to make our best blue cheese dressing recipe. Whisk it up tonight, and you’ll have fresh dressing in the fridge all week long!
Blue Cheese Dressing Ingredients
- Blue cheese: Use any type of blue cheese you love, from mild to extra funky, as long as it can be crumbled. If you have leftovers, use it in these blue cheese recipes.
- Mayonnaise: The tangy, rich flavor of mayo is like a low bass note humming behind the wild notes of the blue cheese.
- Sour cream: Interestingly, sour ingredients prevent rich foods from feeling too heavy. Use low-fat (or even nonfat) sour cream if you prefer.
- Seasonings: Our recipe for blue cheese dressing sticks with the classic seasonings—chives, garlic powder and pepper—to add simple, savory flavor.
- Worcestershire sauce: This strong-tasting fermented sauce adds an umami note to the dressing. You won’t need much, but the bottle keeps forever. (Worcestershire tastes great in meat loaf, too.)
- Buttermilk: Rich, tangy buttermilk adds flavor and thins the dressing to make it pourable. If you don’t keep buttermilk in the fridge, here’s how to make buttermilk.
- Torn mixed salad greens: This dressing is especially good with heartier types of lettuce, such as iceberg or romaine. Bitter greens like kale or broccoli rabe are tamed by the richness of the dairy.
Directions
Step 1: Stir ingredients together
In a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise, sour cream, chives, garlic powder, pepper and Worcestershire sauce.
Stir in enough buttermilk to achieve your desired consistency.
Gently stir in the blue cheese. Cover it and store in the refrigerator. Serve with salad greens.
Editor’s Tip: While some of the cheese will blend into the dressing, you should leave some crumbles whole for texture.
Recipe Variations
- Add lemon: A squeeze of lemon adds a fresh burst of flavor to brighten the dressing.
- Experiment with herbs: While chives are a classic, many types of herbs would be tasty here. Try basil, parsley, oregano, marjoram or dill.
- Add heat: A dash of hot sauce or a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes add a pleasant bite that makes a nice balance to the rich cheese.
How to Store Blue Cheese Dressing
Keep leftover blue cheese dressing in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator for up to one week. Shake the dressing before using. The dressing may thicken in the fridge. If it does, add a bit of milk or water to thin it to the desired consistency.
Blue Cheese Dressing Tips
How do you use blue cheese dressing?
Blue cheese dressing tastes delicious on virtually all green salads, from plain lettuce or mixed greens to the classic wedge salad. You can also use it to dress coleslaw recipes or serve it as a dipper for crunchy vegetables. Try it with cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, celery, carrots, roasted beets, Brussels sprouts, green beans, potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower and asparagus.
To upgrade protein dishes, dish up the blue cheese dressing with chicken wings, or slather it over a hamburger recipe or steak. Dip baked sweet potato fries into blue cheese dressing for a savory-sweet side dish.
How thick should blue cheese dressing be?
The thickness of your dressing really depends on what you’re going to do with it. If you’re serving the blue cheese dressing as a dip or as a topping for burgers or sandwiches, consider making a thicker dressing by slightly reducing the mayonnaise in the recipe. If you plan to toss the dressing into a salad or bowl of coleslaw, it should be a bit thinner. Add a splash of water or milk to the dressing if it’s too thick to pour.
