Homemade Blue Cheese Dressing

An easy recipe for blue cheese dressing that's creamy, chunky, slightly tangy & totally addicting. Fix it in minutes with simple ingredients like crumbled blue cheese, sour cream, mayonnaise, your favorite milk (I make a quick "faux" buttermilk), lemon juice or white vinegar, granulated garlic & green onion. Once you try this homemade version you'll never go back to the bottled stuff! 

I've been making this blue cheese dressing for 6+ years to serve as a dip for baked chicken wings and recently decided to give it an upgrade. 

This new version uses less milk so it's a tad thicker & has more sour cream than mayonnaise so it's not as sweet. (Who knew store-bought mayos had so much sugar?) I also added granulated garlic & fresh green onion to bump up the savory aromatic flavor. Mmmmm. 

Have I just about perfected it? Well, I served a slightly runnier version of this blue cheese dressing to my extended family several months ago and all of the self-proclaimed "blue cheese haters" said they loved it (and kept dunking their veggies into it). 

There's plenty of room for tweaking based on your personal preferences, but I think the results speak for themselves. This is now my go-to recipe for wings, buffalo chicken cobb salads, wedge salads, chicken wraps, and vegetable dips (it's amazing with potato chips, too).

The best part? You likely have most (if not all of) the ingredients to make this at home already. Grab a wedge of your favorite blue cheese from the store & you're ready to roll. Let me forewarn you that the bottled stuff will never taste as good once you've gone the homemade route. It's worth it, though. 

Ingredients For Blue Cheese Dressing

To make this simple dressing you'll need the following ingredients (use full-fat for the best flavor & texture):

• Blue Cheese: I strongly recommend using a wedge of blue cheese, gorgonzola, or Roquefort and crumbling it yourself. That way you can create bigger chunks to contrast against the creamy base. If you live near a Trader Joe's, I love their cave-aged blue cheese, which it's only $3-4 for a good-sized wedge. (I use this for my fall charcuterie board.) Blue cheese also freezes well so you can save the leftovers for another recipe.
• Sour Cream: I typically use full-fat sour cream from Daisy, which is very thick. Some brands are runnier, so you may want to use a tad less if that's the case and you prefer a thicker dressing. If you don't have any sour cream you can substitute plain Greek yogurt, which will make it tangier, and add some healthy probiotics.
• Mayonnaise: I used this mayo from Tessemae's because it has no sugar & a more mild flavor. I recommend using a "classic" mayo instead of something more tangy or sweet so it doesn't overpower the rest of the ingredients.
• Buttermilk or "Faux" Buttermilk: Most of the time I make faux buttermilk because I don't have the real thing on hand. Mix whatever plain milk you have (dairy or dairy-free) with a bit of white vinegar and let it sit for 5-10 minutes. The ratio is 1 tablespoon of vinegar per 1 cup of milk, so for this recipe, It'd be 3/4 teaspoon of vinegar for 1/4 cup of milk. I've even used plain milk kefir with a bit of extra vinegar and it was so delicious!
• Fresh Lemon Juice, White Wine Vinegar, or Distilled White Vinegar: I prefer the brightness that fresh lemon juice adds, but you can definitely use white wine vinegar or distilled white vinegar instead. The latter adds a stronger tang to the dressing.
• Green Onion (a.k.a. Scallion): This is the secret ingredient for pretty much all of my dressings. It adds a pop of mild aromatic spiciness and has a long shelf life if you store it in a glass of water in the fridge covered with a plastic bag (nifty kitchen hack). Garlic chives or regular chives would make a great substitute if you have those instead.
• Granulated Garlic: This adds a mild spice + lovely aromatic flavor. Garlic makes everything better, right? If you can handle a bit more heat, use a clove of fresh minced garlic instead. Keep in mind that the fresh stuff can be much spicier. 
• Sea Salt: I typically use gray Celtic sea salt and add more to taste if I need to near the end. 
• Black Pepper: Depending on how spicy you like your dressing, add more or less. I LOVE black pepper and use it generously in pretty much all of my savory recipes. I crush the whole peppercorns in a small mortar & pestle so it's fresher and on the coarser side. 

How to Make Blue Cheese Dressing

The process is quick & easy, so you can make it right before a meal; however, blue cheese dressing tastes EVEN BETTER after it's hung out in the fridge for a couple of hours to let all the flavors infuse, so this is a great make-ahead dressing to keep on hand all week long.

1. Crumble the Blue Cheese & Make the Faux Buttermilk (if using): I prefer to buy wedges so I can crumble some of the cheese into larger chunks for the dressing. See the recipe card below for the quick faux buttermilk recipe. Make that 5-10 minutes ahead of time. 
2. Combine 1/2 the Blue Cheese + All Other Ingredients: Reserve half the blue cheese crumbles (2 1/2 ounces) to add at the end. Add the other half of the blue cheese (along with the sour cream, mayonnaise, real or faux buttermilk, lemon juice, green onion, garlic, salt & pepper) to a wide-mouth mason jar, medium-sized bowl, or electric blender.
3. Blend the Dressing: Use an immersion stick blender or electric blender to blitz the ingredients a few times until the blue cheese is mixed into the creamy ingredients and the green onions are finely chopped. This gives the dressing base WAY more blue cheese flavor. Blending makes a huge difference, so I hope you don't skip this step!
4. Stir in the Remaining Blue Cheese Crumbles: This ensures that you'll get chunks of blue cheese flavor in nearly every bite.
5. Taste for Seasonings: Add more lemon juice (or vinegar), salt, pepper, or buttermilk depending on how tangy, salty, spicy, or runny you prefer your salad dressings. If you're a mega blue cheese fan, add a few more tablespoons of cheese for extra funk. 
6. Serve Immediately OR (best option) Let the Dressing Infuse For a Few Hours: This dressing definitely tastes better after sitting for a bit so the garlic, onion & blue cheese has time to meld into the creamy ingredients. But if you're in a rush, it's still yummy if eaten right away.

Tips For Making The Best Blue Cheese Dressing

• Pick a Blue Cheese That You LOVE. If you don't have a favorite brand already, visit your local grocery store that has a dedicated cheese department with an employee working. I've found that most smaller stores will let you sample the cheeses for free if you ask nicely. (I have no idea about big box stores.) Look through their selection and pick one or two and ask them for samples. You can also ask if they have "scraps" leftover from cutting the big wheels into smaller wedges. That's one way to get a small sampling of different varieties for cheap.
• Use Plain Mayonnaise with Less Sugar. Some mayo brands use a lot of sugar (especially the reduced fat ones) that can give your dressing a weird background of sweetness. Heck, some blue cheese dressing recipes even call for adding sugar, which I find unnecessary. Read the comments on those, most people prefer it without! I'd also avoid using a "zippy" mayo like Miracle Whip or Primal Kitchen's avocado oil mayonnaise since they may overpower the other flavors. My preferred brand right now for creamy dressings is Tessemae's Organic Mayo, which contains no added sugar.
• Let the Dressing Infuse For a Bit. Stick the finished dressing in the fridge for at least 30 minutes (even better for 3-4 hours) to let the flavors marry. It'll go from "that's pretty good" to "mmm, that is SO yummy". Trust me, it's worth the wait!

More Homemade Dressings & Dips You'll Love:

• Red Wine Vinaigrette Dressing
• Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing
• Buttermilk Garlic Ranch Dressing
• Homemade Queso Dip with Real Cheese
• Coconut Lime Dressing (Great for Fruit Salads)

blue cheese dressing, homemade, buttermilk, the best, salad dressing

Dressings

American

Yield: 1 2/3 cups (approx.)

Author: Elaina Newton - The Rising Spoon

Blue Cheese Dressing

An easy blue cheese dressing that's creamy, chunky, slightly tangy & totally addicting. Fix it in minutes with simple ingredients you likely have on hand right now. Once you try this homemade version you'll never go back to the bottled stuff!

Prep time: 10 MinTotal time: 10 Min

Ingredients

• 5 ounces of blue cheese, Gorgonzola, or Roquefort, crumbled
• 1/3 cup of sour cream
• 1/4 cup of mayonnaise (I used this no sugar added mayo)
• 2 tablespoons of buttermilk or "faux" buttermilk (see notes section for recipe)
• 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice, white wine vinegar, OR distilled white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon of granulated garlic
• 1 teaspoon of fine sea salt (I used this gray Celtic sea salt)
• 1 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
• 2-3 tablespoons of thinly sliced green onion (a.k.a. scallions)

Instructions

1. Divide the blue cheese crumbles into two equal portions. 
2. Add half of the crumbles (2 1/2 ounces), along with the rest of the ingredients, to a medium-sized mixing bowl, wide-mouth mason jar, or electric blender. 
3. Use an immersion stick blender or an electric blender to pulse the mixture a few times until the blue cheese chunks are blended into the creamy dressing base.
4. Fold in the remaining half of the blue cheese crumbles and taste for seasonings (add more salt, pepper, lemon juice, or buttermilk if you desire).
5. Serve immediately OR place the dressing in the fridge to let the flavors marry for a couple of hours (this gives it the best flavor).
6. Store any leftovers in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator and consume within 3-7 days depending on the freshness of the milk you used. 

Notes:

FAUX BUTTERMILK RECIPE: If you don't have any buttermilk on hand, make this substitute instead. Combine 2 tablespoons of your favorite plain milk (dairy or dairy-free) with 3/4 teaspoon of white vinegar and let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes. If you need to make more, the basic ratio is 1 cup milk to 1 tablespoon of vinegar. You can also substitute plain milk kefir or yogurt here for a healthier option with some added probiotics & extra tang.

https://www.therisingspoon.com/2016/04/blue-cheese-dressing-and-dip.html

© The Rising Spoon. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not reprint this recipe without my written permission. If you'd like to feature this recipe on your site, please take your own pictures, rewrite the directions in your own words, and link to this post as the original source. Thank you!

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Update (August 2021): This recipe was originally published in April 2016, but I've recently updated the post with new photographs, additional tips, a few extra ingredients & a printable recipe card. 

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