This thick and creamy Buttermilk Blue Cheese Dressing is the best you will ever have. Made with fresh blue cheese, a few pantry staples, and no preservatives, why buy bottled when you can make it in 5 minutes?
Why this recipe works
- Thick and creamy, this blue cheese dressing will spoil you for any other bottled dressing
- Made with fresh blue cheese and other pantry stable ingredients in only five minutes
Buttermilk blue cheese dressing is something that doesn't last long in our house.
We tend to have it on our salads when we're having "American" meals (you know, meat-and-potatoes style meals). I also love it to dip veggies in. And while you can pick up blue cheese dressing in bottles at the market, it's generally full of additives and preservatives.
No, thanks! Not when I can buy fresh blue cheese and make it myself in about five minutes!
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What you need
Most of the ingredients that go into homemade blue cheese dressing are pantry staples: sour cream, mayonnaise, fresh garlic, fresh lemon juice, garlic powder, Worcestershire sauce, and black pepper.
Blue cheese can usually be found in the cheese section at your grocery store, either as a block or crumbled. Using crumbled blue cheese is more convenient, or you can just slice or crumble the block prior to mixing it into the dressing base. You can also use English Stilton, Italian Gorgonzola, or French Roquefort for the blue cheese.
One item I usually don't have on hand is fresh buttermilk. Instead, I keep Bob's Red Mill Sweet Cream Buttermilk Powder on hand. It reconstitutes well and is pantry safe. Just replace the buttermilk in a recipe with an equal amount of water (1 cup buttermilk = 1 cup water plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk powder).
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How to make blue cheese dressing
This easy blue cheese dressing recipe comes together lightning fast, all in one bowl. I think it takes me longer to type the recipe than to make it!
Step 1: Make the sour cream base
Whisk the sour cream, mayonnaise, water, and buttermilk powder until smooth (photo 1).
Press the garlic clove using a garlic press or mince it finely. Add the garlic in with the lemon juice, garlic powder, Worcestershire sauce, and black pepper and whisk well (photo 2).
Step 2: Add the cheese
Stir in the crumbled blue cheese (photo 3). Use 4 to 6 ounces (114 to 140 grams) of blue cheese depending on how thick you'd prefer the dressing to be - use more or less to suit your taste. If the dressing is too thick, just add a teaspoon or two of water. It will thicken up as it ages.
Questions asked and answered
Here are some questions you might have...
How you spell this type of cheese doesn't seem to matter. Both blue cheese and bleu cheese are used interchangeably (the former is English, the latter is French), referring to a cheese made with Penicillium mold cultures, streaking the cheese with spots & veins throughout the cheese. My girls call it "moldy cheese," but I call it delicious!
Not really. The base for Ranch dressing focuses more on the herbs and seasonings, while blue cheese dressing gets it's distinctive flavor from tangy blue cheese.
The sour cream can separate when it sits, and you'll see a bit of water on top of the salad dressing (you can see that it does in its container sometimes). It's not a problem - just stir the dressing before using it and it will be fine.
This dairy-based salad dressing doesn't freeze well, so it's best to use it up and make more!
Pro Tip#1: Buttermilk substitutions
As I said earlier, I normally don't keep fresh buttermilk at hand - that's why I like to use buttermilk powder. For this recipe, you can substitute ¼ cup of buttermilk and omit the water, or ¼ of milk with a dash of lemon juice added to “sour” it.
Pro Tip#2: How can you tell if blue cheese has gone bad?
Blue cheese can be kept in the refrigerator well-wrapped for a couple of weeks after opening, or longer based on the expiration date on the packaging. Freezing it can extend it's shelf life to 3 to 4 weeks, although the texture might be altered.
But hey, we've all been there - the container of blue cheese crumbles gets pushed to the back of the cheese drawer, and sits for a while. The cheese already has a strong, distinctive smell, so how do you know if it's spoiled? The answer lies with the color, and yes, the smell.
If you notice and fuzzy spots or mold on the surface (not the blue streaks already there) that are white, green, pink, or grey, don't use it. Off odors, especially one similar to ammonia, are also tell-tale signs that your blue cheese isn't good anymore. Throw it away, get another block or tub, and keep it front and center so it doesn't get lost in the refrigerator again!
The best blue cheese dressing
This salad dressing is thick, tangy, creamy, and full of chunky blue cheese. It's great as a salad dressing and as a dip for fresh or blanched vegetables. Blue cheese dressing will last in the fridge for several days in a tightly sealed container.
Like with my Caesar salad dressing, this is the best blue cheese dressing recipe around, and will spoil you for anything from a bottle.
You've been warned!
Slainté! L’chaim! Cheers!
Tammy
Related Recipes
Did you know that salad dressing is a form of an emulsion sauce, that is, a mixture of oil and water? There are temporary emulsions that don't stay mixed (like vinaigrettes) and stable emulsions that stay mixed over time (like Caesar dressing or Hollandaise Sauce). These can add a layer of flavor to your dishes. Give these a try!
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Recipe
Buttermilk Blue Cheese Dressing
Equipment
Ingredients
- ½ cup sour cream
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- ¼ cup water
- 2 teaspoons sweet cream buttermilk powder, see Recipe Notes
- 1 garlic clove, pressed or finely minced
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
- 1 to 1¼ cup blue cheese, crumbled, see Recipe Notes
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the sour cream, mayonnaise, water, and buttermilk powder until smooth.
- Press the garlic clove using a garlic press or mince it finely. Add the garlic in with the lemon juice, garlic powder, Worcestershire sauce, and black pepper and whisk well.
- Stir in the crumbled blue cheese.
- If the dressing is too thick, just add a teaspoon or two of water. It will thicken up as it ages.
- Blue cheese dressing will last in the fridge for several days in a tightly sealed container. This dairy-based salad dressing doesn't freeze well, so it's best to use it up and make more!
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