Homemade Buttermilk Blue Cheese Dressing

Creamy, tart and bright, and loaded with blue (or more properly bleu) cheese fonk, this dressing is a life-long favorite of mine. Homemade buttermilk blue cheese dressing is a breeze to make and puts that bottled business to shame. Wedge salads, Buffalo wings (and sandwiches), and every fresh vegetable stick out there becomes its better self when draped, drizzled and dipped in blue cheese dressing.

Growing up, going out to dinner was a rare treat. No matter where we went, if at all possible I would order wedge salad with blue cheese dressing. Lo these many years later, I can still “taste” the chemically-ness of jarred dressing as compared to the pure bliss of being served a full-on Roquefort bleu. Big chunks of authentic mold-streaked cheese with the right amount of salty funk combined with all the complementary flavors in a buttermilk pool is a bit of heaven…

…And the ideal cool creamy foil to a perfectly crisped, lip-singeing Buffalo wing. If you are in the camp of some of my house-folk, and blue cheese is right up there with the devil’s spawn, you will disagree with this. ** And want to make my homemade buttermilk ranch dressing and dip recipe. ** But this is my post and I believe the combo worthy of its own prominently placed paragraph. Yer welcome.

I happened to have made baked Buffalo tenders so that’s the pic I’m using. Rest assured it’s just as amazing a condiment for bone-in wings.

INGREDIENTS

Mayonnaise

Full-fat please and thank you. I am not in the Duke’s camp but if that’s your jam, by all means. Bonus caveat: Miracle Whip is not mayonnaise so does not belong in this dressing. Or anywhere really, but again, if that’s your camp, unroll your sleeping bag and dive in. But PLEASE don’t complain to me when your dressing tastes off.

Sour Cream

Full-fat. If further explanation is needed, you are having a cheese-filled dressing, scimp elsewhere; this is not diet food.

Buttermilk

As full fat as is possible. Oddly, I have a difficult time finding really rich buttermilk in the regular grocery store. The jug shown below is low-fat so I used it. Beggars with no desire to drive to yet another store can’t be choosers.

Lemon Juice

Real. That’s it. Unless (and I have posted this elsewhere) you can give me the name of a bottled lemon juice that I can taste and vouch for, I will not come down from this hill which I choose to die on.

Chives

Real is best but as you can see below a quality dried chive works just find (and reconstitutes in all the wet ingredients so that you can’t tell the difference).

Garlic

Real. Even the best dried version doesn’t hold a candle but if that’s all you’ve got or the bulb you’ve just opened is no bueno, go for it. It will, however, be missing that fresh bite.

Hot Sauce

I’m a Tabasco girl. Feel free to use another but make sure it’s just a pepper sauce, not a spiced pepper sauce (e.g., harissa which gives you heat but a bunch of other delicious but, here, inappropriate flavors).

Cheese (Blue / Bleu)

Traditionally, this dressing is made with Roquefort which can be pricey (though absolutely worth using if you’ve got it). I generally use a mid-priced bleu, a lot of times gorgonzola, sometimes Danish… really any veined blue cheese with just the kind of funk I like.

If you go to a cheese shop, they’ll let you smell (and taste!) a few to get just what you want. The grocery clerks aren’t always so amenable (ask me how I know). So, go with something with as much vein as you’d like. The more the vein, the fonkier the cheese.

To crumble or to blend… that’s entirely up to you. I love chunks of cheese in my dressing (saying this if the pics didn’t already clue you in). If you like grumbles (smaller than a chunk, larger than a grain), go for it.

That being said, if you love the blue cheese flavor but not the chunks, make this blue cheese dressing in a blender. Just be gentle on the whizzing. If I used a blender, I’d add the chives at the end so they remain intact rather than turning the whole shenbang greenish. Just a thought.

I hope this dressing brings you the salad (or wing) joy that it brings me and mine who indulge. If you make it, please let me know what you think either below or tag me on Instagram @piecrustandpasta #piecrustadnpasta

Here’s to all the salad days ahead!