Blue Cheese Stuffed Olives Make For A Tastier Martini

If you appreciate a dirty martini, then you're already aware of the incredible briny flavor combination of gin or vodka with vermouth, olive brine (or juice as some call it), and those salty olives. Or perhaps you like an extra dirty or even a filthy martini loaded with more olive brine. Typically, pitted green olives like Castelvetrano or Manzanilla are used to get that savory flavor — but you can make the cocktail even tastier by using blue cheese-stuffed olives.

"You can get a different flavor by using the brine from a flavored olive (olives stuffed with blue cheese, jalapeño, or garlic) and using that olive for your garnish," says Molly Madigan Pisula, a Tasting Table recipe developer who created this easy dirty martini recipe with gin, dry vermouth, and olive brine.

You might be used to using blue cheese in salads and dressings, but the earthy and salty flavors match the briny profiles of a dirty martini. The secret ingredient also adds more of a kick to the bite when you go to eat the olives after taking the last sip of your martini.

Some restaurants and cocktail bars offer dirty martinis with blue cheese-stuffed olives, so give it a try the next time you're ready to order at the bar. A delicious martini isn't terribly difficult to make at home, however, and swapping plain olives for the blue cheese variety is a simple task. To make it easy on yourself, buy blue cheese-stuffed olives at the grocery store because the brine and olives will be infused with the funky blue cheese flavors. If you need help scoring them, you can usually find these olives at chains like Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, and Walmart.

But if you're a stickler for making things homemade (we understand), it won't take too much effort to do so with these cheesy olives. You'll need large, pitted green olives and fresh blue cheese. For 24 olives, you'll need about ¾ cup of blue cheese. If the blue cheese is thick, use heavy cream to thin it out so it's easier to fill the olives. Keep in mind the brine of the plain olives will lack the flavor profiles of the blue cheese variety.

No matter if you go with store-bought or homemade, a single martini requires about 2 ½ ounces of gin or vodka, ½ ounce of dry vermouth, ½ ounce of olive brine (or more to taste if you like it dirty), and one to four of the blue cheese-stuffed olives on a toothpick or skewer for garnishing, according to Pisula's recipe.