The Pungent Cheese That Belongs On Your Popcorn

One of the best things about popcorn is that it can be a blank canvas for toppings with seemingly endless possibilities. Whether one keeps things simple with a classic butter and salt combination, adds their favorite chocolate candy, or uses their favorite flavored popcorn seasoning liberally, no flavor is truly off-limits. For those who like savory flavors in their classic snack, blue cheese can be a popcorn game-changer.

Yes, you read that right. Blue cheese. The pungent cheese that looks moldy but isn't, the charcuterie board wild card, and salad dressing staple, belongs in your next bowl of popcorn. It may raise a few eyebrows, but cheese has been elevating popcorn for years. Chicago popcorn — a cheddar cheese and caramel mix — is a beloved Midwest staple. Nacho cheese, white cheddar, and garlic parmesan are also among the many flavors of widely available popcorn seasoning, making cheese one of the most popular savory popcorn additions.

Popcorn enthusiasts have been figuring out ways to add their favorite savory flavors to popcorn — including blue cheese — for a long time. Blue cheese may be one of the most pungent or umami flavors to ever grace a bowl of freshly popped popcorn, but adding it can be done very quickly and easily.

As a favorite salad dressing staple and a go-to dip for buffalo wings and veggies, inventive snackers have figured out how to recreate those flavor combinations atop their favorite snack in ways that anyone can do at home. The first way to add blue cheese flavor to popcorn is arguably the quickest — buy blue cheese popcorn seasoning and sprinkle to your liking.

The second way involves making stovetop popcorn and once it's done, transferring the popcorn to a baking sheet, sprinkling frozen blue cheese over the top (along with other flavors like parmesan or pepper if desired), and using a spatula to evenly coat the popcorn. What results is a pungent, but extremely umami batch of popcorn that recreates a blue cheese salad dressing and can instantly elevate a family movie night.

The third way recreates the classic taste of blue cheese and buffalo wings. While popcorn is popping, home cooks can combine melted butter, hot sauce, blue cheese powder, and celery salt in a saucepan before coating popcorn with it. The combination offers a little bit of heat and plenty of savory flavor by bringing the flavors of wings and celery sticks dipped in blue cheese together in a bowl.