Blue Cheese Dressing Recipe

While "dressing" is a part of blue cheese dressing's name, is it actually a salad dressing, or is it more of a dip meant for Buffalo wings and the celery sticks that are their natural accompaniment? That would probably depend on its texture, as you want a dip to be pretty thick, while anything intended for a salad requires a certain pourability.

Recipe developer Kit Hondrum says of her blue cheese preparation, "this delicious dressing ... [is] very versatile" and suggests that it can be served as a dip or on a salad. If you choose to use it for the latter, though, you may want to mix in some additional lemon juice or a little white vinegar to thin it out a bit. Hondrum offers one additional suggestion, saying you can also bake it with shredded cheese on top — she favors Parmesan — before serving it as a hot dip with chips or crostini.

The main ingredient in this blue cheese dressing is the blue cheese. Hondrum uses the pre-crumbled kind, but you can easily crumble your own, if you'd prefer. You'll also need a little mayonnaise — Hondrum says she's partial to the kind made from avocado oil, as she feels this "[avoids the] unhealthy fats in traditional mayonnaise." The bulk of the dressing is made with plain yogurt, and you can use any kind you'd like, as long as it's unflavored — non-fat, full-fat, Greek — it 's completely up to you.

In addition to the blue cheese, the dressing gets its flavor from garlic and lemon juice. It also gets a few flecks of green from parsley, and seasoning with salt and pepper. 

The dressing has a slight tang from the lemon juice, but you do need to use the fresh kind, so cut a wedge of lemon and squeeze it. If you like a tangier dressing — or, as previously mentioned, a thinner one — feel free to add more lemon juice than is called for here. You'll also be using a little fresh garlic, so peel and chop a clove.

Hondrum makes her dressing with fresh chopped parsley. If you plan to include this ingredient, go ahead and chop it now. You can also substitute 2 teaspoons of dried parsley, but if you want to go parsley-free, honestly, it won't make too much of a difference. Parsley has a flavor which is fairly subtle, and in the presence of something strong like blue cheese, it's not all that noticeable apart from the color it adds.

Basically, there's just one step to making this dressing: mix all of the ingredients together. If you want a super-smooth dressing, you can stick everything in a mini food processor. If you want it chunkier, though, you can mix by hand, which is what Hondrum does. 

Start by mashing the blue cheese with a fork. Then, stir in the mayo, followed by the yogurt and the other ingredients. Once you've mixed everything together, check and see how the dressing tastes. Add extra garlic if you like, or maybe a little cayenne pepper or hot sauce for some heat.

Once you've stirred up the dressing, you should put it in some kind of container that can be sealed, then stick it in the refrigerator. As Hondrum tells us, "I like to let this dressing sit in the fridge for at least 2 hours to allow the flavors to meld." She says it should be good for up to a week.

One of Hondrum's favorite ways to serve this blue cheese dressing is "with wings and veggies on game day," although she also enjoys it "on a big Cobb salad."