Best Blue cheese for Salad | Unrivaled Guide 2023

With so many great blue cheese dressings to choose from, including Walden Farms, Kraft Dressings, Ken’s Steakhouse, Kraft Brand Dressings and Ken’s, it can be difficult for customers to make a buying decision. Fortunately, we’ve done the research for you and also compiled a list of the 22 best blue cheese dressings.

Our team of experts researched and evaluated a wide range of blue cheese dressings, with prices ranging from $5 to $48. One of our favorites is Walden Farms Blue Cheese Dressing. Read on for other great options and our buying guide, where you’ll find all the information you need before you buy.

Best Blue cheese for Salad

What goes into a blue cheese salad?

To make the salad itself, you need.

Iceberg lettuce

Fresh, crisp, cold iceberg lettuce is a must for this salad.

Crushed bacon

Cook the bacon first and let it cool before breaking it up, so you can enjoy its crisp texture and flavorful fat.

Tomatoes

For sweet, juicy tomatoes all year round, choose cherry or grape tomatoes. They can be served whole, but cut them in half for a nice finish.

Chives

Chives have a slight onion flavor and I like that they don’t overpower the salad. The finely sliced red onion adds some zing.

Fresh blue cheese

Blue cheese is also present in the dressing, but adding it on top adds a tangy spice.

What’s in homemade blue cheese dressing

If you want to enjoy a truly sumptuous wedge salad, you must make your own blue cheese dressing. Specifically, you need to make the best blue cheese dressing. Lucky for you, today I’m sharing my favorite homemade blue cheese dressing.

This homemade blue cheese dressing is far superior to anything you’ll find on store shelves or in the produce section, and the addition of red wine vinegar and a little buttermilk gives it just the right amount of crunch.

To make a homemade blue cheese dressing, you’ll need

• sour cream
• mayonnaise
• buttermilk
• red wine vinegar
• Worcestershire sauce
• Garlic salt
• Black pepper
• Blue cheese
• Chives

How to make a wedge salad

First, prepare the blue cheese dressing

To make the blue cheese dressing, simply mix all the ingredients together, let it sit in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes to blend the flavors, then pour it over the wedge salad. That’s it.

Fry the bacon into strips, then break it into small pieces

I find that frying the bacon in strips and breaking it into small pieces keeps it from burning and improves the flavor.

Cut the iceberg into quarters

Remove the soft outer leaves from the head of lettuce, cut it in half, then cut each half into four equal wedges.

Assemble the salad

Place the cut side on a plate, drizzle with homemade blue cheese dressing, top with bacon bits, sprinkle with chives and blue cheese pieces, and place a few tomato wedges on top or to the side. Sprinkle with a little more black pepper and serve.

Tips for making the best wedge salad

• I like to sprinkle a generous amount of blue cheese on mine, but if you prefer it without, just crush a little more cheese on top.
• This classic salad can always be made into a main dish by adding 3 oz of shredded rotisserie chicken or just grilled salmon.
• Finally, I always reserve some of the particularly blue part of the blue cheese to sprinkle on top of the salad, and I also reserve a small bunch of chives to cut diagonally and sprinkle on top. A big chunk of freshly ground black pepper is essential here, in my opinion.

Types of blue cheese

A list of blue cheeses that are popular, readily available and suitable for different tastes.

Danish Blue

• This cheese was created in the early 20th century by a Danish cheesemaker named Marius Boel. It was an attempt to imitate the popular Roquefort cheese in appearance, flavor, texture and taste.
• Danish Blue Cheese is a semi-creamy, creamy cheese made from cow’s milk.
• It is considered a mild blue cheese compared to the strong flavor of Roquefort.
• It is usually sold in wedge, drum or block shapes.
• The needling process is performed during the carding phase and the Penicillium Roqueforti is inserted evenly into deep grooves.
• Traditionally, the cheese is aged for eight to twelve weeks in caves or other dark, damp environments.

Gorgonzola

• As the name implies, Gorgonzola is an Italian cheese made from goat’s milk, non-skimmed cow’s milk, or a combination of both.
• The texture of Gorgonzola varies from soft and crumbly to firm.
• The cheese has been around since the Middle Ages, but it wasn’t until the 11th century that it began to be infused with penicillin glaucum, distinguishing it as a blue cheese.
• Gorgonzola is a small town on the outskirts of Milan, Italy. The cheese is now made in Lombardy and Piedmont and is infused with lactic acid bacteria in addition to the traditional Penicillium glaucum.
• More recently, the use of Penicillium roqueforti has become widespread.

Maytag

• The cheese is produced at the Maytag Dairy Farm near Newton, Iowa, so named because it is the home of the multi-billion dollar appliance manufacturer Maytag.
• In 1941, the grandsons of Maytag’s founder began making cheese. They set out to make a cheese that could compete with Roquefort, the almighty cheese.
• The process for making Maytag cheese was discovered and patented by two microbiologists at Iowa State University.

Stilton

• Stilton is a British cheese, sometimes called the “king of cheeses.” But the other blue cheeses on my list would surely be challenged!
• Stilton has a designation of origin, and cheeses with the “Stilton” designation must meet certain criteria.
• All protected origin cheeses are controlled by an independent government agency that performs random quality checks.
• To be a Stilton cheese, it must be made in Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire in the UK, where only seven dairies are licensed to produce it. What a great story!
• Stilton is always cylindrical and never pressed.
• Stilton has a distinctive skin, with blue veins running down the center.

Roquefort

Finally, we come to Roquefort, revered as the all-powerful cheese.

Like Stilton, it has a protected designation of origin. All Roquefort is made from the milk of sheep. Only the cheeses matured in the cellars of Combarou de Roquefort sur Sourzon can benefit from the name “Roquefort”. Penicillium Roqueforti can only be found in these same caves.

Best Blue cheese for Salad | Video Explanation

FAQs

What is the reason for the “blue” in blue cheese?

Some say blue cheese is a serendipitous discovery, and there are many stories about how this coveted food came to be. One well-known legend tells of a young shepherd tending his sheep in the hills of Roquefort, France, who spotted a beautiful young girl in the distance while he was having lunch. He hurriedly left the sheep to his dogs, jumped into the nearest cave, and placed his lunch of bread and sheep’s milk card in a safe, cool place. He ran as fast as he could to find this beautiful little girl.

He searched for days but unfortunately could not find her. Exhausted, dejected, and hungry, he returned to the cave where he had left his lunch. Then he discovered that the bread and cheese had gone moldy. But the shepherd, overcome by hunger, ate the old moldy lunch box. Then he was surprised at how good it tasted. This is said to be the birth of Roquefort cheese.

Whether you believe this legend or not, blue cheese has a long history. Originally, the cheese was aged in caves and when conditions were ideal, a type of mold called penicillium developed. As the name suggests, this mold is in the same family as the antibiotic penicillin, which we are all familiar with.

The striations of this Penicillium culture give the cheese its characteristic appearance. This culture liquid is injected into the curdled milk or formed cheese. Since the Penicillium bacteria cannot grow normally without oxygen, pins are inserted into the cheese, and the air is deliberately blown into the cheese to give it the desired crumbly texture.

How long does blue cheese dressing last?

If needed, homemade blue cheese dressing can be made in large batches ahead of time and kept on hand for weekday salads. Blue cheese dressing can be refrigerated for five to seven days.

Can I add other salad toppings?

Of course, you can. But if you do, it won’t be a classic wedge salad recipe.

Try these other wedge salad toppings

• Red onions
• Avocado
• Homemade croutons
• Dried fruit such as cranberries or apricots
• Nuts
• Fried onion chips
• Hard-boiled eggs

Is Roquefort dressing the same as blue cheese dressing?

Traditional blue cheese dressing is made from Danish blue cheese, which is a little on the dry side. Roquefort is a cheese that is tangier and a bit moister, so it holds together better. In other words, Roquefort sauce is a blue cheese sauce, but with a different type of cheese.

It’s also important to know what’s wrong with blue cheese dressing.

The separation of water and oil is a potential problem with blue cheese dressings. Microbial spoilage is an issue with all types of processed foods; studies have shown that Saccharomyces bailii and Lactobacillus fructivorans are common microorganisms that can spoil salad dressings.

In this case, is blue cheese dressing just blue cheese on the ranch?

The ranch is a dressing or hot sauce made with buttermilk, mayonnaise, herbs, and seasonings. Spices such as parsley, dill, and chives are used. Blue cheese dressing is similar, but with the addition of random pieces of blue cheese. It also contains a lot of vinegar, onion powder, and garlic powder.

So what is the blue cheese dressing made of?

In a medium bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, 1/4 cup blue cheese, half and half, sour cream, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, and salt until smooth. Gently stir in the remaining 1/4 cup blue cheese and season with pepper to taste. Use now or store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Which blue cheese is the best for a salad?