Blue Cheese Vinaigrette Recipe aka Grandma’s Salad Dressing
This Blue Cheese Vinaigrette makes my heart happy! This is my grandma’s recipe and it’s SO flavorful. You’re really going to love this salad dressing!
But it’s not for the faint of heart. This tangy dressing with paprika, garlic, blue cheese, and apple cider vinegar has a WOW taste that you won’t forget.
This is my grandmother’s Blue Cheese vinaigrette recipe with apple cider vinegar. I’ll warn you, some people just can’t handle the flavor punch!
Why you’ll love this vinaigrette recipe
Good food is meant to be shared, people! So I want to share this zingy Blue Cheese Vinaigrette dressing recipe with you.
This salad dressing is a bit different from a traditional, creamy blue cheese dressing.
This recipe is made with an oil and vinegar base and real blue cheese crumbles, which I love!
Blue cheese is a strong flavor and it isn’t for everyone. But if you are a fan, you’ll love the strong flavor of this delicious vinaigrette.
Related: Champagne Vinaigrette Recipe
You can use this vinaigrette on top of your favorite mixture of salad greens and serve it as a side dish or main course salad.
There are a few things you should know about this dressing. It’s super bold. It’s a lot of in-your-face flavor from the garlic and blue cheese. And vinegar. And mustard and paprika.
Because of all the bold flavors, this would be best when paired with simple chicken or pork dishes.
Ingredient Notes
Scroll to the bottom for full measurements and instructions in the printable recipe card!
How to Make Blue Cheese Vinaigrette
This Blue Cheese Vinaigrette Dressing Recipe is a flavor explosion and it’s made a bit different than typical dressing recipes.
We’ve always made this recipe in a large canning jar. It makes it super easy to shake everything together and pop it right in the fridge.
1. Make a Paste
Use a garlic press and place crushed garlic on a piece of waxed or parchment paper. Add the salt.
Use the side of a large knife to create a paste by pressing the garlic and salt together.
My family has always used a mortar and pestle for making this salad dressing. But I never unpacked mine after my move 7 years ago…
I do have a video in this post that further explains making the garlic paste I showed you above. Be sure to watch it if you haven’t already.
2. Put the garlic paste into the mason jar
When you make it on the parchment paper it is really easy to use the side of the knife to slide it right into the jar.
2. Add your spices
Next, add your spices to the jar.
The recipe uses dry mustard and paprika. While I do use paprika fairly regularly (I like to sprinkle it on before roasting veggies), I hardly ever use dry mustard.
If you think you want to make this recipe, be sure to double-check that you have these things.
So often, I am midway through a recipe and realize I don’t have what I need. You would think I would learn from that mistake…
3. Add Oil and Vinegar
Add two tablespoons each of oil and apple cider vinegar to the other ingredients right in the jar.
This helps distribute all the flavors by giving it a little bit of moisture. It helps when you mix everything up later in the process.
5. Crumble the Blue Cheese
If you aren’t a blue cheese fan, you aren’t going to like this Blue Cheese Vinaigrette.
There’s a time and a place for stinky blue cheese and this is it!
This recipe calls for lots of it. But you don’t want huge chunks.
Use a butter knife to chop it up then add it to the jar. You want small pieces so some melt into the oil and make it the tiniest bit creamy.
And I like blue cheese, but huge blue cheese chunks have never been my thing.
6. Add the rest of the oil and vinegar and shake it
Add the rest of the oil and vinegar to the mason jar and shake the crap out of it.
Leave the jar out on the counter for 30 minutes to 2 hours, at room temperature.
This allows the cheese to break down in the vinegar a little and for all the flavors to start to marry.
Then either dress a salad with your homemade blue cheese vinaigrette dressing or put it in the fridge until you’re ready to use it.
How to Serve
We have always served this Blue Cheese Vinaigrette dressing over romaine but feel free to choose what lettuce you like best.
Because this has so much flavor on its own, you may want to choose a lettuce with a more mild flavor.
Iceberg is great. Butter lettuce would be tasty. Romaine is perfect.
Kale might have too much flavor. And you’re probably sick of kale anyway.
This unique side salad is best when tossed in a big bowl right before serving.
This is pungent stuff, you guys. You don’t want a pool of this at the bottom of your bowl.
This is a bold choice to serve when having company. I always have another dressing option available as well. But for those of us who love blue cheese, this dressing is a dream!
Tips
- A little of this dressing goes a long way. It is packed with flavor.
- The longer it sits, the more pungent it gets. While you do leave this to sit for a up to a few hours before eating the first time, you will not want to keep it past 3 days total.
- I suggest you make this recipe as written the first time and then make modifications based on your flavor preferences if you need to the next time.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can buy pre-crumbled blue cheese but I find that the flavor can sometimes be off. The cheese also tends to be really dry which doesn’t mix well. I prefer to buy a decent quality wedge (you know, from the fancy cheese section of the store). And then chop it up myself. You can also buy Roquefort if you see it. It’s usually a little bit creamy in flavor than standard blue cheese.
Keep the leftovers in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. It gets zingier as the days pass. Try to only dress the greens you will eat in the moment. Dressed salad does not store well as leftovers.
No. I have never tried the Outback Vinaigrette dressing. I would imagine that theirs has a little less flavor since they need to appeal to a larger audience.
The Story of My Grandmother’s Blue Cheese Salad Dressing Recipe
If you don’t want backstory, skip this section.
This vinaigrette recipe is my favorite! Not only does it taste great (for some it is an acquired taste), but there are also family ties.
I only know this salad dressing as “Grandma’s Dressing.”
When you taste it, if you like it, you crave it. If you taste it and don’t like it, you never want it again. I’ll explain more about that in a minute.
The story goes that after my grandma tasted this vinaigrette with blue cheese at a neighbor’s house, decades ago, she asked for the recipe.
But they wouldn’t give it to her! So when they were making the dressing, my grandmother made sure to hang around and watch what they were doing very closely.
She went home and wrote down everything she could remember and then modified it to taste. Yup.
One of the many reasons I love my grandma. I’m so glad she stole this recipe.
Dear Grandma, thank you for being sneaky and stealing this recipe from your neighbor.
Related Recipes
- Beet and Goat Cheese Arugula Salad – This salad is a great one to make for lunch with girlfriends!
- Glass Noodle Salad – This unique salad has tons of flavor and a spicy kick!
- Peach Arugula Salad with Burrata – This is one of my go-to, no-cook meals all summer long.
- Prosecco Vinaigrette and Kale Salad – This simple dressing recipe feels fancy
- White Bean Salad – This easy salad is full of flavor and totally unique.
Blue Cheese Vinaigrette
Ingredients
- 4 medium cloves garlic minced
- 2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp dry mustard
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 3/4 cup + 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 cup + 2 tsp vegetable oil
- 1 wedge blue cheese or approximately 3 TBSP blue cheese crumbles
Instructions
- Crush garlic on to a piece of waxed paper.
- Add salt and create a paste by crushing together with the side of a large knife.
- Add garlic paste to a large Mason jar.
- To the jar, add paprika, dry mustard and 2 tsp each of the oil and apple cider vinegar.
- Put on the lid and mix well.
- Cut up blue cheese wedge (or blue cheese crumbles) and add to the Mason jar.
- Add remaining oil and vinegar.
- Shake well.
- Allow salad dressing to remain at room temperature for anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours, before putting it in the fridge.
- Serve on romaine salad.
So delighted to find a blue cheese vinaigrette recipe that doesn’t have sugar! I look forward to trying it.
Hello! We just discovered your Grandma’s Dressing and had it on our salad tonight. It is FABULOUS!! This is a keeper and we will enjoy it many times! Had a kale, kohlrabi, golden beet salad mix. Added some golden raisins and roasted pecans and it was so good! Thanks for sharing!
I’m SO glad you liked it! My husband does not enjoy it so I don’t get to have it very often! Your salad sounds absolutely delicious!!! Thank you for letting me know you gave it a try!
This dressing is amazing… I make it all the time!
So good, right?! I love how it gets a little more tangy each day!
Me too! The tangier the better !! :)