Light Blue Cheese Dressing

This homemade Light Blue Cheese Dressing has less fat and calories but is loaded with fresh, tangy flavor. A far less guilty way to enjoy creamy blue cheese dressing.

You can line up all the vinaigrettes in the world and still there are those times when the only thing that will truly satisfy is a creamy salad dressing. Do you feel this? Especially a creamy blue cheese dressing. There’s just something about a tangy, luxurious blanket of blue cheese dressing that takes a simple green salad to the most delicious place. You can indulge in this heavenly experience with far less guilt with this Light Blue Cheese Dressing.

We spent the last week on the road touring college campuses with Boy #4, which just so happen to be in some of the most beautiful areas of California. We thought the decision of which school he will ultimately attend would be easier once we visited; this was not the case. In the end, he will choose one but we really enjoyed visiting the different college towns and pondering the possibilities of him living in each one.

What is it about being away from home that makes you feel exempt from calories? One thing these towns all have in common are some incredible restaurants. And, of course, we felt compelled to try them all. Luckily, the tours were walking tours and I’m not kidding when I say walking tours. It felt like we had covered 100 miles by the time we were done with our 4th campus tour in a week. We came home tired, sore, and ready to lighten things up. 

Healthier than Store-Bought Dressing

For me lightening up frequently involves salad, but topping a healthy salad with a high calorie, high fat store-bought dressing kind of defeats the purpose. Making your own Light Blue Cheese Salad Dressing at home using low fat dairy products, allows you to indulge the creamy dressing craving while eliminating a lot of the fat grams in the bottled variety.

Ingredient Notes

Mayonnaise – Use a healthy fat mayo like olive oil mayonnaise
Light sour cream – To significantly reduce the fat, I replace a good amount of mayonnaise with light sour cream.
Blue cheese – Pick up a container of crumbled blue cheese from the deli section of your grocery store. Or, slice a piece off a block of blue cheese, place it in a plastic sandwich bag and use your fingers to crumble it up. See more below of the different varieties of blue cheese I like best for blue cheese dressing.
Fresh chives – A fabulous way to add a hint of fresh onion flavor to salad dressings.
White wine vinegar – For a little vinegary tang.
Minced garlic – Freshly minced garlic cloves are better than the jarred variety in salad dressing or any recipe that isn’t cooked.
Lemon – The juice from half a lemon adds a zippy burst of fresh flavor.
Salt and pepper – Add as much as you’d like, to taste.
Milk – Add a little 2% reduced fat milk to thin the dressing to the desired consistency.

What is the Best Blue Cheese for Salad Dressing?

There are a lot of varieties of blue cheese available and you should go with the flavor profile you like best. Here are my favorites.

• Gorgonzola – This popular Italian cheese is milder and sweeter than other varieties. Gorgonzola is not as powerful as many other varieties and a wonderful choice for blue cheese dressing.
• Roquefort – A French blue cheese for true blue cheese lovers! Roquefort is one of the more powerful varieties in both flavor and aroma. It’s pungent, slightly moist, and crumbles well.
• Stilton – Produced in England, Blue Stilton has a very strong aroma and creamy, rich, complex flavor.
• Danish Blue – Semi-soft and creamy, it’s similar in flavor to Roquefort. Strong in both aroma and flavor.
• American – There is a lot of excellent blue cheese produced in the United States. Point Reyes Blue from California, Hook’s Blue from Wisconsin, and Oregon Blue from Rogue Creamery in Oregon are just a few. All different, but all delicious.

How to Make Light Blue Cheese Dressing

1. Add the sour cream, mayonnaise, minced garlic, vinegar, lemon juice, crumbled blue cheese, chives, salt, and pepper to a mixing bowl.
2. Mix it together and add as much milk as needed to obtain the desired consistency.

For a blue cheese salad dressing, thin it to a pourable consistency. If you want to use this recipe as a blue cheese dip or topping, add less milk for a thicker consistency.

Storage Tips

Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 5 to 7 days. A wide mouth mason jar works really well. Plastic storage lids for mason jars are nice to have for storing dressings and sauces.

Serving Suggestions

• Salad – Toss a green salad and add ingredients that pair well with blue cheese like cherry tomatoes, cucumber, walnuts, dried cranberries, and fresh chopped apple or pear. Light Blue Cheese Dressing is wonderful on a Simple Italian Salad or Chicken Cobb Salad.
• Dipping sauce – Buffalo wings, chicken fingers, pizza and veggies are all better when dunked in thick blue cheese dressing!
• Baked potato topping – Set out blue cheese dressing with a variety of other toppings for amazing loaded baked potatoes.
• Sandwich spread – Spread it on Classic Beef Burgers or Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken Sandwiches.

More Salad Dressing Recipes

• Honey Balsamic Vinaigrette
• Basil Buttermilk Dressing
• Classic Cobb Salad Dressing
• Homemade Italian Dressing