The 12 Best Store Bought Blue Cheese Dressing for Dressing Salads or Dipping Wings!

With its tanginess of bold blue cheese flavor, blue cheese dressing remains a firm favorite for many of us, whether you like to drizzle it on salads or roasted veggies, or it is always the must-have dip for your Buffalo wings!

Although it is nice to make blue cheese dressing at home, many of us struggle to find the time and it can also mean an extra run to the grocery store or farmers market to buy blue cheese. So, the solution is to buy ready-made blue cheese dressing. In this post we take a look at some of the best store bought blue cheese dressings available as well as offer some guidance on what you should look for when choosing blue cheese dressing.

Things to Consider Before Buying Store Bought Blue Cheese Dressing

Although homemade fresh blue cheese dressing can be amazing, if you don’t always have blue cheese in it is easier to keep store bought dressing to hand. It can also cost a lot less to use store bought than to make your own from fresh – helpful if there are members of your family who need to add blue cheese dressing to almost every meal!

Freshly made blue cheese dressing also has a short shelf life while store bought can just go back in the refrigerator and stay there for a while – if of course it lasts that long in your home. It must also be said blue cheese dressing will not smell the refrigerator out in the same way that a big chunk of Maytag will!

Store bought blue cheese dressings are made with a variety of ingredients, but most will have some form of dairy, such as milk or buttermilk along with real blue cheese, or in some cases, blue cheese flavor.

When choosing a dressing, look for those that have blue cheese listed higher up in the ingredients list as this means the dressing contains more blue cheese. It will also contain flavorings such as garlic powder, onion powder, hints of spice and a little vinegar. Be wary of dressing that are made with herbs or spices that you wouldn’t add to a blue cheese dressing at home as these may change the flavor too much.

Blue cheese dressing will also contain an oil or fat. Those made with canola oil can oxidize faster than other oils, taking on flavors of the other ingredients, so this is another thing to consider when comparing dressings.

Blue cheese dressings can be smooth or chunky. Chunkier dressings usually contain chunks of blue cheese for an extra burst of flavor, but if you only have smooth to hand, then you can just add some blue cheese crumbles or small chunks of fresh blue cheese to the dressing for extra texture (and flavor!).

Chunkier dressings are often thicker and better for dipping with, or if you do want to drizzle a thicker dressing, you can dilute it down with a little sour cream, Greek yogurt or similar.

Blue cheese dressings packaged as a traditional dressing are often thinner, making them better for finishing salads and other foods rather than for dipping with.

Some store bought blue cheese dressings can be high in sugar. Ignoring dietary reasons, the higher sugar content means the extra sweetness will take some of the tang out of the blue cheese. Also be careful with those that contain added salt as blue cheese is already higher in sodium compared with other cheeses.

There is no real difference between shelf stable or refrigerated dressings, in fact shelf stable dressings can be an advantage as they keep for longer. Many store bought dressings are shelf stable until they are opened, at which point they should then be refrigerated, but always check the label for the correct storage temperatures.

Safety and Pasteurization of Store Bought Blue Cheese Dressing

Blue cheese is one of a number of foods that should be avoided by those who are pregnant. This is because blue cheese is often unpasteurized. However, store bought blue cheese dressings are usually pasteurized and it will state this on the label of the bottle or packet mix.

If a blue cheese dressing is made with pasteurized blue cheese then those who are pregnant who are struggling to cope without blue cheese or blue cheese dressing in their diet may be able to eat a little pasteurized store bought blue cheese dressing . This is because the pasteurization process kills Listeria bacteria – the cause of a foodborne illness that is especially dangerous to unborn babies.

It is always safer to discuss eating blue cheese dressing with a medical professional first though.

Those who are allergic to penicillin also need to take care with blue cheese dressing although people can be allergic to different strains of penicillin. This means that someone may not be able to take penicillin, but they may still be able to eat blue cheese or blue cheese dressing without having a reaction.

For those who are pregnant or allergic to penicillin, another option is to buy a blue cheese dressing made with blue cheese flavor rather than blue cheese. These dressings are usually suitable for those on a dairy free/vegan diet also.

Just A Few Ways to Use Blue Cheese Dressing

If you only use blue cheese dressing occasionally or are looking for some different ways to use it, here are just a few of the great ways to enjoy it!

Traditionally used as a salad dressing, blue cheese dressing goes well with many types of salad, not least Cobb. It will add flavor to cold, or even grilled, meat, vegetable or cheese sandwiches and wraps or you can mix it in with sides such as potato salad or slaws.

Wings are probably incomplete without blue cheese dressing on the side or if you prefer a meat-free option, then why you can also add a dairy or a dairy free blue cheese dressing. It also makes a good dip for pretzels or even just chips.

Blue cheese dressing is great on burgers, grilled chicken and grilled or roasted vegetables as well as baked potatoes. You can also add some flavor to traditional mac and cheese along with many other pasta dishes.

Blue cheese dressing can be used as a spread or mayo substitute and it can even take the place of sour cream in dips, dressings and more. It is also useful in marinades for meats and vegetables but if you do want to use it in a marinade, keep to milder flavored foods such as chicken or eggplant.

How Did Blue Cheese Become Blue Cheese Dressing?

Blue cheese is any cheese that has blue mold and veins. A blue cheese can be made from cows’ milk, ewes’ milk or goats’ milk. A blue cheese can vary in strength. It can be a mild blue cheese, such as Danish Blue or strong, such as Roquefort or Maytag. Generally, the longer a blue cheese is aged or matured, the stronger it will become.

Although the molds used differ depending on where the cheese is made, blue cheeses are all made in a similar way; either the mold is injected into the curds or the cheese is pierced with rods which then allows Penicillium mold to enter into the cheese and grow.

Roquefort cheese can only be made from Lacaune, Basco or Manech sheep and aged in the Combalou caves in Roquefort-sur-Soulzon in France as these caves are the only source of the mold Penicillium roqueforti or P. roqueforti.

How blue cheese evolved into blue cheese dressing is uncertain. Although salads were eaten by the Ancient Greeks and Roquefort blue cheese was being made in France during the Roman occupation, it was sometime later that the two came together!

It is doubtful that blue cheese dressing came about in France as vinaigrettes were the preferred type of dressing for salad and a cheese such as Roquefort would not be ‘reduced’ to an ingredient in a salad dressing as it was (and still is) very much a food in its own right.

Roquefort was available in the US in the 1850s although at this time, salads were dressed with dressings thickened with eggs. Over time, dressings began to involve into ‘French dressings’ and recipes for these were published in the Boston Cooking-School Cook Book of 1896 by Fannie Farmer. However, none of these recipes contained Roquefort or any other type of blue cheese.

By 1915, as commercialization and processes evolved, mayonnaise was available on grocery store shelves and this also opened the door to shelf stable salad dressings such as Ranch dressings. This also corresponded with a rise in popularity of green salads. Starting first in California but then spreading across other States, green salads became a key food in luncheons served in tearooms.

In 1928 the Edgewater Beach Hotel Salad Book published recipes for a variety of salad dressings, including Roquefort dressing, so somewhere before this, the use of blue cheese dressing had become popular. However, before that, in 1911, chef Rufus Estes, who was chef to two Presidents, published a recipe in his cookbook which used olive oil, grape juice, grape vinegar, pepper, paprika and Roquefort cheese to make a Trianon Salad dressing!

Conclusion

Although blue cheese dressing has only been around for a century or so, in its short lifetime, it has still managed to become one of the most popular dressings around. Keeping store bought blue cheese dressing in is the easiest way to make sure you always have some to hand for dressing or dipping with. It can also be easier on the budget; especially if a bottle of blue cheese dressing comes out with most meals!

We hope you have enjoyed reading our article on blue cheese dressing and that we have provided you with the information you need to choose the best store bought blue cheese dressing for your salads, wings or roasted vegetables!