18 Blue Cheese Recipes Even Haters Will Love (2024)

Love it or hate it, blue cheese crumbles add an undeniable punch of flavor to salads, sandwiches, burgers, and pizzas. Incorporating blue cheese into a recipe is a great gateway for learning to appreciate it if you typically stay away. Here are some of our favorite ways to use the wonderfully pungent cheese, from crostini to salad dressing.

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Grilled Summer Squash with Blue Cheese and Pecans

18 Blue Cheese Recipes Even Haters Will Love (1)

For grilled squash with a uniformly crisp texture, chef Vivian Howard cuts her squash lengthwise into quarters and then removes the seedy interior. This gorgeous summer salad is tossed with a bright, lemony dressing.

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02of 18

Rosemary Flatbread with Blue Cheese, Grapes, and Honey

18 Blue Cheese Recipes Even Haters Will Love (2)

This rosemary flatbread is both fluffy and crusty, and the blue cheese — which goes from crumbly to creamy in the oven — melts in your mouth.

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Creamy Polenta with Three-Cheese Fonduta

18 Blue Cheese Recipes Even Haters Will Love (3)

This creamy polenta with three-cheese fonduta is a luxuriously rich mixture of thick, sweet polenta and three cheeses: whole-milk ricotta, crumbly Gorgonzola, and nutty Parmigiano-Reggiano. Thyme-infused brown butter adds a woodsy, nutty bite to this indulgent side.

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Chicken Quesadillas with Blue Cheese and Caramelized Onions

18 Blue Cheese Recipes Even Haters Will Love (4)

Cookbook author Melissa Clark's tangy twist on chicken quesadillas will leave you wondering how you've never tried this dish with blue cheese.

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Autumn Salad with Figs and Blue Cheese

18 Blue Cheese Recipes Even Haters Will Love (5)

Food blogger Mimi Thorisson's mesclun salad is sweetened with figs, apples, and grapes yet still maintains acidic and spicy flavors from the apple cider vinegar and whole-grain mustard.

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Firecracker Shrimp with Blue Cheese Dressing

18 Blue Cheese Recipes Even Haters Will Love (6)

Leave it to star chef Andrew Zimmern to cook up the ultimate football season (or any season, if you ask us) comfort food: fried shrimp dunked in blue cheese dressing.

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Beet and Blue Cheese Salad

18 Blue Cheese Recipes Even Haters Will Love (7)

Chef Nicolaus Balla's beet and blue cheese salad, made with scallions, herbs, and red wine, is bright and sweet.

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Focaccia with Caramelized Onions, Pear, and Blue Cheese

18 Blue Cheese Recipes Even Haters Will Love (8)

Pear and blue cheese are a classic pairing. This simple focaccia adds sweet caramelized onions and comes together in just four steps.

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Umami Burgers with Port and Stilton

18 Blue Cheese Recipes Even Haters Will Love (9)

Resist the urge to pile any of the usual toppings — lettuce, tomato, ketchup — onto these burgers. "The port is your condiment," explains restaurateur Adam Fleischman.

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Charred Broccoli with Blue Cheese Dressing and Spiced Crispies

18 Blue Cheese Recipes Even Haters Will Love (10)

Chicago chef Stephanie Izard amps up broccoli with a punchy vinaigrette, creamy blue cheese dressing, and an irresistibly crunchy, butter-toasted Rice Krispies topping.

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11of 18

Three-Cheese Cauliflower Gratin

18 Blue Cheese Recipes Even Haters Will Love (11)

If there’s a better way to eat cauliflower than this gratin, we have yetto come across it. A powerhouse of English cheeses — Montgomery’s crumbly and nutty cheddar; Ogleshield, a washed-rind Jersey cow's milk cheese; and buttery, blue-veined Colston BassettStilton — blankets cauliflower florets in a béchamel.

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Stilton-Stuffed Pickled Peppers

18 Blue Cheese Recipes Even Haters Will Love (12)

Two high-impact ingredients — funky Stilton cheese and pickled sweet or spicy peppers — come together to form the ultimate one-bite snack. Pickled peppers, like spicy pepperoncini and mild Peppadew, are packed with enough flavor to stand up against strong cheeses. You can use most blue cheeses here, including Gorgonzola and Roquefort.

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Double-Cut Rib Eye with Sweet Gorgonzola Butter

18 Blue Cheese Recipes Even Haters Will Love (13)

At her modern chophouse, Jar, in Los Angeles, 2002 F&W Best New Chef Suzanne Tracht's menu changes with the seasons. To celebrate summer, she says, "This juicy, sweet combo of Gorgonzola and beef alongside fresh heirloom tomatoes is how I kick off the outdoor months."

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Restoration Salad with Farro, Orange, and Blue Cheese

18 Blue Cheese Recipes Even Haters Will Love (14)

"In each bite, you get a little nuttiness, a lot of chewiness, some juicy bits, a pleasant amount of bitterness, and some creamy richness," cookbook author Ann Taylor Pittman writes of this salad.

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Caramelized Onion and Bread Soup with Brûléed Blue Cheese

18 Blue Cheese Recipes Even Haters Will Love (15)

In their book Wine Food, sommelier Dana Frank and recipe developer Andrea Slonecker pair funky, bright wines with flavorful, vegetable-forward dishes. In this vegetarian version of classic French onion soup, blue cheese and oloroso sherry bring new layers of flavor and depth. Notes of toasted nuts and fruit compote in the sherry pair well with caramelized onions, and its briny acidity cuts through the richness of the cheese.

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Crostini with Grilled Sweet Onions and Blue Cheese

18 Blue Cheese Recipes Even Haters Will Love (16)

On the river, chef Andrae Bopp wraps whole sweet Walla Walla onions in foil and tosses them into the coals of the campfire to roast and caramelize; here we've adapted his recipe for your home grill. Don't skip the zippy honey-vinegar drizzle — it coaxes out even more flavor from the sweet onions and balances the blue cheese.

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Leftover Blue Cheese Chicken Salad Sandwich

18 Blue Cheese Recipes Even Haters Will Love (17)

Chef Jonathan Waxman’s tasty chicken salad is dressed with a mix of yogurt and Gorgonzola cheese. You needn't wait until you have "leftover" cheese to make it, but the recipe only calls for two ounces.

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Macaroni and Cheese with Bacon and Blue Cheese

18 Blue Cheese Recipes Even Haters Will Love (18)

This isn't your typical macaroni and cheese. Onion, bacon, and beautiful blue cheese bake together with pasta until the dish is golden and bubbling, then it's all topped with snipped chives.

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18 Blue Cheese Recipes Even Haters Will Love (2024)

FAQs

What pairs best with blue cheese? ›

Blue cheese is the perfect dessert cheese. Grab some fruit cake or some fresh apples and peaches to finish off any meal. To balance some of the bolder blues, caramelised onion jam, or fruit pastes like quince or fig are also a perfect combo. Also try a drizzle of honey, that is a personal favourite.

What meat goes well with blue cheese? ›

FOR CREAMY BLUES: BEEF

Blue cheese has a natural meatiness that makes sweet love with some actual red meat.

What cheese is most similar to blue cheese? ›

Blue cheese is particularly assertive, so you will want to substitute it with another strong tasting cheese. Feta will work well in many recipes; the texture is similar and it is fairly pungent.

Why does blue cheese taste so good? ›

In the case of blue cheese, the fungi Penicillium roqueforti is what creates the distinctive smell, flavor, and blue veins.

What is the king of blue cheese? ›

In France, Roquefort is often called the "King of Cheeses" or the "Cheese of Kings", although those names are also used for other cheeses.

Is blue cheese good for your stomach? ›

Researchers have proved it's actually good for you. Along with other aged cheeses, blue cheese is great for your gut health and therefore you're over all well-being. Cheese is one of the foods many dieters ditch in the new year, thinking it's calorific because of the high fat content and will cause weight gain.

Can I freeze blue cheese? ›

When you have leftover blue cheese, just throw it in the freezer in a sealable bag. Freezing doesn't damage the cheese and it still tastes great. The frozen blue cheese is always ready to go on top of salads and other dishes. Plus, when it's frozen, the cheese breaks off easily.

What Jam goes well with blue cheese? ›

But classic sweet fig jam with a bit of spice to it works best with sharp blue cheese (Roquefort, Cabrales, Gorgonzola Piccante) and mature hard cheese like Parmigiano Reggiano or Manchego Viejo.

What is the best cracker for blue cheese? ›

Crackers with dried fruit work well for cheddar, swiss, and manchego cheese, while olive oil crackers are delightful with parmesan. Blue cheeses. The sharp, tangy flavor of blue cheese is well-balanced by a cracker with a bit of sweetness – try crackers flavored with honey, dried figs, or berries.

What is the most flavorful blue cheese? ›

Roquefort (France): Largely because it's made from sheep's milk, this French cheese — aged for 12 to 20 weeks — is one of the most pungent cheeses out there. The original and the most assertive of all blue cheeses, some types of Roquefort can be mild, but it is generally known for its deep, briny, pervasive funk.

What are the 4 types of blue cheese? ›

There are dozens of varieties of blue cheese. The four classics are French roquefort, English stilton, Italian gorgonzola, and Spanish cabrales. But today, blue cheese is made in many countries and in a growing variety of styles.

What is the name of the creamy blue cheese? ›

The two different Blue Cheese styles - creamy and crumbly - can be seen in many types of Blue Cheese, such as the younger, creamier Gorgonzola Dolce and the mature, more crumbly Mountain Gorgonzola.

What are the disadvantages of blue cheese? ›

Blue cheese is high in sodium, with 326 mg per oz. Excess sodium in the diet can cause multiple health problems, including: fluid retention. kidney disease.

What is the really smelly blue cheese? ›

Stilton. Hailing from her in the United Kingdom, Stilton cheese is a true classic in the world of stinky cheeses. Known as the “King of English Cheeses,” Stilton is a blue cheese with a crumbly texture and a distinctive smell that can fill a room.

Is blue cheese actually good for you? ›

Over time, regular consumption of calcium-rich foods such as blue cheese protects bone health and helps reduce the risk of developing osteoporosis.. The calcium in blue cheese may also be linked to anti-obesity mechanisms that reduce body weight from fat.

What crackers go best with blue cheese? ›

Fig & Spelt Sourdough Crackers + Long Clawson Blue Stilton

A classic pairing for any traditional cheeseboard.

What pairs with creamy blue cheese? ›

On a cheese platter, creamy blue cheese pairs beautifully with candied walnuts, dried cranberries, fresh figs, pear and apple slices, and onion jam. When popping corks, you can always tempt creamy blue cheese with a glass of prosecco or cava - the bubbles are a brilliant contrast to the rich cream in the cheese.

What is the etiquette for blue cheese? ›

Try not to cut the point or the 'nose' off the cheese, which is often the ripest bit and worth sharing around! Also, take care not to 'mine' into the centre of the cheese, leaving only the rind for others, particularly with Blue and Soft White cheeses.

Does blue cheese go with honey? ›

Blue Cheese is downright heavenly with honey. The sweet honey will mellow out the strong flavor of the blue. PRO TIP: Blue Cheese with a dollop of honey is the perfect addition to any grazing board, especially with a halved walnuts served alongside.

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