Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Food & Drink

This easy blue cheese dip becomes a dressing in 30 seconds flat

21Oak Contributor
By

Blue cheese dip is a party favorite. If you need a creamy complement to any dippable snack, blue cheese is always a crowd-pleaser. Lucky for you, blue cheese dip is easy to make no matter your skill level in the kitchen, and we have a recipe for you below.

But what if you make too much dip for game day? What do you do with all that leftover blue cheese dip after the party is over and the wings are gone? The creamy condiment may be versatile when it comes to bar food, but it has little use other than as a dip.

Recommended Videos

If you want to turn that dip into a dressing for salads the rest of the week, it’s easier than you may think. Check out how to make the dip, and turn it into a dressing in under a minute below.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Blue cheese dip 

This recipe for blue cheese dip is about as simple as it gets, and you can make it up to a week ahead of time.

Related

Ingredients

  • ¼ cup mayonnaise
  • ¼ cup sour cream
  • 2 ounces crumbled blue cheese (use your favorite)
  • 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

  1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir until blended well. Use the back of the spoon you’re using to stir to press some of the blue cheese into the sauce.
  2. Refrigerate for up to a week. Refrigerating will cause the dip to thicken a bit.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

From dip to dressing

Once you’ve made the dip above, turning it into a dressing is extra easy. Just add a tablespoon or 2 of milk or water to the dip and stir thoroughly to combine. The water or milk will loosen up the mixture and give it a more dressing-like consistency. Now you can drizzle the dressing over a salad with ease.

Our favorite tips

If you have a variety of fresh herbs on hand, don’t be afraid to experiment with different herb combinations in the dressing. For example, fresh dill will make the dressing taste more like ranch if that’s what you like. Adding hot sauce instead of lemon juice will give the dip or dressing a kick without losing any of the much-needed acidity. (The lemon juice isn’t required, but we highly recommend it.)

You can make your own mayonnaise if you’re feeling ambitious. And if you’re used to making dressings with just mayo and no sour cream, give it a try next time. The sour cream gives dressings a nice tang and cuts down on the fat content.

Next time you’re craving blue cheese dip, don’t be afraid to make your own and make a double batch. Now that you know how easy it is to create an excellent blue cheese dip at home and that it takes about 30 seconds to turn that dip into a dressing, there is no reason to buy dips or dressings anymore. With fresh ingredients and no preservatives, homemade dips and dressings are definitely the way to go.

Editors' Recommendations

21Oak Contributor
21Oak Contributor
Former Digital Trends Contributor
The 10 best rosé wines that everyone should drink
It's time to finally try rosé
Rose wine glasses

Rosé rules -- no ifs, ands, or buts. You’ve most definitely seen dudes drinking rosé, with the pink wine sold in forties. Chances are, you’ve heard the term “brosé” at least once or twice in your life. Heck, people are cooking with rosé. Can you believe that? It's a sweet wine worth talking about.

All this talk about the drink prompted us to go on a quest to find the most exceptional ones this rosé season. With plenty of great options in the market, we chose to narrow down our list to these best rosé wines for your next hot date, guys' night, or solo Netflix binge. Still reluctant to try this magical wine? We listed seven reasons why you should start drinking rosé.
Best rosé wines

Read more
How to start your own home bar: the essential spirits
Home Bar

When you start getting into cocktails, drinking them is only half the fun -- making them is part of the appeal too. If you start making your own drinks at home, you'll soon find that you can often create better or more interesting drinks than what you're served in most bars. And even better, making drinks for other people is a great way to try out new combinations, learn about spirits, and make your friends and family happy too.

However, moving beyond the simple spirit plus mixer style of drinks which most people make at home and into the world of cocktails means that you'll need a wider array of spirits on hand than you might be used to. It can take some time and research to build up a well stocked bar, and choosing high quality spirits isn't a cheap endeavor. It's worth it, though, for the pleasure of being able to try out classic cocktail recipes and experiment with making up your own creations too.

Read more
You’re overlooking the most important ingredient in your cocktail
Steel Hibiscus cocktail.

When you list off the most important parts of making a good cocktail your mind likely goes immediately to good ingredients: quality spirits, freshly squeezed citrus juices, and well-matched mixers. You might also consider the importance of using the right tools, like getting a proper mixing glass so your stirred drinks can be properly incorporated, or a good strainer so that there aren't little shards of ice in your cocktails. And then there are the fun additions like elaborate garnishes, bitters, or home-made syrups which can add a personal touch to your drinks.
All of those things are important, absolutely. However I think there's one ingredient that can make or break a good cocktail, and it's something many drinkers don't ever stop to consider. It's the humble but vital ingredient of ice.

Why ice is so important
In mixed drinks like a gin and tonic or a screwdriver, ice is added to the drink primarily to chill it down to a pleasing temperature. That's a topic we'll come back to. But in cocktails which are shaken or stirred, ice is far more important than that. Cocktails are typically composed of between around 20 to 30 percent water, and this water comes from the ice used in the preparation process.
When you stir ingredients in a mixing glass or shake them in a shaker with ice, you are chipping away small pieces of the ice so that it dissolves and blends with your other ingredients. You might imagine that water doesn't make much of a difference to taste, being tasteless itself. But it's vital in opening up the flavors of other ingredients. That's why many whiskey drinkers like to add a dash of water to their whiskey when they drink it neat.
If you're ever in doubt of how important water is to cocktails, it's worth trying to make a drink with no ice. Even if you mix up the ideal ratios for a drink that you love and put it into the freezer so that it gets to the chilled temperature that you usually enjoy it at, if you sip it you'll find that your drink tastes harsh, unbalanced, and incomplete. Even for special room temperature cocktails like those designed to be drunk from a flask, you'll generally find water being added at a rate of around 30%.
When you make your cocktails you should be sure to stir for a long time – around 30 seconds is a good start – or to shake for a good while too – I typically do around 12 to 15 seconds – in order to melt enough ice to get plenty of water into your cocktail. Despite what you might imagine, this won't make the cocktail taste watery but will rather make the flavors stand out more as well as often improving the mouthfeel of the drink. A good rule of thumb is to mix or shake until the vessel is cold to the touch. That means your ingredients are sufficiently incorporated with the ice.

Read more