Vegan Blue Cheese Dressing

My husband has been asking for a vegan version of blue cheese (his favorite!) forever. It took me a long time before I could bring myself to make an attempt at creating one though. Blue cheese is tough! Not only is it dairy-based, but it’s a weird cheese made with a very specific type of mold, and unfortunately, they don’t sell that particular type of moldy cheese in vegan form at any of the stores I frequent. The flavor is really tricky to replicate, but I finally decided to give it a shot. I made my dressing with a cashew base, crumbled tofu for texture, and a few seasonings that have flavors reminiscent (to me) of blue cheese, like dill, red wine vinegar, and miso. The verdict: this vegan blue cheese dressing is delicious! My husband said he’d gladly drench his salads in this stuff dressing any day.

What You’ll Need

Raw cashews. They must be raw. Roasted cashews will make your dressing taste like cashew butter, which isn’t at all what we’re going for! You’ll also need to soak your cashews for a while to soften them up.Water.White miso paste. Look for this in the international foods section of your supermarket, or at an Asian market. Red wine vinegar. You could get away with subbing another variety of vinegar, such as white or apple cider if you don’t have this type on hand.Onion powder.Garlic powder.Salt.Tofu. Use extra firm or super firm tofu.Fresh dill. I don’t recommend subbing dried dill here.Fresh parsley. Again, stick with fresh for best results!

How to Make Vegan Blue Cheese Dressing

The following is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dressing. Scroll all the way down if you’d like to skip right to the recipe!

Place your cashews and water into a blender or food processor bowl. Blend until smooth. Be patient — this can take a few minutes, depending on what type of blending device you’re using.Add your miso paste, red wine vinegar, onion powder, garlic powder, and salt. Blend again to mix everything in.

Crumble your tofu into the blending container and add chopped dill and parsley.Pulse the device, just to get everything finely chopped and mixed in. Don’t overblend — blue cheese is chunky!

Now taste your dressing and adjust any seasonings to your liking.Dig in!

Shelf-Life & Storage

Vegan blue cheese dressing will keep in a sealed container in the fridge for about 4 days, or in the freezer for about 3 months. It might separate a bit during storage — just stir it back up before serving!