Skip the store-bought bottle of salad dressing and make our easy creamy vinaigrette. It’s absolutely perfect for this simple salad with blue cheese, blueberries, and walnuts. For more easy salad recipes, see our balsamic strawberry salad or this seriously good steak salad. And if you love blue cheese like me, don’t miss our homemade blue cheese dressing!
Key Ingredients
Lettuce: Use your favorite salad greens. For this simple salad, I love mild baby lettuces like butter, red leaf, or even baby bok choy. Blueberries: Fresh blueberries are fantastic when in season, but if they’re hard to find, try other fruits like strawberries, chopped apples, or dried blueberries. I use strawberries for this strawberry iceberg salad with blue cheese. Walnuts: Toasted walnuts add a buttery, mild flavor that complements the blue cheese. Toast them before adding to the salad to enhance their taste. Blue Cheese: I recommend creamy Gorgonzola or Danish blue cheese for this salad, but feel free to use your favorite variety. Simple Dressing: This easy dressing is similar to my balsamic vinaigrette. Whisk together sour cream, red wine vinegar, olive oil, Dijon mustard, and strawberry jam for a creamy, bright, and slightly sweet dressing. Optional Protein: To turn this into a dinner-worthy salad, consider adding roasted shrimp, juicy chicken breast, poached salmon, marinated steak, or this baked tofu!
1/2 cup (75g) blueberries 1/4 cup (30g) walnut halves, lightly toasted 1 ounce (28g) blue cheese, crumbled 2 tablespoons sour cream 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard 1 teaspoon strawberry jam Salt and fresh ground black pepper 2Whisk the sour cream, red wine vinegar, olive oil, mustard, and jam in a large bowl. Taste and season with salt and a few grinds of black pepper. 3Pour about half of the dressing into a small bowl. Add lettuce, blueberries, walnuts, and cheese to the large bowl and gently toss. Add more dressing as needed.
