Easy Blue Cheese Sauce Pasta

By
Jennifer Meier
Jennifer Meier
Jennifer Meier
Food writer, cookbook author, and recipe developer Jennifer Meier specializes in creating healthy and diet-specific recipes.
Learn about The Spruce Eats' Editorial Process
Updated on 12/8/22
Spaghetti with blue cheese sauce on a dinner plate

The Spruce Eats / Julia Hartbeck

Prep: 5 mins
Cook: 15 mins
Total: 20 mins
Servings: 4 servings
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
274 Calories
17g Fat
19g Carbs
11g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4
Amount per serving
Calories 274
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 17g 22%
Saturated Fat 11g 53%
Cholesterol 43mg 14%
Sodium 432mg 19%
Total Carbohydrate 19g 7%
Dietary Fiber 1g 4%
Total Sugars 1g
Protein 11g
Vitamin C 5mg 25%
Calcium 208mg 16%
Iron 1mg 6%
Potassium 143mg 3%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

This is a super simple, super-delicious blue cheese sauce for pasta, delivering tons of flavor with just three ingredients: butter, blue cheese, and parsley. The soft texture of blue cheese means it melts completely into hot pasta, leaving behind its bold, salty flavor.

For blue cheese sauce with the best flavor, use your favorite blue cheese in this recipe. Not sure what your favorite blue cheese is? Ask your local cheesemonger for a few samples, or try Gorgonzola, Cashel Blue, Buttermilk Blue, or Maytag Blue.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 pound capellini (or spaghetti)

  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

  • 1/3 pound blue cheese, crumbled

  • 1/4 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped

  • Kosher salt, to taste

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients.

    Ingredients for easy blue cheese sauce recipe gathered

    The Spruce Eats / Julia Hartbeck

  2. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook pasta according to package directions. Reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta water, then drain the noodles.

    Spaghetti in a colander, reserved pasta water in a cup on the side

    The Spruce Eats / Julia Hartbeck

  3. Turn the heat down to low and add the butter to the pot.

    Butter melting in a pot

    The Spruce Eats / Julia Hartbeck

  4. When the butter has melted, add the noodles back to the pot and stir to coat.

    Spaghetti being tossed with butter in the pot

    The Spruce Eats / Julia Hartbeck

  5. Slowly add the blue cheese, stirring the noodles so the cheese melts.

    Crumbled blue cheese added to the spaghetti

    The Spruce Eats / Julia Hartbeck

  6. As you add the cheese, also drizzle a little of the reserved pasta water over the noodles, using as much or as little as needed. The water will keep the noodles from clumping together and thin out the blue cheese as it melts so the sauce has a lighter, less-sticky texture.

    Spaghetti and blue cheese being tossed in a pot, with pasta water on the side

    The Spruce Eats / Julia Hartbeck

  7. Once the blue cheese has mostly melted, stir in the parsley. Add salt to taste.

    Parsley added to the pasta with blue cheese sauce

    The Spruce Eats / Julia Hartbeck

  8. Serve immediately and enjoy!

    Spaghetti with blue cheese sauce on a dinner plate

    The Spruce Eats / Julia Hartbeck

Tips

Any kind of blue cheese will work in this recipe. Different types of blue cheese have different characteristics:

  • Creamy and Buttery: Some types of blue cheese are so soft and creamy that they can be spread across bread like butter. Often, the flavor of these super-soft blues is milder and you'll notice fewer blue veins throughout the cheese. One example of creamy and buttery blue cheese is Cambazola.
  • Creamy and Crumbly: Still very creamy, these blue cheeses also have enough structure to be crumbled into large or small pieces. Roquefort is a good example of creamy, crumbly blue cheese.
  • Creamy and Firm: These blue cheeses are firm enough to cut into wedges and the texture is slightly drier, which isn't to say that the cheese won't melt in your mouth when you take a bite. Stilton is a good example of a rich and creamy blue cheese that also has a firmer structure.

Why Is Blue Cheese Blue?

Curious about how blue cheese is made? The blue veins and distinct flavor of blue cheese are the result of beneficial mold added during the cheesemaking process, and a step unique to blue-cheese making called “needling.”


Most commonly, the type of molds used to make blue cheese are Penicillium Roqueforti and Penicillium Glaucum. Way back when, these molds were naturally present in cool, damp caves where cheesemakers aged wheels of cheese. These days, the bacteria are often purposefully introduced after the curds are ladled into containers to drain and form whole wheels of cheese.


As for the "needling," wheels of blue cheese are pierced, either by hand or by a tool that can poke many tiny holes at once, to create tiny openings. Air enters the tiny holes, feeding the mold and encouraging the blue/green veins to form.

Why Does Blue Cheese Smell Bad?

Some may find the smell of blue cheese off-putting—that's because the colorful, creamy cheese contains mold and bacteria that are perfectly safe to eat but release distinctive scents, sometimes described as similar to stinky feet. The smell does not affect the taste, which is salty and savory.