Up Your Pasta Salad's Umami With One Cheesy Addition

When pasta salad is on the menu, it's usually because there's a company potluck or a summer barbeque on the horizon. It's generally a crowd-pleaser and can be made in many different ways. While pasta salads can be a relatively light and refreshing side dish, they can also serve as the main event with the right ingredients and flavor, like cheese.

If you're hoping to find the perfect type of cheese for your dish, you've come to the right place. It goes without saying that cheese is a great ingredient to utilize when elevating a dish. Its flavors vary from mild and aromatic to sharp and pungent. Like everything else, using it in a dish should provide a complementary balance between all the ingredients and flavors you choose without overdoing it. So, if you haven't tried adding blue cheese crumbles to your favorite pasta salad recipe, I suggest you try it immediately. 

Because pasta salads are so universal, a tangy, flavorful ingredient like blue cheese will be the perfect addition for just about any direction you take. This type of cheese can bring out the character and flavor of the other ingredients it's paired with, like vegetables or dressings. Make no mistake: Blue cheese is powerful, robust, and overwhelming if too much is used. It's best to use a small amount (depending on the size of your pasta dish) and add from there.

For example, if you plan on making a simple pasta salad with spinach, cranberries, and a light vinaigrette, blue cheese will complement the sweeter, fresh flavors without overpowering them. The result will be a sweet and salty dish with a nice balance. Or, if you plan on creating a pasta dish with more complex ingredients and a red wine vinaigrette, the blue cheese crumbles will still be a powerful component. By adding the salty, rich taste of the cheese, the overall flavor will be savory and delicious.