Cabrales Cheese substitute

Best substitute

Gorgonzola piccante (the aged, firm kind, not dolce)

Use the same amount by weight as the cabrales cheese you are replacing

Best for blue cheese sauce for steak

Close match

Gorgonzola piccante is the best all-round swap at 1:1 - similar strength, similar salty punch, and it melts into a sauce beautifully. Roquefort is even closer in intensity and saltiness if you can find it, since both are sharp, wet and crumbly rather than creamy. Stilton is milder and firmer, so use a bit more of it. Cabrales in a Spanish blue cheese sauce is doing a very specific job - salt plus sharp funk plus enough fat to emulsify into cream - so pick a strong blue, not a mild creamy one, or the sauce will taste like seasoned cream.

Other cabrales cheese substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Roquefort
Close match
Use the same amount by weight, taste before adding salt
Arguably the closest match in character, even though it is French sheep's milk rather than Spanish cow's.
What changes
Both are wet, crumbly, aggressively salty and sharply pungent, and both fall apart into a sauce rather than melting smoothly. Roquefort brings a distinctly sheepy, tangy, almost lemony sharpness where Cabrales is earthier and more mineral. It is often the saltiest of the common blues, so a sauce made with it can tip over the line if you season without tasting.
Best for
blue cheese sauce for beef, cheese boards, dressings, crumbling over pears, walnuts and salad leaves
Cut the salt in the recipe to zero and taste at the end - Roquefort is salty enough that most blue cheese sauces need none at all. It is more expensive than Gorgonzola, so use it where the cheese is tasted directly rather than in a heavily reduced sauce. Both Cabrales and Roquefort are strong enough that a little goes a long way.
3Stilton
Taste and texture differ
Use about 1.25 times the weight
A fine substitute with a noticeably different personality.
What changes
Stilton is firmer, drier and more crumbly-cakey than Cabrales, and its flavour is rounder, nuttier and more mellow, with less of the sharp saline attack. A sauce made with Stilton tastes richer and more comforting but less thrilling - it lacks Cabrales's edge, which is what cuts through a fatty steak. Using a bit more, plus a squeeze of lemon or a splash of sherry, closes most of the gap.
Best for
cheese boards, blue cheese sauces, melting into potato dishes and gratins, with port and walnuts
Because Stilton is drier it melts less readily; grate or crumble it very fine and add it to warm cream off the heat, stirring until it dissolves. A splash of sherry or a few drops of sherry vinegar sharpens it up and pushes it towards the Spanish profile. Blue Stilton, not white Stilton, which has no blue in it at all.
4Valdeon, Picos de Europa or another Spanish blue
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by weight
If the recipe specifies Cabrales because it wants a Spanish blue, these are its regional neighbours and near-identical in role.
What changes
Valdeon is made in Leon from cow and goat milk and wrapped in sycamore leaves, giving a slightly softer, sweeter, more herbaceous cheese than Cabrales. Picos de Europa is a common cave-aged Spanish blue found under various names. Both are sharp, moist and crumbly, and both make a sauce that tastes properly Asturian.
Best for
blue cheese sauce for steak, cheese boards alongside Manchego and quince paste, melting into sauces, crumbling over roasted vegetables
These turn up in Spanish specialty shops and better cheese counters more often than Cabrales itself, since Cabrales exports in smaller quantities. Valdeon is a shade milder, so if you want Cabrales-level punch, do not be shy with the quantity. Ask the counter for their strongest Spanish blue and you will land somewhere useful.
5Any supermarket blue cheese crumbles, boosted
Taste and texture differ
1.5 times the weight, plus a few drops of sherry vinegar and a pinch of salt
The pragmatic answer.
What changes
Generic blue cheese crumbles - usually a mild domestic Danish-style blue - are far gentler than Cabrales: less salty, less funky, and often drier from being pre-crumbled and coated with anti-caking starch. Used at the recipe's stated quantity they produce a sauce that tastes faintly of cheese and mostly of cream. Using half again as much and sharpening with vinegar and salt gets you to a respectable steak sauce.
Best for
blue cheese sauces, dressings and dips, crumbling over salads and burgers, when only supermarket cheese is available
Pre-crumbled cheese often contains starch or cellulose to stop it clumping, which can make a sauce slightly gritty. A wedge you crumble yourself melts far more smoothly. Danish blue and Danablu are stronger than generic crumbles and closer to what you want.
6Feta or goat cheese plus a strong savoury note - the least-bad non-blue option
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by weight, plus 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce or ½ tsp anchovy paste per 4 servings
Offered honestly: there is no good substitute for blue cheese if you cannot use blue cheese.
What changes
Feta gives you the salt and the crumbly texture, and aged goat cheese gives you tang and a little barnyard funk, but neither has the mould-ripened pungency that defines Cabrales. A sauce made this way is salty, tangy and pleasant, and it is not a blue cheese sauce - it is a salty white cheese sauce, and anyone who ordered blue will notice immediately.
Best for
salads and crumbled toppings, sauces when a blue cheese aversion or allergy is in play, stuffed meats
The Worcestershire sauce or anchovy paste is doing important work, adding the deep savoury funk that blue cheese normally supplies. Aged, firm goat cheese works far better here than fresh chevre, which is mild and creamy. If nobody at the table wants blue cheese, consider a different sauce entirely - a sherry and cream pan sauce or a mushroom sauce - rather than a blue cheese sauce with the blue taken out.

What is Cabrales Cheese?

Cabrales Cheese is Cabrales is a pungent, cave-aged Spanish blue cheese from Asturias, made from cow's milk or a cow-sheep-goat blend, with a crumbly, moist, deeply veined interior and a famously sharp, salty bite.

Cooking tips

In a Cabrales sauce the cheese is delivering three things: salt, sharp mould-ripened funk, and enough fat to emulsify into the cream. That is why a mild creamy blue fails - it has the fat but not the salt or the funk, so the sauce tastes like seasoned cream. Always pick the strongest blue on offer.
Never boil a blue cheese sauce. Warm the cream, take the pan off the heat, then stir in the crumbled cheese until it dissolves. Boiling makes the proteins seize and the fat split, leaving a grainy sauce with an oily slick, and it also drives off the volatile aromas that make blue cheese taste like blue cheese.
Do not salt a blue cheese sauce until the very end. Cabrales, Roquefort and most strong blues are salty enough to season a sauce entirely on their own, and this is the most common way home cooks ruin one.
A splash of sherry, a few drops of sherry vinegar, or a little brandy added to a blue cheese sauce sharpens it and makes any substitute taste more Spanish and less like a generic steakhouse sauce. Reduce the alcohol for thirty seconds before the cream goes in.
On a cheese board, serve Cabrales or its substitutes at room temperature with something sweet alongside - quince paste, honey, ripe pear or fig. The sweetness against the salt is the entire logic of the pairing, and it works just as well with Gorgonzola, Roquefort or Stilton standing in.

Frequently asked questions

Can I just leave Cabrales out?

Not if the dish is a Cabrales sauce or a blue cheese sauce - the cheese is the flavour and without it you have cream. If Cabrales is one element on a cheese board, then yes, the board simply loses its strong blue and you can add something else assertive like an aged Manchego or a washed-rind cheese instead. If nobody at your table likes blue cheese, do not water down a blue cheese sauce; make a sherry cream sauce or a mushroom sauce instead, which will taste like something rather than like a compromise.

How strong is Cabrales compared to other blue cheeses?

It sits at the strong end. Cabrales is cave-aged in the Asturian mountains and is famously pungent - sharper, saltier and more mineral than Stilton or Gorgonzola dolce, roughly in Roquefort territory but earthier and with a wilder, almost ammoniac edge on older wheels. Its texture is moist and crumbly rather than creamy. If you are used to supermarket blue cheese crumbles, Cabrales will be a significant step up in intensity, so start with less than you think in any recipe.

What is the difference between Cabrales and Roquefort?

Milk and place. Cabrales is Spanish, from Asturias, made from cow's milk or a blend that can include sheep and goat, and cave-aged in the Picos de Europa. Roquefort is French, made only from sheep's milk, and aged in the caves at Roquefort-sur-Soulzon. Both are wet, crumbly and very salty. Roquefort tastes tangier and sheepier with a lemony sharpness; Cabrales tastes earthier and more mineral. They substitute for each other 1:1, though Roquefort is often the saltier of the two.

What do you serve with Cabrales cheese?

The classic Spanish pairings are quince paste or membrillo, ripe pear or apple, honey, walnuts, and a glass of Asturian cider or a sweet Pedro Ximenez sherry. It also appears melted into a cream sauce over beef, which is where most people first meet it - salsa de Cabrales is a standard steakhouse sauce in northern Spain. On a board it goes well alongside Manchego and serrano ham, since the mild nuttiness of one and the salt of the other both play against the blue.

Can I use blue cheese crumbles from the supermarket in a Cabrales sauce?

Yes, with two adjustments. Use about half again as much as the recipe calls for, because generic crumbles are much milder and less salty than Cabrales, and sharpen the finished sauce with a few drops of sherry vinegar and a pinch of salt. Be aware that pre-crumbled cheese is usually dusted with starch or cellulose to stop it clumping, which can leave a sauce faintly gritty - crumbling a wedge yourself melts noticeably smoother. Danish blue or Danablu is stronger than generic crumbles and a better choice if your shop has it.

Related substitutes

More cheese substitutes

Cabrales Cheese substitute

Other cabrales cheese substitutes

2Roquefort

3Stilton

4Valdeon, Picos de Europa or another Spanish blue

5Any supermarket blue cheese crumbles, boosted

6Feta or goat cheese plus a strong savoury note - the least-bad non-blue option