Crumbled Blue Cheese

One US cup of crumbled blue cheese weighs between 112 and 135 grams (4 to 4.8 ounces), depending on how the cup is filled and which source measured it. That range is the answer; a single number would not be. Every figure behind it is below, with the method each source used.

Also called blue cheese, blue cheese crumbles, bleu cheese, bleu cheese crumbles, blue cheese crumbled.

Shredded, grated and crumbled cheese compared: cup weights side by side, the source behind each, and why they differ.

Crumbled blue cheese weighs 112 to 135 g per US cup (4 to 4.8 oz). USDA measures a cup of crumbles, explicitly not packed, at 135 g; Treasure Cave, Athenos and Boar's Head label a quarter cup at 28 g, which is 112 g per cup. The 20% gap is over tolerance, so this entry publishes the range.

Blue cheese is cow's-milk cheese ripened with Penicillium roqueforti, the mould that makes the blue-green veins. It is semi-soft and crumbly, with about 42% water by USDA's figures. It is sold as wedges, which people crumble by hand, and as pre-crumbled tubs.

USDA SR Legacy "Cheese, blue" (FDC 172175) publishes 1 cup crumbled, not packed, at 135 g, and also gives 1 cubic inch at 17 g. That second figure is the solid cheese with no air at all: 17 g in 16.4 mL is about 1.04 g/mL. So USDA's unpacked cup of crumbles is roughly 55% cheese and 45% air, and the labels' 112 g would be about 46% cheese and 54% air.

The labels are the weaker evidence. Every crumbled and shredded cheese tub prints a quarter cup at 28 g, which is the one-ounce serving written as a volume, whether the cheese inside is feta, Swiss or parmesan. USDA's figure comes from measuring a cup of the cheese and says how it was filled, not packed, which is the most specific statement any source makes. USDA's record does not say whether its crumbles came from a wedge or a tub, though, and tub crumbles can be drier and lighter, so the label figure is kept and the range published.

Practical guidance: for blue cheese dressing, wedge salads, burgers and buffalo-wing dips, 1/4 cup is 28-34 g and 1/2 cup 56-68 g. A 5-oz tub holds 142 g, which is 1 to 1 1/4 cups. If you crumble a wedge yourself, weigh it: hand-crumbled pieces vary from fine crumbs to marble-sized lumps, and the larger the pieces, the more air each cup holds.

This entry's figures are for US cow's-milk blue cheese. Gorgonzola and Roquefort, made from sheep's milk, are blue cheeses too, but they are made differently and have not been measured here, so weigh them rather than borrowing this range. Recipes that specify a weight for blue cheese crumbles are the reliable ones; recipes written in cups were measured by someone filling a cup their own way.

King Arthur's ingredient weight chart has no row for blue cheese, so there is no King Arthur figure to check. The shredded cheese comparison page shows blue cheese beside feta and the shredded cheeses.