Cheese Sauce Recipe
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Say goodbye to processed cheese forever! This fast, easy, and better cheese sauce recipe works as a delicious topping on a baked potato bar, pasta, steamed broccoli, or even chicken. Best of all, it’s made with all real food ingredients.
Why You’ll Love This Cheese Sauce
This real cheese sauce is something I’ve been making almost every week for years. Let me make my case for why you should too.
- Made from all real food ingredients, so it’s far healthier than most. Velveeta cheese (the main ingredient of most quick “cheese” sauces) is filled with additives and preservatives.
- This homemade cheese sauce is super versatile and can be used to top all kinds of food from steamed veggies to pasta to crock pot baked potatoes.
- This cheese sauce stores really well in the fridge AND even in the freezer. I’ve tested it many times and was shocked that it rewarmed so well.
- It’s relatively cheap and fast (only 7 minutes) to make this sauce, making it a valuable part of a nutritious weeknight dinner.
- Easy enough to memorize! Even my middle school daughter can make this sauce now. Check out our other 6 ingredient recipes, too.
- This recipe is very easy to double or triple for feeding more people.
Ingredients
Now you can see why I whip up this cheese sauce recipe regularly for a weeknight dinner. Here are the simple ingredients that you’ll need…
Ingredient Notes
- Milk – I use 2% milk, but you can use whatever you have on hand.
- Cream cheese – This lends creaminess. I use full-fat plain cream cheese. Low fat will work, but it just may not be as smooth of a sauce.
- Shredded cheddar cheese – Or you can use another shredded cheese to mix things up, like Colby jack, pepper jack (for a spicy twist!), mozzarella, or Monterey jack.
How to Make Cheese Sauce
Just follow these easy steps (full printable recipe is at the bottom of this post) to make this crazy-good sauce:
Make Roux
A roux–a mixture of flour and butter that’s cooked together–is the foundation of this recipe (as it is in our Chicken and Wild Rice Soup, too) and will add flavor and help thicken the cheese sauce.
To make the roux, melt butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Whisk in the flour, stirring constantly to prevent lumps, until the mixture darkens a little, about 1 to 2 minutes. This helps cook out the raw flour taste.
Stir in the Milk
Turn up heat to medium-high. Pour in the milk and continue whisking to break up any lumps. When the milk thickens to the consistency of thin gravy (approximately 3-5 minutes), turn off the heat and remove from the burner.
Stir in the Cheeses and Seasoning
Stir in the cream cheese until fairly smooth. Then stir in the shredded cheddar, a little at a time, until well incorporated. Lastly, stir in the salt and pepper. If it’s still too thick, add more milk. Taste and adjust seasoning.
How to Use Homemade Cheese Sauce
These are the three main ways I serve this cheese sauce:
1. Cheese Sauce for Broccoli
I took this note from my mom’s book. She got us to eat steamed broccoli by drizzling cheese sauce over the top. This sauce takes steamed broccoli or steamed cauliflower to another level!
2. Cheese Sauce for Baked Potatoes
To build a Baked Potato Bar, I often serve this over Crock Pot Baked Potatoes topped with steamed broccoli, oven baked bacon bits, chopped chives, and sour cream. It’s a cheap and satisfying meal the family will love!
3. Cheese Sauce for Pasta
Another favorite way to serve it is over whole grain pasta on really busy nights. I boil the pasta and add in some broccoli during the last 2-3 minutes of the cook time. While those cook, I whip up the cheese sauce and BOOM…another cheap, weeknight meal is done.
But wait, there’s more! You can also serve this cheese sauce recipe with:
- Instant Pot Brown Rice
- Steamed cauliflower
- Savory Chicken
- Dipping sauce for Parmesan Baked Chicken Tenders
- Baked Nachos
- Grilled Asparagus
Bottom Line: This homemade cheese sauce recipe makes just about anything more delicious, including those roasted vegetables your picky eaters turn their noses up at.
How to Store Leftovers
I’ve stored leftover cheese sauce both in the fridge and freezer. In both cases, the sauce reheated just fine! I honestly couldn’t believe it worked. So, don’t toss the leftovers. Just stick them in a glass freezer container for next time.
If freezing, thaw in the fridge or use the defrost setting in the microwave, and then rewarm in the microwave or over low heat in a pan on the stovetop. You might have to stir in a little milk to thin it back out when you warm it up.
Recipe FAQs
You can use all sorts of cheeses like Colby jack, pepper jack (for a spicy twist!), mozzarella, or Monterey jack.
This cheese sauce stores really well in the fridge AND even in the freezer. I’ve tested it many times and was shocked that it rewarmed so well.
You can use a 1:1 gluten-free all-purpose flour in place of the whole wheat flour to make this gluten-free.
To prevent lumps in your cheese sauce, make sure to whisk the flour into the melted butter thoroughly, and add the milk slowly while continuing to whisk.
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Cheese Sauce Recipe
This fast and easy cheese sauce recipe works as a delicious cheese sauce for steamed broccoli, baked potatoes, pasta, or even chicken. Best of all, NO VELVEETA!
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon flour (Recommended: white whole wheat flour)
- 1 cup milk (I used 2%)
- 1 tablespoon cream cheese
- Pinch of sea salt
- pinch of ground pepper (optional)
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (sub: Colby Jack, Monterey Jack, Pepper Jack, or Mozzarella)
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Instructions
Make It Now:
- Melt the butter in a medium sauté pan over medium-low heat. Whisk in the flour, stirring constantly to prevent lumps, until the mixture darkens a little, about 1 to 2 minutes.
- Turn up heat to medium-high. Pour in the milk and continue whisking to break up any lumps. When the milk thickens to the consistency of thin gravy (approximately 3-5 minutes), turn off the heat and remove from the burner.
- Stir in the cream cheese until fairly smooth. Then stir in the shredded cheddar, a little at a time, until well incorporated. Lastly, stir in the salt and pepper. If it’s still too thick, add more milk. Taste and adjust seasoning.
- Serve warm over steamed broccoli, pasta, baked potatoes, chicken, or whatever you want! Store cooled leftovers in the fridge or freezer for later (see tips below).
Freeze For Later: Freeze leftovers in an air-tight freezer container for up to 3 months.
Prepare From Frozen: Thaw in the refrigerator or using the defrost setting on the microwave. Warm up in the microwave or over low heat in a pan on the stove, stirring occasionally. Add more milk to thin it out when rewarming, if needed.
Notes/Tips
Gluten-Free Version: You can use a 1:1 gluten-free all-purpose flour in place of the whole wheat flour to make this gluten-free.
Can You Make This Dairy-Free? I haven’t tested this as a completely dairy-free sauce. I do know that plain almond milk will work in place of the dairy milk and plain cashew cream cheese (like KiteHill) would work in place of the cream cheese. But I don’t think the dairy-free shredded “cheese” would work well in place of the normal shredded cheese. However, if you have success with a dairy-free version, please let me know in the comments below!
To Make This Into Alfredo Sauce: I often tweak this to use as an Alfredo sauce by stirring in 1 teaspoon of minced garlic during Step 1 (while making the roux). Then, I use grated Parmesan cheese in place of the shredded cheddar cheese. It’s delicious!
Cream Cheese: I use full-fat plain cream cheese. Low fat will work, but it just may not be as smooth of a sauce.
Cheese Substitution: I like shredded cheddar cheese, but you can use another shredded cheese to mix things up, like Colby jack, pepper jack (for a spicy twist!), mozzarella, or Monterey jack.
If freezing, thaw in the fridge or using the defrost setting in the microwave, and then rewarm in the microwave or over low heat in a pan on the stovetop. You might have to stir in a little milk to thin it back out when you warm it up.
Made this tonight to serve over leftover pasta and peas. My 5 year old kept thanking me for making the cheese sauce while we were eating because he really liked it. He then suggested we have cheese sauce tomorrow too! Winner!!
Ha! Love to hear when we win kids over. But seriously, there isn’t much that a little homemade cheese sauce can’t take to the next level! Thanks for leaving a review Brianna!
Such a great alternative to velveeta!
I just used this to make a homemade rice and broccoli dish. The simplicity of it was excellent; I doubled the recipe and made it in a large skillet then just added my cooked rice and broccoli to it. My only advice would be to make sure you use a sharper or full flavored cheese. I used mild cheddar, and even though there were two cups worth of cheese in it, we all felt it was hard to distinguish any actual cheese flavor. Excellent recipe overall and one which will be added to my ‘keeper’ recipe binder.
Thanks for your review, Kate. Good idea about using sharper cheese for more flavor.