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My Easy Cheese Sauce recipe is the best cheese sauce for everything from making macaroni and cheese, to use as a dip, and even baking it over vegetables! It's simple to make with 4 ingredients in 6 minutes in a saucepan and is so creamy.
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Easy Cheese Sauce
I love cheese, my family loves cheese, and I'm going to take a wild guess... you probably love cheese, too! My quick cheese sauce recipe is perfect for cheese lovers like us. It's creamy, cheesy (the most important part!), and so easy to make.
Let me tell you, this creamy cheese sauce is good on everything. I make homemade macaroni and cheese with it, top nachos with it, dip french fries in it, and bake it over roasted vegetables. You really can't go wrong with this melted cheese sauce.
It's a perfect, easy cheese sauce for pasta, and the best-ever cheese dipping sauce. Trust me, you will want to make this recipe again!
Cheese Sauce Ingredients
- butter
- flour
- milk
- grated cheddar or gruyere cheese
- salt and pepper to taste
How to Make Cheese Sauce
The key to this amazingly quick cheese sauce is to start by making a perfect roux. You can follow my step-by-step instructions on how to make a roux.
- In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Add flour, and cook for 2-3 minutes until slightly golden.
- Gradually add milk while stirring. The sauce will begin to thicken as you add the milk. Cook for 2-3 minutes and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Remove from the heat and add the cheese. Once added, return the saucepan to the stove over the lowest heat. Stir the sauce constantly until the cheese melts. Season with salt and pepper again to taste. If the sauce is too thick, add more milk.
Quick Cheese Sauce Tips
- Store for up to one week in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
- Add more milk if the sauce is too thick for your liking.
- Reheat on the stove over medium heat, adding more milk, or in the microwave on a low power setting.
Cheese Sauce for Pasta Variations
- Add additional spices: ground cloves, allspice, cayenne pepper, and even hot sauce making fun additions to the homemade cheese sauce.
- Use different cheeses: cheddar cheese and gruyere cheese make the best melting cheese for cheese sauce, but as long as your cheese melts it will work well for this recipe. Jack cheese works well.
- Add onion or bacon: cook onion or bacon in the butter before adding flour for a more flavorful base for your homemade cheese sauce.
Simple Cheese Sauce FAQs
Cheese that melts easily, like grated cheddar and shredded gruyere cheese, makes the best cheese for a cheese sauce. I use grated cheddar or shredded gruyere depending on what I have on hand and what I'm serving my homemade cheese sauce with.
The homemade cheese sauce is thickened by creating a roux. A roux is a mixture of butter and flour cooked together until slightly golden and is the base for cheese sauce. For a thick cheese sauce, I use 3 tablespoons each of flour and butter. If the sauce is too thick after adding the cheese, add more milk.
Gradually add milk to a roux base in a saucepan to create a thick sauce. Add the cheese off the heat and stir, then add back over low heat and continue to cook until the cheese melts slowly. This will give you the creamiest cheese sauce.
Store creamy cheese sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to one week.
Reheat at low heat in the microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring between intervals, or in a saucepan over medium heat on the stove, with added milk.
Easy Cheese Sauce for Pasta
All my macaroni and cheese recipes start with this easy cheese sauce recipe. It makes the absolute best Mac and cheese you will ever taste!
I love to also use it as a dip for fries, soft pretzels, and more!
Cheese Sauce Recipes
Check out my all-time favorite sauce recipes here: Easy Sauce Recipes.
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📖 Recipe
Quick Cheese Sauce
Equipment
- Saucepan
Ingredients
- 3 Tablespoons butter
- 3 Tablespoons flour
- 2 cups milk up to 3 cups
- 1 cup grated cheddar or gruyere cheese, shredded
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Add flour, and cook for 2-3 minutes until slightly golden.3 Tablespoons butter, 3 Tablespoons flour
- Gradually add milk while stirring. The sauce will begin to thicken as you add the milk. Cook for 2-3 minutes and season with salt and pepper to taste.2 cups milk, salt and pepper
- Remove from the heat and add the cheese. Once added, return the saucepan to the stove over the lowest heat. Stir the sauce constantly until the cheese melts. Season with salt and pepper again to taste. If the sauce is too thick, add more milk.1 cup grated cheddar, salt and pepper
Notes
- Store for up to one week in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
- Add more milk if the sauce is too thick for your liking.
- Reheat on the stove over medium heat, adding more milk, or in the microwave on a low power setting.
steve rawlings says
the first time i have ever made a cheese sauce but not shy of cooking so i added at the beginning bacon and mushrooms with garlick, than i put some blue stilton and chedder at the end mixed it all in added a bit more milk what a super super sause it was, thanks for the basic recipe in the begging easy to follow 10 out of 10.
steve R
em says
So glad you enjoyed it, Steve! Those sound like incredible additions!