Quick and Easy Cheese Sauce for Pasta

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My Quick 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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• Quick Cheese Sauce Recipe
• Quick Cheese Sauce Ingredients
• How to Make Cheese Sauce
• Cheese Sauce Recipes Tips
• Roux Cheese Sauce Variations
• Cheese Sauces FAQs
• How to Use Cheese Sauce
• Cheesy Sauce Recipes
• 📌 Pin it for later!
• 📖 Recipe

Quick Cheese Sauce Recipe

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!

Quick 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.

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Add flour, and cook for 2-3 minutes until slightly golden.
2. 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.
3. 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.

Cheese Sauce Recipes 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.

Roux Cheese Sauce Variations

• Add additional spices: ground cloves, allspice, cayenne pepper, and even hot sauce make 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.

Cheese Sauces FAQs

What are the best cheeses for a cheese sauce?

Cheese that melts easily, like grated cheddar and shredded gruyere cheese, makes the best cheeses 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.

How do you thicken homemade cheese sauce?

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.

How do you melt the cheese so it's creamy?

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.

How do you store homemade cheese sauce?

Store creamy cheese sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to one week.

How do you reheat cheese sauce?

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.

How to Use Cheese Sauce

• Roasted Vegetables
• Gourmet Burgers
• Macaroni and cheese
• Use it as a dip for fries, soft pretzels, and more!

Cheesy Sauce Recipes

• Blue Cheese Dressing
• Creamy Parmesan Sauce
• Homemade Alfredo Sauce
• Bechamel Sauce

Try more of my cheese sauces and check out my all-time favorite sauce recipes here: Easy Sauce Recipes.

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Did you try my quick cheese sauce? Let me know what you think in the comments below or send me an email! I love to hear from you.

📖 Recipe

Quick Cheese Sauce

My easy Homemade Cheese Sauce recipe is the best cheese sauce for everything from making macaroni and cheese, to using as a dip, and even baking over vegetables! It's simple to make with 4 ingredients in 6 minutes in a saucepan, and is so creamy.

Cook Time 6 mins

Total Time 6 mins

Course Sauce

Cuisine American

Servings 4

Calories 271 kcal

• Saucepan

• 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

• 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

  

• 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.

Calories: 271 kcal Carbohydrates: 10 g Protein: 10 g Fat: 20 g Saturated Fat: 13 g Cholesterol: 61 mg Sodium: 282 mg Potassium: 185 mg Sugar: 6 g Vitamin A: 710 IU Calcium: 319 mg Iron: 0.4 mg

Keyword cheese roux, cheese sauce, quick cheese sauce, roux for cheese sauce

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About Isabel Laessig

Isabel Laessig, better known as Family Foodie and the founder of the Sunday Supper Movement, is passionate about food and family! She is the author of the Boujee Steak Cookbook, and hosts Family Foodie Friday on WTSP's Great Day Tampa Bay along with other television appearances to spread her mission of bringing Sunday Supper back around the family table in every home.

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