Easy Nacho Cheese Sauce

This nacho cheese sauce recipe has the best thick and creamy texture! It’s easy to make, store and reheat, great for parties or solo dips.

Fancy a creamy sauce for dipping? Simply try this out Nacho Cheese Sauce recipe! It’s thick and creamy, with just the right elastic cheesy texture. Dip into a crunchy chip and it’s an explosion of tart, robust and sweet flavors: like a fortified version of those store-bought jars. The special thing about it: Most cheese sauces made from flour and butter quickly lose their texture after cooling and cannot be reheated. This nacho cheese sauce is easy to store and reheat, making it totally versatile. That’s how it’s done!

Ingredients for this Nacho Cheese Sauce recipe

Nacho Cheese Sauce is quick and easy to make at home and only requires a handful of ingredients. The secret ingredient here? condensed milk. This magical substance gives the sauce its stretchy body and makes it easily reheatable. Here’s what you need:

• Mild to medium cheddar cheese: If possible, use block cheese. Bags of shredded cheese contain additives that can make it grainy. If you can, grate your own cheese onto a block. Also, avoid using aged cheddar as the flavor is way too strong.
• cornstarch: This makes magic with condensed milk. Use arrowroot powder as a substitute if desired.
• Plain condensed milk: Be sure to buy unsweetened condensed milk! See below for more on this key ingredient.
• onion powder, garlic powder and salt
• Mexican hot sauce: We love the Cholula brand.

Condensed milk and why it’s essential in cheese sauce

Evaporated milk is fresh milk that has about 60% of the water removed, making it very thick. It is also known as condensed milk. There are two types of condensed milk: sweetened and unsweetened. The unsweetened version is used as a thickener in soups and dips. The sweet version is used in desserts like tres leches pie and pumpkin pie.

Why use condensed milk in cheese sauce? The milk proteins in the evaporated milk help stabilize the sauce and keep it from cracking. This helps hold the texture over time. We compared this condensed milk cheese sauce to our standard butter and flour cheese sauce, and the nacho cheese sauce was infinitely better! Here’s why:

• Evaporated milk makes a thick, creamy, and stretchy sauce. The texture is a bit shinier and stickier than a butter and flour sauce.
• Cheese sauce made from condensed milk can be refrigerated and reheated. A regular cheese sauce will tear open if you try to reheat it. This nacho cheese sauce is great for storing in the fridge, then you can microwave it and eat whatever you want, and store it back in the fridge (much like store-bought nacho cheese).

How to make nacho cheese

Condensed milk makes it great better Nacho cheese sauce, in our opinion! The method is very simple (perhaps even too simple). Please refer to the recipe below for quantities. Here are the basic steps to making nacho cheese:

• Grate the cheese. It helps to use cheese you grate from a block, although bagged cheese should work if that’s all you can find. Bags of shredded cheese contain additives that can make a cheese sauce grainy.
• Mix cheese with cornstarch.
• Add condensed milk, spices and hot sauce. Heat over low heat, stirring frequently, until very thick, about 5 to 6 minutes. Keep in mind that it will continue to thicken as it cools. (It may form a skin as it cools, so stir again to incorporate the skin.) If desired, add more hot sauce to taste.

Storage and reheating instructions

This nacho cheese sauce recipe is great because it’s so versatile. If you don’t eat it all, you can store leftovers in the fridge for up to 1 week. This is not the case with a standard butter and flour cheese sauce, which separates when reheated. Here’s what you should know about storing nacho cheese:

• Cool up to 1 week. Nacho cheese will set and soften in the fridge.
• Reheat in the microwave. Microwave on high power in 20-30 seconds until completely melted; This should take 1-2 minutes total.

Variations on Nacho Cheese Sauce

Do you want to vary? Here are some ways to add different flavors to this nacho cheese sauce:

• Stir in the diced green chilies. Add 1 can of 4 ounce green chiles for a spicier and thicker kick.
• Add the pico de gallo. This creates a flavorful and flavorful cheese dip.
• make it vegan Try our incredible vegan nacho cheese: it’s just as delicious (we promise).

More cheese sauce recipes

Do you like cheese? Here are some other cheese sauce recipes you might enjoy: