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My homemade cheese sauce is ultra-creamy, wildly easy, and totally better than anything from a jar. Mild for kids, bold enough for nachos—amazing on everything!
A Reader’s Review
Best cheese sauce EVER! Children and grandchildren think it’s the best ever, including me. Thank you so much!
Secrets To Cheese Sauce Success!
- Only 4 Ingredients! Why complicate perfection? This sauce is simple, fast, and full of flavor.
- Sharp Cheddar is My Flavor Secret! Rich, flavorful sharp cheddar cheese is the reason my cheese sauce stands out above the crowd!
- Melt Slow and Low: My secret to not having lumpy, clumpy cheese sauce is adding the cheese right at the end so it doesn’t get too hot and taking it off the heat as soon as it melts!
Homemade Cheese Sauce Ingredients
- Mix It Up! Different cheeses = different vibes. Try Swiss or Gruyère for silky bread dips or Monterey Jack when nachos call your name.
- Spice It Up! Feeling bold? Add hot sauce, chili peppers, cayenne pepper, or Rotel for that extra kick your taste buds desire.
- Grate it fresh! Bagged cheese might be easy, but it won’t melt like a dream. Ditch the pre-shredded cheese and grab a grater. Trust me, your cheese sauce will thank you.
How to Make Homemade Cheese Sauce
My easy homemade cheese sauce recipe uses simple ingredients and comes together fast—perfect for vegetables, nachos, or dipping! It’s seriously the best cheese sauce!
- Melt: In a medium-sized saucepan, add the unsalted butter. Heat over medium heat until it melts.
- Whisk: Whisk in the all-purpose flour until it makes a roux.
- Stir: Add in the milk and shredded cheddar cheese to the flour mixture and stir to combine.
- Melt: Whisk until the cheese is melted and smooth.
Alyssa’s Pro Tips!
Storing and Reheating Leftovers
If you want to make this homemade cheese sauce ahead, or you are in the rare position of having leftovers, this cheese sauce stores well and is easy to heat and use again.
- In The Refrigerator: You will need to keep your cheese sauce in an airtight container for up to 2 days.
- To Reheat: Microwave for 30 seconds, then stir and repeat until it is heated through. Add a splash of milk if the sauce is too thick.
What to Serve with Cheese Sauce
Pour, dip, or drizzle it over pretzel bites, cauliflower fritters, nachos, french fries, baked potatoes, tortilla chips, pasta, steamed broccoli—or pile it onto a roast beef sandwich. Here are a few more ideas!
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Easy 4-Ingredient Cheese Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 cup milk
- 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Instructions
- In a medium-sized sauce pan, add 2 tablespoons unsalted butter. Heat over medium-high heat until the butter melts.
- Whisk 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour until it makes a paste.
- Add 1 cup milk and 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese and stir to combine.
- Whisk until the cheese is melted and smooth, and serve!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Good base. I add a few cracks of sea salt, a teaspoon of paprika, and a tablespoon of mustard.
Very good. So easy. Thank you. I followed it exactly as you said. ?
Great recipe;I put hard boiled egg slices on toast then topped it with your sauce; delicious !
Thank you, I’m so glad yo liked it! That sounds amazing, I’ll have to try it! My favorite way to enjoy this sauce is with my baked soft pretzels. I’m drooling just thinking about it!
Can you chill this and warm back up for later and if so is there anything special that needs to be done to reheat it?
Thank you for your question! You can refrigerate and reheat it with no issue! I would just gradually reheat so it doesn’t boil in some areas. ie. 30 sec in the microwave, stir, 30 sec, stir. Or on low heat stirring continually. I hope that helps!
Should I warm the milk before adding it to the pan? Thanks!
It would be nice to have a printed recipe with amounts
Hi Glenna! If you click on ‘jump to recipe’ at the top of the page it will take you to the printable recipe card.
turned out yummy i used a little corn starch and also put parm cheese in it to thicken was really good
I tried to make this, but it was not good! I wish that I could have tried it with all the original recipes but I had to make due with what we had, y’know? I subbed chicken broth for the milk, and corn starch for the flour. We did have blue cheese as well which we added to the provolone we melted. Bummer, the family was looking forward to a delicious cheese sauce, and it tasted horrible!
I don’t think it’s fair you post your opinion on the recipe if you didn’t even follow it. You can not substitute chicken broth for milk. You need a cream base for cheese!! Literally this is the base reciepe for any cheese sauce on the internet and it will taste good if you actually follow it.
Guarantee it’s satire. Exactly to get the reactions it did. But you absolutely can use chicken broth in place of milk. It’s rare but I do so sometimes. Done right, it can be used to make overcooked chicken palatable.
I was thinking exactly the same Amber! One wouldn’t use chicken broth instead of milk for making a cup of hot chocolate I would hope.
This comment is so funny! Oh my goodness I can’t stop laughing. Its one of the easiest, most delicious cheese sauces. Maybe it would’ve tasted better if you substituted the butter for crisco too.
My dude, you literally didn’t do a single thing the recipe said except use butter. That kind of sounds like a you problem!
Corn starch for flour is actually a decent substitute, I use it often as I’m gluten free. But different cheeses make the sauce taste different and in what universe is chicken broth even CLOSE to milk!?
Sorry, that’s your fault. I really truly hope your comment was satire.
So you’re saying you didn’t make this recipe at all. Why are you commenting on this recipe?
I love a good satire post! Especially when people get up in arms over it.
Soooo… you made something completely different, substituting 75% of the ingredients, and said it wasn’t good?!?
Creamy, Delicious & Quick to make!! I made it to serve with steamed cauliflower, WOW!! Zero cauliflower leftover, everyone LOVED IT!! I only added a bit of low sodium salt & fresh ground pepper, Fantastic! (It gave me an idea, I will make a cauliflower or broccoli cheese soup with it!!) Thank you!!!
Tasted like raw bread
Suggestions please regarding those of us who must be gluten free?
Replace the flour with a cornstarch slurry to thicken.
Dozens of other sites list a cheese sauce using gluten-free flour and no other changes. Most just substitute 1-to-1 but a few recommend against certain flours. Cheap to experiment with. 1/2 tbsp butter melted (or oil, works the same), same amount as flour, stir in 1/4 water and let it simmer. If it thickens, that flour probably works.
Really good, just needs salt!
Something not quite right,1 cup of milk? And it states it’s for 12 people,that’s not a lot of sauce imo.
The sauce is meant to be used to dip. So with the cups of milk, 2 cups of cheese, and other ingredients, it will serve 10-12 people as an dip to some delicious pretzels or bread!
Very easy to make. Made in one pan.
The cheese sauce is creamy and delicious! I will definitely make this again.
Great recipe but you don’t say when to add milk. It is left out of the recipe. I added it in once the butter and flour had dissolved, and then once it became thick I added the cheese.
tried this with broth as substitute for milk… amazing, i do recommend a slightly diluted broth though