This is the best homemade cheese sauce recipe you will ever make, with only 4 ingredients and 15 minutes to make! Start with my simple béchamel sauce, then transform it into one of its daughter sauces by adding hard cheese, and you will have a luxurious French "sauce mornay." How often have you wished for something tasty to go with a plain vegetable dish, chicken, or fish dish? This sauce recipe is it! It is so delicious that you will want to save it in your recipe collection for easy reference.
It is very much like the French béchamel sauce, the basic white sauce, which you need for the basis of many dishes.
In France, of course, they use a good French cheese such as Gruyere, but you can use any good hard cheese, such as a Parmesan or indeed a good Swiss cheese, whatever you like or have in your pantry. You can even use half and half of any cheese you have, so never wasting any!
Of course, we are talking about hard cheeses, not the soft variety, which are not suitable for this sauce.
A blue cheese is also good for this recipe, and the sauce is just sheer heaven - that is if you like blue cheese - it is one of those tastes you either love or hate.
It is also a great accompaniment for any of your favourite pasta dishes, just try pouring some over a dish of warm pasta with a sprinkling of black pepper; it's very satisfying.
Do not allow the sauce to boil once the cheese has been added, as this will affect the creaminess, and it may result in a hard mess!
What To Serve This Sauce With
You can serve this cheese sauce recipe with poached chicken or fish like Poached Salmon, cooked vegetables, or you can mix it with cooked vegetables and put them into an oven dish, sprinkle with breadcrumbs, and bake in the oven - this is how you make a gratin!
More Handy Sauces
- Bearnaise Sauce is a smooth, fresh herb-flavored sauce that is good with beef steaks, fish, chicken, vegetables, and even egg dishes.
- This Hollandaise Sauce recipe will give you a rich, creamy sauce used mainly as an accompaniment for fish, asparagus, and egg dishes.
- The best Bechamel Sauce is a basic white sauce, so tasty and versatile.
If you tried this Best Homemade Cheese Sauce Recipe or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. Très Bien!!!
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📖 Recipe
Prep Like a Pro
Before you start cooking, chop, measure, and prep every ingredient, and gather your tools.
This simple habit reduces stress, prevents overcooking, and instantly improves your meals. Mise en Place - "Everything in its place."
The Best Homemade Cheese Sauce Recipe
Equipment
- Sauce pot
- Whisk
Ingredients
- 1¼ oz butter
- 1 oz plain flour
- ½ pt hot liquid not boiling this may be all milk, part milk, vegetable liquid, or white stock. If it is to be a coating sauce, use smaller amounts of liquid to make it thicker and if a medium sauce use more liquid to make it thinner.
Use oat milk for a vegan diet, or dairy-free diet.
- 4 oz 100g grated hard cheese such as Parmesan, or cheddar, or a mixture of hard cheeses.
- Pinch of grated nutmeg
- Pinch of white pepper
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a heavy based saucepan over a low heat.
- Add the flour and stir with a small balloon whisk.
- Cook for a few minutes without browning (this is called the roux).
- Remove the pan from the heat and add all the liquid, whisking continually until well blended. (A balloon whisk is ideal for this purpose and you never get any lumps!)
- Bring to a boil then immediately simmer over low heat for at least five minutes.
- Gradually sprinkle in your grated cheese and mix thoroughly.
- Add a little grated nutmeg and white pepper to taste.
Notes
- Warm the milk first for an ultra-smooth sauce.
- Don't brown the butter; this is a white sauce, not a nutty one.
- Whisk like you mean it; confidence prevents lumps.
- If lumps appear, strain the sauce through a sieve.
- Cook the flour long enough to remove the raw taste, but not so long that it darkens.
- Stir cheese into the sauce well to melt and blend.
Loved it, tweaked it, or not your "cup of tea"... I’d really love to hear how it went for you.