Nacho Cheese Sauce

The BEST Nacho Cheese Sauce is creamy, flavorful and made with real cheese! You only need 5 ingredients and 10 minutes to make this recipe, and it’s so much better than anything store-bought in a jar! It’s gluten free and easy to make. Perfect for making nachos, topping tostadas, or as a dip for pretzels, veggies or chips.

Cheese is one of my favorite food groups! I love a good cheesy pasta, cheesy quesadilla or cheesy dip. In the case of nacho cheese though, I’ve never really been a fan. I think that’s because it’s normally not made with real cheese. That is until now!

This homemade nacho cheese sauce recipe is made with real cheddar cheese and pepper jack cheese for a delicious combination of flavors. A can of evaporated milk makes it extra creamy, and it’s something that you can keep in the pantry, so you can make this nacho cheese sauce anytime!

It only takes 10 minutes to make this sauce (including the time to shred the cheese!) so it’s definitely something that you can add to any of your favorite Tex-Mex meals, or snacks. It’s delicious drizzled over chips to make nachos, of course! But it’s also tasty on top of tostadas, awesome as a topping for tacos, and great as a dip!

Dip warm soft pretzels, crisp veggies, or crunchy tortilla chips, into the cheese sauce for a cheesy good time!

Ingredients

• Cheddar cheese – you can use yellow or white, medium or sharp cheddar cheese. I always recommend shredding your own cheese at home vs. buying pre-shredded cheese at the grocery store. Pre-shredded bags of cheese contain additives that prevent the cheese from clumping in the bag. These additives mean that the cheese won’t melt as well, as freshly shredded cheese. For both the cheddar and pepper jack, I highly recommend buying blocks of the cheeses and shredding them at home.
• Pepper jack cheese – while pepper jack has a mild spice level, if you want a plain nacho cheese, without any spice, you can substitute in monterey jack cheese for the pepper jack.
• Evaporated milk – this shelf-stable cow’s milk is found in a can at the grocery store. In evaporated milk, 60% of the water has been removed from milk, making the milk much thicker and more creamy than fresh milk. This also makes it perfect for making extra creamy nacho cheese sauce!
• Cornstarch – this is used to thicken the sauce. It has twice the thickening power of flour and has almost no flavor, making it perfect for adding thickness to the sauce, without changing the flavor.
• Hot sauce – feel free to use your favorite hot sauce. Pico Pica is a favorite around our house, but I’ve also used Frank’s Red Hot and Cholula to make this cheese sauce. You can add as much, or as little hot sauce as you’d like, depending on the spice level that you’d like to create. You can also omit the hot sauce to make it without spice. If you make the cheese sauce without hot sauce, I do recommend adding 1/4 teaspoon salt.

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Instructions

I’ve included step by step photos above to make this recipe super easy to follow at home. For the full detailed recipe instructions and ingredient quantities, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

1. Shred the cheeses. Shred an 8 ounce block of cheddar cheese and 4 ounce block of pepper jack cheese. Add them to a large saucepan on the skillet, then add cornstarch.
2. Add evaporated milk. Toss the cheeses with the cornstarch, then turn the heat on the stove to medium. Pour in a can of evaporated milk, then add the hot sauce.
3. Combine the ingredients. Use a spatula to combine the cheeses, cornstarch, milk and hot sauce in the saucepan.
4. Stir until smooth. Stir the cheese sauce consistently on the stove over medium heat, until the cheese is completely melted and the sauce is smooth and creamy. Serve immediately.

Pro tips

• Never leave the cheese sauce unattended on the stove. If the sauce isn’t stirred consistently on the stove, it can burn to the bottom. Make sure you’re stirring it consistently and that you remove the saucepan from the heat as soon as the cheese is fully melted into the sauce.
• If you want to keep the cheese sauce warm for serving, transfer it to a slow cooker set to warm. The cheese sauce can stay in a Crock Pot on warm for up to 8 hours without burning, but while staying warm for guests at a party.
• Always shred your own cheese! For the smoothest, creamiest texture of the sauce, shred your own cheese at home using a box grater, hand grater or KitchenAid grater attachment. Pre-shredded cheeses contain anti-caking agents, which can leave a powdery taste in your cheese sauce.
• Never use condensed milk, always use evaporated milk! The cans look similar and sit next to each other at the grocery store, but are very different. Condensed milk is sweetened heavily and therefore will not taste good in a nacho cheese sauce!
• This recipe is gluten free. Always make sure that the hot sauce used is gluten-free. Pico Pica, and most major brands of hot sauce are, but it never hurts to check the label, just to be sure.
• You can use flour instead of cornstarch, but you will need to double the amount, so 2 tablespoons flour, instead of 1 tablespoon cornstarch. This will also mean that the cheese sauce is no longer gluten free.
• The spice level of this nacho cheese sauce is mild. If you’d like to make it with no spice, replace the pepper jack cheese with Monterrey jack cheese and omit the hot sauce. If you’d like to make it spicy, use a spicy cheddar cheese and add an additional 2-3 teaspoons of hot sauce. You can also stir in a 4 ounce can of diced green chilies, or diced jalapenos, at the end for more heat.

How to store and reheat

• To store: place any leftover nacho cheese sauce in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 7 days.
• To reheat on the stove: transfer the cheese sauce to a saucepan on the stove over medium heat. Heat the sauce for 5-10 minutes, stirring until the cheese sauce is hot.
• To reheat in the microwave: transfer the cheese sauce to a microwave safe bowl. Cover and microwave for 60 seconds. Stir, then microwave for an additional 30 seconds, or until warm.
• To freeze: I do not recommend freezing this cheese sauce. The consistency of the sauce will not remain the same after it’s frozen and reheated.

How to make nachos

1. Pour the warm nacho cheese sauce over a plate of tortilla chips.
2. Top with nacho sliced jalapenos. Optionally, add a scoop of sour cream, guacamole and pico de gallo as toppings.

You can also make these Crock Pot Chicken Nachos, and instead of topping them with shredded cheddar cheese, top them with the nacho cheese sauce. Or try this with these Pulled Pork Nachos, Low Carb Nachos or Cauliflower Nachos. Instead of topping these recipes with shredded cheese, top them with warm nacho cheese sauce.

Ways to serve it

In addition to making nachos, you can dip up this nacho cheese sauce with pretzels, tortilla chips, or veggies, like carrots, bell peppers, or sweet mini peppers. You can also make it part of a meal and serve it with any of these scrumptious recipes!

• To top tostadas – instead of a layer of refried beans on a tostada, try spreading a layer of cheese sauce directly on the tostada before adding meat, like taco-seasoned ground beef. As a kid, I didn’t like beans, so this was always how I’d eat my tostadas, and it’s a tradition that I still love as an adult!
• In a burrito bowl – drizzle the cheese sauce over the top of this Vegetarian Burrito Bowl or this Carne Asada Bowl!
• With tacos – drizzled on top of a taco, or served on the side for dipping, this nacho cheese sauce is delicious with a variety of tacos! Try serving it with these Steak Tacos, Pulled Pork Tacos, or this Taco Ring recipe.
• As an appetizer dip – instead of chips, try dipping your favorite Mexican-style appetizers right into the cheese sauce! It’s a great dip for these Taco Crescent Rolls, Green Chili Chicken Rolled Tacos or Soy Chorizo Quesadillas.
• With breakfast – cheese sauce for breakfast? Sign me up! This nacho cheese sauce is perfect to pair with breakfast burritos or migas!
• On enchiladas – drizzle this cheese sauce over your favorite enchilada recipe, before serving, for a tasty finishing touch! Try it on these Chicken Enchiladas, Veggie Enchiladas or Low Carb Enchiladas.
• As a pretzel dip – heat up your favorite frozen soft pretzels, or make your own homemade soft pretzels with this recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction. Dip the pretzels into the warm nacho cheese dip for a winning game day snack!
• Make cheesy fries – cook frozen fries in the oven or air fryer, or make fries from scratch, then pour this nacho cheese sauce over the fries. To make them “animal style”, like at In N Out, also add caramelized onions and burger sauce!

More cheesy recipes

If you love easy, cheesy recipes as much as I do, you have to check out these other blog favorites!

• Cheesy Pull Apart Rolls – viral recipe!
• One Pot Italian Sausage Shells and Cheese
• Cheeseburger Egg Rolls
• Jalapeno Popper Crescent Rolls
• Three Cheese Baked Ziti
• Buffalo Chicken Cheesy Pasta
• 7 Layer Dip

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