Easy 4 ingredient nacho cheese sauce.

This easy nacho cheese sauce recipe only consist of 4 ingredients and its probably already in your pantry and fridge. Learn to make it from scratch with this simple recipe and say goodbye to ever buying a pricey jar of queso dip.

Jump to Recipe at the bottom of this post

Since my daughter has been gluten free I’ve been trying to incorporate a variety of foods and recipes into her diet.

The other day I thought, why not make nachos? She has only eaten nachos once in her life and that was at school lunch (currently virtual schooling).

This easy nacho cheese sauce recipe only consist of 4 ingredients and its probably already in your pantry and fridge. Learn to make it from scratch with this simple recipe and say goodbye to ever buying a pricey jar of queso dip.

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So we headed to the little gas station around the corner, picked up some tortilla chips (restaurant style of course) and as soon as we got home I realized I forgot the dang jar of pre-made queso.

Well, I actually had all the incredients I needed at home.

If you have ever made, homemade – from- scratch macaroni and cheese this recipe will be very familiar.

Best cheese to use in nacho sauce?

You can use a couple of different cheeses to create your own nacho sauce, our personal favorite is using cheddar medium cheese.

The most flavorful way to make your nacho cheese sauce is to buy a block of cheese and shred it yourself. But, if you don’t have that, no worries a bag of shredded cheese works fine.

But, be wary of the “prepackaged” shredded cheese, because sometimes there will be “anti-caking” powder than can cause your cheese sauce to be grainy.

Honestly, it’s your own personal preference, experiment and see which cheese you like the best.

Below is a list of the best melting cheese for the nacho cheese sauce.

Cheddar Sharp Cheese
American
Monterey Jack
Pepper Jack
Mozzarella
Velveeta
Cream Cheese (Don’t use on its own, this will just add rich flavor to your cheese sauce).

How do you keep the cheese sauce from getting too thick?

When you’re making your nacho cheese sauce, the cheese sauce should be able to run off the spoon smoothly.

It should be flowing like a gentle river.

If you notice your cheese sauce is too think just pour a little milk and stir until the correct consistency forms.

What kind of flour can I use?

You can use regular all-purpose flour for this recipe, we used gluten free 1-1 flour. But, you can even use self-rising flour if that’s all you have!

A word of caution, I have not gone out of my way to experiment with wheat flour or even other gluten-free alternatives like almond flour or coconut flour.

So, I can’t say that those ones work, but you’re welcome to try it out and then come back to comment how your cheese sauce turned out. I am very genuinely curious if it works with other flours.

What else can I add in?

Feel free to get as creative as you want.

Spice it up and add a jar of green verde salsa, a jar of mild salsa. Or you can dice up your own tomatoes, onions, and jalapenos .

Use the seasonings you have great options to add in your cheese mix is: ground cayenne, cumin, garlic powder, pepper. You can also add extra salt if the salted butter isn’t enough for your personal taste.

Nacho cheese sauce ingredients

2 TBSP Butter (I use salted butter)

2 TBSP Flour

1 Cups Milk

8 oz bag of shredded cheese (store bought or shredded from a block of cheese)

Detailed directions for nacho cheese recipe

Step 1: Melt the butter in a pan, whisk it, and make sure to watch your butter, do not let it burn!!

Step 2: As soon as the butter is melted, start adding in the flour to the butter pan. Use a whisk to stir vigorously.

Step 3:Let your flour cook with the butter for a minute or two, that way you cook out the four taste.
Step 4: At this point, your butter and flour will have turned into a thick paste almost like refried beans.

Step 5: Pour in milk 1/2 cup at a time. (Pour in the first half, mix until sauce thickens, and repeat until all milk is used).
Step 5: Add salt and seasonings of choice.

If you’re like me and like sodium, but know you shouldn’t add more because its bad for ya.

Step 6: Remove the pot from the burner BEFORE adding your cheese.
Step 7 : Now add your cheese (this way you don’t burn your mixture and it doesn’t get overly thick or grainy).

Step 8: Once all the cheese is added, you can put your pot back onto the burner on LOW heat to keep it warm.
Step 9: Taste it and add extra spices again, if necessary.

Hello beautiful. Kinda grainy because I added an extra cheese that doesn’t melt well. whoops.

Nacho cheese sauce- 4 ingredients only-

Course Appetizer

Keyword Nacho cheese sauce

Author Leticia Carpenter

Ingredients

2 tbsp Butter salted
2 tbsp Flour
1 cup Milk
8 oz Shredded mild cheese

Instructions

Melt the butter in a pan (medium heat), make sure to watch your butter, do not let it burn because that burnt flavor will stick.
As soon as the butter is melted, start adding in the flour to the butter pan. Use a whisk to stir vigorously.
Let your flour cook with the butter for a minute or two, that way you cook out the four taste.
At this point, your butter and flour will have turned into a thick paste almost like refried beans.
Add salt and or seasonings of choice.
Remove the pot from the burner BEFORE adding your cheese.
Now add your cheese (this way you don't burn your mixture and it doesn't get overly thick or grainy).
Once all the cheese is added, you can put your pot back onto the burner on LOW heat to keep it warm.
Taste it and add extra spices again, if necessary.