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Best Cheese Sauce for Veggies or Pasta

Learn how to make a delicious and simple cheese sauce that is perfect for homemade macaroni and cheese or to drizzle over vegetables.

Learn how to make a delicious and simple cheese sauce that is perfect for homemade macaroni and cheese or to drizzle over vegetables.

A couple of weeks ago I shared a recipe for béchamel sauce (with a fairly elaborate How-To and troubleshooting tips). Béchamel is a basic white sauce made from whisking melted butter and flour together into a paste and then using that paste to thicken milk. It’s used in all kinds of other recipes, such as lasagna (like this one!) and soufflés. Scroll down to read more about this cheese sauce recipe, or click here to jump down to the recipe.

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Video: How To Make Cheese Sauce

Adding Cheese To Béchamel

Béchamel is a basic sauce so it’s easy to flavor it up in different ways. One of my favorite things to add is cheese. In fact, homemade macaroni and cheese is made with a cheese-doused béchamel.

You start by making your béchamel and then you take it off the heat to add in the cheese. I also like to add some Dijon mustard and cayenne to mine. A small amount of spice helps to balance all that delicious creaminess.

Using The Cheese Sauce

While mac n’ cheese is the obvious choice, this cheese sauce is also an amazing dip or drizzle for vegetables, especially broccoli. Or how about pouring it over a baked potato and crumbling some bacon on top?

It’s so good you can even just dip bread or crackers in it. Go for it!

I’d love to hear all the ways you find to enjoy this.

More Delicious Sauce Recipes

I’m a big believer that a great sauce can truly transform a meal. If you agree, here are all of my delicious sauce recipes for you to browse through. And, here are some of my favorites to inspire you:

Podcast Episode: Making This Cheese Sauce

Listen to me explain briefly about how to make this cheese sauce, along with some other great tips, by clicking the play button below:

Listen to more Recipe of the Day podcast episodes here.

Print

Best Cheese Sauce Recipe

  • Author: Christine Pittman
  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Cook Time: 15 minutes
  • Total Time: 20 minutes
  • Yield: 2 cups 1x
  • Category: Sauce
  • Method: Stovetop
  • Cuisine: American

DESCRIPTION

Learn how to make a delicious and simple cheese sauce that is perfect for homemade macaroni and cheese or to drizzle over vegetables. For making macaroni and cheese, or any kind of pasta, start with 8oz. (that’s 1/2 of a pound) of dry pasta, cook it, drain it, and then mix it with the sauce. For 16 oz. of pasta, make a double batch of the sauce.


Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
  • 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. Dijion mustard (optional)
  • a pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)

Instructions

  1. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Add the flour and whisk together to form a paste. Cook for 2 minutes while whisking continuously.
  2. Add 1/4 cup of the milk and whisk until smooth. Repeat until you’ve added 1 cup of milk. Add remaining milk and stir to combine. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a boil while whisking constantly.
  3. Let boil one minute and take off the heat.
  4. Add cheese, salt, and Dijon and cayenne pepper, if using. Stir until cheese is melted.
This post originally appeared in March 2017 and was revised and republished in July 2021.