Nacho Cheese Sauce
This is the sauce that makes the loaded fries worth making. It takes about ten minutes, it uses things you already have, and it tastes nothing like the jarred stuff.
The base is a simple roux, butter and flour cooked together into a paste, and then milk whisked in until it is smooth. Get that right and the rest is just patience and low heat.
The one thing that will ruin it is heat. Cheese goes stringy and grainy if the pan is too hot, so once the cheese goes in, keep it low and keep stirring.
Preparation Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Serves 4
Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
2 cups shredded cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon paprika
Instructions
Melt the butter in a pan. Add the flour and mix it into a paste.
Pour in the milk and whisk until it is smooth.
Once it has thickened, add the cheese. Cook on a low heat, stirring, until the cheese has melted, about 5 minutes.
Mix in the salt and paprika.
A little tip
Grate the cheese yourself if you can. Pre-shredded cheese is coated in starch to stop it clumping in the bag, and that starch is exactly what makes a sauce grainy.
Keep the heat low once the cheese goes in. If it starts to look stringy, take it off the heat and whisk in a splash of warm milk.
It thickens as it sits, so make it slightly looser than you want it on the plate.
Use it on loaded fries, nachos, or spooned over broccoli.
If you make it, let me know what you put it on!
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