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When you need to pull dinner out of thin air, nothing beats this easy homemade cheese sauce. Just spoon it over veggies or pasta, and you’ve got a delicious meal in no time!
The Easy Cheesy Sauce
Easy cheesy? You know those 2 words together make you smile. Say it to yourself several times, and then make some of this fabulous easy homemade cheese sauce!
Totally random, but one reason I love British people so much is because they seem to share my love of silliness.
Back to the cheese sauce (the easy cheesy sauce).
Believe it or not, this is based on 3 very classic sauce recipes: roux, béchamel and mornay. They all begin by mixing these basic ingredients: fat, flour and liquid.
Here’s the plan for making easy homemade cheese sauce
- melt the fat
- whisk in the flour
- whisk in the liquid
- stir in the cheese + seasonings
Yep! It’s that easy.
Plus it’s incredibly adaptable and can even be made vegan!
Try various combinations of cheese. Add a bit of dry mustard. Use chicken stock in place of milk. Use duck fat in place of butter. See the notes in the recipe for vegan options as well.
I use this sauce several times a week, to make everything from shepherd’s pie to macaroni and cheese.
Want to make soup without canned ingredients? This sauce (with or without cheese) makes a great soup base for cream soups.
As for cooking tools, you’ll want to have handy:
- cast iron skillet (Lodge is my favorite brand)
- metal whisk
- heat resistant spatula
Okay. Yum. Enough talk. Let’s make some sauce!
Easy Homemade Cheese Sauce
Ingredients
- 4 Tbsp butter see variations
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 2 cups milk see variations
- 2 cups grated cheese any type(s)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp garlic granules optional
Instructions
- In a cast iron skillet melt the butter.
- When it's melted, using a whisk, whisk in (ha) the flour til it's well incorporated and smooth.
- Whisk in about half the milk. It will start to thicken. Keep whisking.
- Whisk in the rest of the milk. If the sauce is too thick, just add a bit more liquid.
- Season with salt, pepper and garlic granules if using.
- Go ahead and cut off the heat, and stir in (use a spoon as the whisk will just make a mess) the cheese. It will melt on its own.
- Spoon over vegetables or pasta and enjoy!
Notes
- replace butter with an equal amount of olive oil, vegetable oil or healthy margarine
- instead of milk use and equal amount of plain almond milk, soy milk or vegetable stock
- in place of cheese use an equal amount of homemade or store bought veggie cheese
- whisk in 2 whole eggs (David's mom did this, and her mac + cheese was FAB)
- just increase or decrease the proportions. The trick is to use equal amounts butter and flour to start.
Once you learn the technique you will find yourself making this all the time.
See how many varieties you can think of and how many excuses you can come up with to eat this delicious easy homemade cheese sauce!
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