Make your own Nacho Cheese Sauce at home with 5 easy ingredients and only 5 minutes of your time! This cheesy, creamy, iconic dip coats those crunchy, salty tortilla chips perfectly. Don’t reach for those canned nacho cheese dips on the grocery shelf, make it fresh from scratch instead!
Reasons You’ll Love This
Fresh and Simple – The simple ingredients in this Nacho Cheese recipe can put your mind at ease if you don’t like buying the solid cheese dip sold in those cans!
Easy to Make – You just need a saucepan, 5 ingredients and 5 minutes before you start dunking those chips!
Go Queso Crazy – Nacho Cheese lovers know that it tastes superior when made from scratch!
Crowds Go Wild – Have last minute guests coming over? They’re going to love this cheese dip!
This is ‘Nach-o’ typical Nacho Cheese recipe! While this isn’t anything crazy fancy, it’s impressively easy to make, and tastes so fresh and flavorful. You’ll never buy a jar of nacho cheese sauce ever again!
Ingredient Info
This is a discussion about the ingredients. For the actual recipe with amounts, please see the recipe below.
- Freshly Grated Cheese – You’ll need freshly grated extra sharp cheddar cheese and Monterey Jack cheese for this recipe. You can cut your grating time in half, if not more by using one of these hand crank cheese graters. You can also get a cheese grater attachment for your Kitchen Aid. This seriously is a game changer!
- Cornstarch – Cornstarch is ideal for this recipe, because you’ll need it to thicken up the sauce. I don’t recommend substituting this for flour, because your sauce will turn out grainy. You can try potato starch or tapioca starch as a substitute instead.
- Evaporated Milk – Evaporated Milk is really important for this recipe! The consistency of evaporated milk is what you have to use to get the perfect Nacho Cheese consistency. Make sure you buy evaporated milk and NOT sweetened condensed milk. I would not substitute this ingredient.
- Hot Sauce – This is where the Nacho flavor comes into play. I used Frank’s Red hot sauce, but you can use Valentina’s, Cholula, or some kind of spicy salsa as long as it’s not too watery.
Step by Step Instructions
- In a medium saucepan over a low heat, add the grated cheese and cornstarch. Toss this together gently until the cornstarch coats the cheese.
- Add the evaporated milk and hot sauce right after. Consistently stir this together until the cheese melts.
- Once bubbly and thick, remove from heat immediately. If the cheese thickened up too much, add a splash of evaporated milk until you get the consistency you desire.
- Serve hot with tortilla chips and enjoy!
Tips & Advice
Christi’s Kitchen Tips
Say Cheese… options!
Monterey Jack and Sharp Cheddar are the ideal pairing and will give you that orange Nacho Cheese color, and consistency. However you can substitute them for other cheeses like Colby Jack, Pepper jack for some spice, or sharp white cheddar. American cheese will give you a more melty consistency. If you use American cheese I recommend getting it fresh from the deli counter.
Storage – You can store the leftover cheese sauce in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days. To reheat, pour it back in a saucepan and heat on low until warmed through.
Serve With – Pair this Nacho Cheese Sauce with Tortilla Chips or other things like cut up veggies, french bread, or even soft pretzels! You can also serve it on top of some fries, tater tots or on tacos, bowls, burritos, etc. This really is a nice recipe to have under your belt for when you just need a good dipping sauce!
Equipment
For this recipe you just need a heavy bottomed saucepan and something to stir with! A hand crank cheese grater is optional but encouraged.
FAQs
A nice sharp cheddar cheese block is the best choice for this Nacho Cheese Sauce recipe.
If your nacho cheese sauce came out thin, add a teaspoon of cornstarch at a time, and stir until it reaches the consistency you like.
Serves Well With
Here are some other fabulous main meals or appetizers that would shine next to or with this Nacho cheese sauce!
More Recipes You’ll Love!
Nacho Cheese Sauce
Ingredients
- 8 ounces extra sharp cheddar cheese (freshly grated)
- 4 ounces Montery Jack cheese (freshly grated )
- 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 12 ounces evaporated milk
- 2 teaspoons hot sauce (i.e. Frank's Red Hot Sauce)
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan over a low heat, add the grated cheese and cornstarch. Toss this together gently until the cornstarch coats the cheese.
- Add the evaporated milk and hot sauce right after. Consistently stir this together until the cheese melts.
- Once bubbly and thick, remove from heat immediately. If the cheese thickened up too much, add a splash of evaporated milk until you get the consistency you desire.
- Serve hot with tortilla chips and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
The nutrition facts provided are calculated using a third-party tool and are estimates only. Actual nutritional content may vary based on the ingredients and brands you use, as well as portion sizes. For accurate results, please consult a registered dietitian or nutritionist.
Meet Christi, Love From The Oven
I’m Christi I love sharing easy & delicious recipes that your family & friends will love. I’m a mom, baker, cookbook author and lover of sprinkles.
