Cheese Sauce

This recipe makes a delicious cheese sauce, providing you assemble it the right way! Bring the milk to a boil with 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper (left out the food coloring), then whisk in the milk-corn starch slurry. It will thicken almost immediately. Let it boil for a minute or so, stirring the whole time, then remove it from the heat and stir in the cheese. The sauce has a great consistency and is very tasty. It does have a slight grainy texture, but ANY sauce made with real cheese is like that. We had it over corkscrew pasta and it was like fancy mac and cheese, would be excellent over broccoli or cauliflower. My boyfriend thought it tasted like something you'd get at a restaurant.

Please listen, save your cheese milk cornstarch and time and look for another recipe. This does not cook right and we have tried it a few times and have learned the hard way! Like most of the other people are saying, it DOES go grainy and is way way too runny and the taste and looks of it is ugh. Me and my fiance spent way tooo much time on this and wasted milk cheese and now have nothing to dip our coliflower into.

This is the best cheese sauce I have ever made. I used Cheddar. It worked the first time I made it - perfect texture, NOT RUNNY... quick(5 min.)/simple/mmgood!

This is a great basic recipe for cheese sauce.. it just has the order of adding things a bit backwards... -do the 1/2 cup milk and cornstartch and set it aside. -in a sauce pan bring to a boil 2 cups milk and seasonings. -once the milk boils add the milk/cornstartch mixture. -once everything is mixed together and it thickens (it will thicken alot) THEN ADD YOUR CHEESE -As with most sauces you add the cheese LAST not first!! This turned out creamy and super yummy for me. I poured it over rotini noodles and it was perfect!! -i also used up some heavy whipping cream i had left over from alfredo sauce. So what i did was used the rest of my heavy whipping cream with milk (just mixed it all together)

I find I needed to add a bit of sherry or lemon juice to the cheese a few minutes before cooking this. THat keeps the cheese from becoming stringy. Also, cut back on the milk a bit. It's a great sauce! I've tried to do cheese sauce by hand before and failed miserably.

I thought this recipe was going to be runny like the people had mentioned above but it's not. You have to let it boil first and then it will thicken. I only added 2 cups of milk because of what was mentioned in the other reviews but I think all of it would have worked as well.It turned out very thick and delicious!!

Nope, did not turn out for me either. I'm wondering if it could be the type of cheese used, or even milk. I always use skim milk, but mayb whole or 2% would be better.

Followed the recipe (and I do cook quite a bit) EXACTLY. Inedible. A waste of milk and cheese.

My kids really like this sauce. I use more cheese than is stated, but I didn't measure it (sorry). I do not normally have cornstarch, but used arrowroot instead and it thickened nicely after gently boiling it. I use this sauce for veggies, but I have also poured it into a baking dish with some noodles, baked it for 25ish minutes and made a mac-n'-cheese my boxed-character-shaped-mac-and-cheese-only kids scarfed! Thanks for the recipe!

I made this sauce for dinner last night and was very pleased. It's the first time I've made a cheese sauce before and I was glad it came out. it was very tasty. I did not bother to add the food dye since it looked fine without it.

this will do in a pinch but it wont become a regular over here. i didnt add the food coloring it just seemed wrong. that said they ate all their veggies tonight.

This sauce is a great basic cheese sauce that makes my kiddos inhale at least a couple servings of veggies! I sub cheddar as I always have it on hand. I think what some of the other reviewers are missing is after you mix in the milk with the cornstarch, continue cooking it on low heat until it thickens, around 10 minutes. Thanks for the recipe.

I expected this to be much thicker. I kept waiting for it to thicken, and it just didn't. It was just cheese flavored milk. Finally, I added a whole lot more cheese. I have no idea how much. I just grated it right into the sauce pan until it seemed like it would work. I poured it over brocolli and cauliflower served over baked potatoes. After all that work and time, the potatoes were cold, but the sauce DID taste good in the end.

This sauce was bland and blah. I melted the cheese VERY slowly and it still curdled. It took forever to thicken, and was really an odd colour, despite the food colouring. I will look for another recipe next time.

If zero stars were possible, it would apply here. I was looking for an alternative to Velveeta. This was simply cheese favored milk. Don't bother.

I halved the recipe because I only needed it over broccoli, and there was still alot. The recipe is time consuming because it's important to slowly melt the cheese over low heat so that it doesn't scorch or clump, and it's equally important to bring the cheese to a boil after the corn starch is added so that the sauce thickens. I wouldn't mind spending the time if I was "wowed" by the recipe, but my family found it pretty bland - I even added a teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce. The one really great positive is that my 15-month-old son, who never eats broccoli, ate every last bite with the cheese sauce! That alone will cause me to experiment with this recipe again.

A problematic recipe. Didn't come together well. Needs a lot more cheese, at least a cup more, if that amount of milk is going to be used. Also, I think the procedure is a little backwards; it would probably work better if the milk and cornstarch were heated together first to make a kind of white sauce, and then the cheese were added.

My son, who usually likes broccoli, spit his broccoli out when I put this cheese sauce on it. It was gritty and bland.

This recipe was a pretty good basic cheese sauce, although I used cheddar. It is obviously "combine cheese with 2 cups milk and melt" instead of "combine cheese with 2 cups cheese and melt". Too bad about that.

I have been looking for a quick & easy cheese sauce to help tempt my little ones to eat their veggies. This did the trick! I used medium sharp cheddar with great results. note: I followed the advice of other reviewers and added the cheese LAST. I boiled milk with spices & then added the cornstarch (mixed with a small amnt of milk to make paste) once thickened up, then I added the cheese. (I may have used a bit extra - we love cheese!) YUM! it was super creamy & delicious ;-)

love this on mac and cheese X3

This is not a good recipe. The cheese never melts in the milk, instead it just turns into a zillion little curds. Then after you add the cornstarch, no matter how long you wait it does not thicken properly. So it's a thin, watery sauce full of curds. I was embarrassed to serve this to my boyfriend.

Made this to go over macaroni. Flavor was decent but the recipe itself needs some tweaking. Like several others have said, the milk needs to be heated to boiling for the cornstarch to do it's thing. I also agree with several others that it needs more cheese and/or less milk.

This cheese sauce has quite a grainy texture, if you were wanting to put noodles or some sort of pasta into the sauce, it would be somewhat usable. To make a better effect on the thickness of the sauce I suggest putting flour into the mixture towards the end of making the recipe. I tried putting more corn starch in as I was preparing the sauce and I noticed that the texture began to get lumpy. I definitely would not recommend this cheese sauce recipe to anyone, unless you are going to put it into another recipe; with noodles or mac and cheese.

Disappointing. Why didn't I read the reviews properly? Awful texture - watery with rubbery clumps of cheese. What a shame and a waste. Cheese is not cheap. I'll go back to my old way of doing cheese sauce!

This is a nice, easy and quick recipe that even my toddler loves! I omit the food coloring & red pepper. I have used a variety of cheeses and this recipe is very adaptable and always tasty.

No stars for this one; it curdled, looked bad and didn't have much "cheese" flavor although I used twice the cheese called for:(

This recipe was really good over veggies but NOT over tortilla chips. I added all ingredients together then *slowly* melted cheese, then I increased heat just a bit till corn starch had a chance to thicken. I did use about 1/2 cup more cheese just because I used skim milk. And I did add about 1/2 teaspoon of paprika and instead of garlic salt used garlic powder.

Super easy and delicious! Food coloring unnecessary though. I also added a little cayenne for some spiciness.

my son and I tried this...we had a craving for mac n cheese =). I had to use evap milk+ H2O, because I was out of milk. I didn't measure the cheese, but I did use a variety mix (sharp ched, parm, colby, "mexican blend")..the texture wasnt velvety smooth..but it worked. we adjusted the flavor by adding seasonings and different cheeses. this is a good basic recipe to experiment with..worked for us.

Turned out to be a great recipe, it wasn't grainy at all as some poeple complained. Followed the tip from The Bunny Chef in terms of ordering, and it was just purrfect! And oh I skipped the food coloring as well - the ground pepper added enough color on its own. Used the sauce with veggie garlic herb farfelle pasta and my whole family loved it, including my preschooler :) Will be a sure repeat from now on.

After I tried this and it failed (way runny, didn't cook up at all the way the recipe stated), I looked at the reviews and saw how it has to be adjusted to make it work, even boiled. I boiled and it still didn't thicken properly. Will try another sauce next time.

It is great, so easy too. I read the reviews but decided to follow the recipe anyway. I used 8oz Muenster cheese, 2Cup of milk, 2T corn starch. Once the cheese was melted, I put the corn start/milk mix in and it thickened quickly. For those who said the sauce didn't thicken, I wonder it is because of low fat or fat free cheeses.

Does not thicken with measurements given. It is just a big soupy mess

This is a great basic cheese sauce recipe. I have made it several times now and never had a problem with runniness and the texture is always smooth. As long as you mix things the right way and in the right order I don't see how this sauce is anything less than solid. Super quick and tops anything from veggies to pasta.

Terrible...the sauce curdled and I was very careful to maintain a low flame and to stir very slowly.

This recipe worked for me! I actually used cheddar, and took a suggestion from one of the reviewers and added a bit of lemon juice to hinder clumping. I also added a bit more spice--more salt and more red pepper. Otherwise, it worked wonderfully and tasted great over Radiatoirre pasta, and I'm sure it would taste great over veggies or nachos.

GREAT SAUCE...Family enjoyed it with everything. Son even cleaned pot w/spon when I wasn't looking.Ha Ha.

Decent cheese sauce. It thickens fine. Just don't let it sit or it will get grainy, just like any homemade cheese sauce recipe I've tried. Good flavor. We used it on broccoli.

So what good is a recipe if the ingredient list is correct but the directions are inaccurate? Following the directions the way this was written turned this into a milky "cheesy" soup. Going back through and reading the reviews after the failed attempt made me realize the only thing I did wrong was follow the instructions! If you know how to make cheese sauce then you don't need this recipe, if you don't know how don't follow this recipe.

I didn't use the seasonings as my kids can be picky about that type of thing. They LOVED it!! Definitively going to keep this one marked to make again!

I recomend never fixing this.

This was great, nice and thick and cheesy! I used jarred minced garlic instead of garlic powder and added more cheese. I have been trying to make a sauce like this forever and it always turns out runny or really lumpy and grainy. I think it is the cornstarch that makes the difference instead of flour. This one was a little grainy, however after adding it to the elbow noodles it was not noticeable. My kids and the ones I watch loved it and went back for thirds. I am going to use this recipe from know on, thanks so much!

Very easy to assemble but had issues with it being runny. Added an extra tablespoon of cornstarch and brought it to a low boil and it thickened up nice. Slightly bland so I added some dry onion flakes.

I made this and it failed, I should’ve read the comments and done it a little different, but aside from it not blending well there wasn’t much flavor even while putting in the specific seasoning measurements.

Terrible

I made this exactly as written except I added a few shakes of cayenne pepper. Used it for home made cheeseburger macaroni and it was a huge hit! Thank you!

Followed directions to a tee... very disappointed. Not smooth and too soupy.

I wasn't a fan of this recipe but I made several changes to fit the ingredients I had on hand. I used shredded sharp cheddar cheese and a dash of cayenne pepper in place of red. I hardly added any salt, but it was too salty for me. The flavor was good except for that. I didn't have problems with thickness but had to add extra cornstarch. The trick with cornstarch is to mix well with cold water before adding as a thickener, and heat may be increased to aid in thickening. Otherwise, the cheese must be heated slowly and actually takes patience and a lot of stirring.

I omit the food coloring, but otherwise LOVE it.

Great and easy sauce - assembly is key.

I don't know what I did wrong but the cheese curdled on me. I kept it on low and stirred frequently but to no avail. I am willing to try again if someone can tell me what I did wrong. I used white and sharp cheddar with soy milk instead of regular milk.

This was good and easy. I used it to make cheesy broccoli and rice. Good stuff! I'm giving it 4 stars because next time I am going to add more cheese!

I thought this was great! And so easy...especially since I made it in the microwave! I heated up the milk mixture for about 2 minutes (stirred halfway through), then added the milk/cornstarch mixture and microed again for about 2 minutes...stirring every 15 secs. Then I added shredded cheddar, stirred, and it was ready to go! It was great on veggies, and I put the leftovers on whole grain pasta the next day for mac-n-cheese for my kids! Yum.

I followed the recipe exactly. The trick is the initial melting of the cheese is on medium to low. Stirring it frequently. Once that's done I added the spices and cornstarch blend this were I noticed it wouldn't thicken because directions don't let you know to increase the temp to almost a boil stirring the entire time. Once I jacked up the heat to a boil it immediately started to thicken. I then reduced the temp to low and continued to stir. It came out perfect

I made the recipe but I used a four cheese blend instead of the cheese in the recipe itself. I also Omitted? the food coloring?, I didn’t feel it was necessary I did like the cornstarch slurry once I heated it up and put the slurry and it thickened up to a perfect consistency. I use the cheese sauce? for stuffed baked potatoes with broccoli chicken and topped it with the cheese sauce no, it was delicious

I made it twice already and made some changes to taste. The recipe makes a lot, like double a small sauce pan so I cut it in half. Used diluted evaporated milk, sharp cheddar cheese, and added approx. 50% more garlic salt (really substituted garlic powder and Lawry's Seasoned Salt), red pepper, and black pepper. Served over baked broccoli spears with red onions, green shallots and chucks of red bell pepper in a large 2 1/2 qt. Pyrex dish. Half the cheese sauce recipe was enough to cover and extra for pouring over broccoli upon serving. Everyone loved it at Christmas and New Year potluck gatherings. Comments were they wished I had made more.

This sauce turned out to be okay for what I needed--I hadn't bought any cheese soup for a chicken enchilada recipe so I made this. The consistency didn't seem right for serving over vegetables though, I would try a different recipe for that.

This sauce was really good -- the only thing I changed was to add more cheese. It does have a little bit of a grainy texture but both my husband and I love it anyways and it's the only way he'll eat broccolli!

MEH, it's great as far as thickness goes but it doesn't taste like cheese. just more like a thick white gravy. Yea, i am going to look elsewhere or just buy a cheese sauce from the store

This is a great start to a cheese sauce...it could use a little more kick to it...so I like to experiment with some extra red pepper flakes and even tabasco sauce. This is a nice sauce to whip up in a hurry especially over steamed veggies.

Forgot to purchase cheese whiz so I made this as the comments suggested. Excellent substitute. My casserole was excellent

It’s a good basic recipe. I followed suggestions from reviewers and let the milk and seasonings (I used garlic powder and black pepper) come to a boil and then I added the milk/cornstarch mix. After it was thickened (about 5-6 minutes) I added the cheese. I used a mixture of Colby Jack and cheddar with some mozzarella shreds for texture. It was smooth and creamy, not grainy like some other reviews mentioned. I continually mixed it until all the cheese was incorporated and I added 3 drops of yellow food coloring because the Colby and mozzarella kept the color of the sauce too light. We had it over pasta for some homemade mac and cheese. My extremely picky daughter loved it.

It wasn't bad, but it wasn't like your typical nacho sauce. I wound up using pepper jack instead of cheddar so it had a little more spicyness to it. I added some chipotle powder too. I also heated the 1st measure of milk and cornstarch to help it thicken more. It was still really runny. Maybe if I used 1/2 as much milk...

Decent recipe, made a great sauce for my casserole. Wouldn't recommend it as a dipping sauce but great base for soups or casseroles.

maybe just because it was my first attempt, but this came out thin and we didn't like it.

I used almond milk as I am doing low-carb. I also used medium cheddar as that is what I had on hand. Served it on broccoli florets.

This recipe makes a wonderful cheese sauce providing you follow the instructions exactly, which is what I did. It took a little ingenuity because it started off very runny. So follow the ingredients exactly. The only gradients I used are organic Horizon milk, organic shredded white cheddar, and the 2 tablespoons of corn starch. I’ve been told you can use flour in place of corn starch, it helps thicken the sauce.

No food coloring necessary!

This was not very good to watery and spicy probably not going to make again

Loved it... very creamy ;) Used Vermont Sharp cheese with a touch of White American & skipped the food coloring.

Yum, this was just what I was looking for! I had to adjust the amounts and took others' advice posted here... I think I used about 12 oz cheese (2.5 cups), one tablespoon cornstarch and one cup milk.

I made it exactly as stated in the recipe, with the exception that I made half the amount and I used a Tillamook medium cheddar, feeling it would give it a cheesier flavor than the milder Longhorn. It still came out a bit more bland than I was hoping, but not bad. It was a good basic sauce. I will try it again but increase the amount of cheese.

I made it exactly to the directions , It would not thicken . Put it back on the stove , brought it to a boil , It did thicken . Not too shabby , just remember to bring it to a boil .

I've been looking for a good thick delicious cheese sauce and I'm sorry but this isn't the one. I tried sooooooo many times and wasted soooo much cheese, milk ,and cornstarch and still couldn't figure out how to get it to thicken. It had a very delicious flavor to it but not thick. Even with all the suggestions I don't think I will try this recipe again. Maybe it has something to do with using cheddar cheese instead?

Not amused. First pot curdled and was a total waste. I Really wanted this, so I tried another pot. It's smooth (well, smoother, but still grainy/curd-y) but so runny it's not sauce, just milk that smells like feet. Disappointed and annoyed - cheese is expensive!

Terrible consistency. No cheese flavor. Too much corn starch.

This was terrible. No flavor and very grainy....

i put this together as specified, but it was much too thin. so i turned the heat up, brought it to a soft boil, and whisked it. thickened up just fine.

This is a very good cheese sauce, I didn't add the sherry (I didn't have any). And I added a dash of nutmeg. It was very yummy.

I use this to make mac and cheese, but the food coloring is unnecessary (and bad for you). I use any cheese I have on hand (i.e. colby or cheddar) and omit the garlic salt and red pepper. Great consistency and just the easiest sauce to make.

would not thicken like water ,low heat for 45 minutes still like water corn starch thickened but not cheese could not eat it.

I had to add a little milk and cheese, but it came out delicious.

Terrible, it was runny and gritty. Will not make again.

Delicious! I loved the kick of the red pepper (I used red pepper flakes not ground red pepper). Didn't use the food coloring and subbed cheese for cheddar. For those complaining about it being runny..add a dash of extra cornstarch, problem solved!

Easy and tasty! I followed the recipe exactly, the first time. There's plenty of room for customizing this, so I added fresh garlic and a few spices. Perfect every time.

VERY RUNNY! GOOD FLAVOR, BUT WOULDN'T MAKE AGAIN.

It was delicious! Awesome!!!

good

Easy and quick. Didn't feel the need for the food colouring so didn't use it. Didn't have any bell peppers either. To give it a bit of taste I added about 1/4 tsp of mustard powder and it turned out wonderfully.

I followed The Bunny Chef’s recommendations and the sauce turned out perfect, smooth and tasted very good . I’m using the sauce to make scalloped potatoes for dinner tonight.

Sauce went together great

This one was pretty darn good!

I did not care for this recipe. I got a soupy mix not a sauce. anything that calls for food colouring should have set off warning bells...i omitted that btw!

I thought I did ok making my first cheese sauce, and then when I tried it, it was grainy. I was disappointed. In all fairness, it could very well have been me.

I jumped on allrecipes to find a quick, simple cheese sauce to put over the cheese reavioli I was cooking at that moment--and this filled the bill nicely! Yes it is mild, but my kids like it that way! I added a pinch of onion powder and seasoned pepper, and stirred constantly to keep from scorching. Mild but delicious to my 7-year-old twins' tastebuds--and that's good enough for me! Thanks--I love the last minute easy reciped featured here--this one I am sure I will need again sometime!

Loved this sauce, turned out great!!

More like Flour is better to thicken, and definitely different spices for actual flavor