Homemade Nacho Cheese Sauce

Nacho Cheese Sauce is easy to make yourself from scratch, and is the perfect melty sauce to pour over tortilla chips or Homemade French Fries. This is made with only five all-natural ingredients, and takes 10 minutes to make.  My very first experience with nacho cheese sauce was of the Velveeta variety. I was about 8 years old and had no concept of what processed food meant. It was always the default snack at my friend Angelina’s house: a box of Velveeta popped into the microwave, then mixed with a can of rotel. It was good at the time, but now I generally stay away from things called “cheese product.” It’s perfectly possible to make smooth, creamy nacho cheese with natural ingredients, which is what we work with here. The 5 Ingredients You’ll Need: ButterFlourMilkCheddar CheeseGround Cayenne pepper You can keep it simple, or you can jazz it up however you want. You can add tomatoes, jalapeños, scallions, ground beef, and whatever else strikes your fancy. Serve it alongside some Chicken Wings, Buffalo Chicken Dip, and Soft Pretzels and you have a full spread perfect for watching sports and having friends over. This method takes less than 10 minutes, and riffs on how you’d make a roux and a béchamel sauce for mac and cheese. Because the ingredients are natural and chemical-free, know that the nacho sauce firms slightly as it cools. It has a luscious, smooth and melty texture as long as it’s warm, but if you let it cool, you’ll need to reheat it to get that flowy texture again. It does reheat just fine though and I’ll include instructions for that after the step-by-step. Tips for Best Results Grate the cheese yourself – Nearly all pre-shredded cheeses have cellulose or anti-caking agents added to them in order to keep the shreds from sticking together. These are a disaster for your sauce. You must grate a real block of cheddar yourself for a smooth consistency. Don’t overcook the cheese – Just like when you make mac and cheese, if you overheat the cheese, it will get grainy and have a horrid texture. Add the cheese off the heat and let it melt with the residual heat. Serve immediately or keep it warm – Because this is made with all-natural ingredients, as the nacho cheese sauce cools, it will lose its melty texture. If you’re not eating it right away, I recommend keeping it warm in a crockpot, a fondue pot, or a saucepan over a warming plate, especially if you’re serving this at a party. The post Homemade Nacho Cheese Sauce appeared first on Fifteen Spatulas.