Cheddar Cheese Sauce Recipe

Learning how to make our 5 minute cheddar cheese sauce with heavy whipping cream is truly so easy, you won't ever go back to store-bought. It's terrific served over vegetables, pasta, as a chip dip, with fish, and chicken.

This cheese sauce with heavy whipping cream is so good!

Our easy cheese sauce recipe just has a few common ingredients and cooks up in only 5 minutes. It's honestly a terrific sauce to have in your back-pocket when a recipe you made needs a little something extra!

Our version is made with cream, which means it's plenty thick, it has no extra starch (and carbs) and it's made without flour. This also means the sauce is low carb, gluten-free, vegetarian, and keto friendly too.

And if you're wondering about that adorable pouring lid attached to my mason jar, it's a unique design called the Ergo Spout (affiliate link). It takes any mason jar and makes it so easy to pour sauces, juice, homemade dressings, or maple syrup.

Ingredients you'll need 

Making cheddar cheese sauce is a very similar process to our alfredo sauce recipe, you're essentially just using a different type of cheese.

• Sharp cheddar cheese - I highly recommend that you buy a block of cheese and shred it. Block cheese melts so much better since pre-packed shredded cheese often contains starch. 
• Heavy whipping cream
• Butter
• Minced garlic - you can use fresh, jar garlic, or defrosted Dorot cubes.
• Sea salt
• Ground black pepper
• paprika (optional) - we didn't use it in our recipe, but you can add a small pinch to get a deeper yellow colored sauce.

Variations

Other types of cheeses that work great for a cheese sauce include white cheddar cheese, Swiss, Gruyere, blue cheese, or Monterey Jack. We love to mix a couple of different kinds together for variety!

How to make cheddar cheese sauce

1. Melt the butter in a medium-size saucepan over medium-low heat.
2. Add the heavy whipping cream, salt, pepper, and garlic. Whisk to combine.
3. Stir in the cheddar cheese a little bit at a time, stirring constantly, until it's melted. Don't add it all at once or the cheese can clump.
4. Heat the sauce over a simmer and remove it from the burner. It'll continue to thicken upon standing.

We recommend serving this sauce over vegetables like steamed broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, Brussels sprouts, pasta, zucchini pasta, and chicken. It would also make a great appetizer with tortilla chips and could even be used with nachos. So easy and delicious!

Recipe notes

• Storing. Leftovers will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days.
• Reheating leftovers. Reheat it gently over low heat and stir constantly to prevent separation. Add more milk or cream as needed to thin it out.
• Please don't use shredded cheese from a bag, the sauce might clump.
• Add the cheddar in little bits at a time to prevent clumping.

How to thicken it (or thin it)

Thickening. If you want your cheese sauce to be a thicker consistency, add more cheese to the sauce and melt it in over low heat. You can also mix a small amount of cornstarch, all purpose flour, gluten free flour, or arrowroot powder with hot water, and then stir this slurry into the sauce until it reaches your desired consistency.

Thinning it out. Most sauces, especially cheese sauces thicken upon standing. To make your sauce less thick, simply mix in a little milk or chicken broth when you go to reheat the sauce until it's the consistency you're looking for.

Reader questions

More cheese recipes

• Homemade Alfredo Sauce
• Easy Pesto Sauce
• Chicken Divan Casserole
• Broccoli Cheddar Soup

If you loved our recipe, please leave us a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review and leave us a comment too! Connect with us on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube!

Recipe

Heavy Cream Cheese Sauce

WholeLottaYum

Learn how to make a heavy cream cheese sauce without flour in just 5 minutes! Perfect with veggies, meats, as a chip dip, or even as queso sauce. Low carb, gluten free, vegetarian, and keto friendly.

4.62 from 31 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 5 minutes mins

Total Time 10 minutes mins

Course Sauces & Seasonings

Servings 4

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1 cup Heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese shredded from a block
• ¼ cup butter cut into cubes (4 oz)
• 2 minced garlic cloves
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground pepper

Instructions

 

• Heat a medium-size saucepan over medium-low heat. Once the pan is warm, melt the butter.
• Stir in the whipping cream, salt, pepper, and minced garlic. Mix all ingredients together.
• Add the shredded sharp cheddar in batches until it's melted, stirring constantly. You don't want to add it all at once since it could clump. This will just take you a minute or two at most to melt.
• Heat the cheddar cheese sauce recipe to a simmer and remove. The sauce will continue to thicken upon standing.
• Recipe Note: It is super important that you do not let your sauce come to a boil. At a boiling temperature, the butter could separate from the rest of the sauce or the cream could burn--both of which would cause your sauce to separate.

Notes

• We recommend shredding your cheese from a block and not buying pre-shredded. Pre-shredded cheese is coated with starch, it doesn't melt as well, and can clump.
• You can add a pinch or paprika to give your sauce a deeper yellow color.
• To thin the sauce, add a little milk, almond milk, or broth. To thicken the sauce, take ¼ cup of warm sauce and mix in a bit of flour, arrowroot powder, or corn starch and mix it in to the sauce until thickened to your liking. 
• Swap the cheddar cheese for mozzarella and a bit of parmesan to make an easy alfredo sauce. 

Keyword no flour, with heavy whipping cream

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!