Homemade Cheese Sauce for Fries

This homemade cheese sauce recipe for fries is easy to make, incredibly creamy, and can be prepared faster than it takes to cook your French fries.

Sharp cheddar gives this sauce incredible flavor, while a small amount of cream cheese is the secret ingredient to make it outrageously creamy!

You will love drizzling this over a hot batch of crispy homemade French fries, but beyond making the best cheese fries you've ever had, it can also be used with steak fries, tater tots, or in place of nacho cheese sauce. Plus, there are easy ways to customize this to fit anyone's tastes.

Ingredients and Substitutions

• Butter
• All purpose flour
• Half and half - Half and half makes the sauce wonderfully creamy. Heavy cream can also be used, or simply use milk.
• Milk - Milk helps thin the sauce to ensure proper consistency.
• Cream Cheese - This is the secret ingredient. It helps as a binder and makes the sauce creamier. American cheese can be substituted.
• Sharp Cheddar - The best way to customize your homemade cheese sauce is to change which cheeses are used. My recommendation is to always use two kinds of cheese, one creamy, and one strongly flavored, like an aged cheese. Mild or medium Cheddar cheese can be substituted but sharp cheddar cheese brings more flavor when paired with cream cheese.
• Hot sauce - I recommend a vinegar-based sauce like Texas Pete or Tabasco, however, you can substitute cayenne pepper instead.

How to make the cheese sauce

The foundation of this creamy cheese sauce recipe is a roux. A roux is a mixture of butter and flour that is gently cooked in a small saucepan while being stirred to prevent scorching. After a few minutes, the raw flour taste will be cooked out of it and the Half and Half and milk can be added.

Important: Add the liquids in slow dribbles, stirring to incorporate them before adding more. If you dump everything in at once the sauce won't come together. Adding a couple tablespoons at a time is perfect.

Next, we will temper the cream cheese. It is important to mix the warm sauce into the cream cheese, rather than the other way around, or the cream cheese will curdle. To do this, warm the cream cheese in the microwave or by soaking the closed packet in hot water. Then start mixing a couple tablespoons of sauce at a time into the cream cheese. Once enough sauce has been mixed with the cream cheese to turn it into a saucy consistency it can be added to the sauce pan.

Finally, the pre-shredded cheese, hot sauce, and salt can be added to your sauce pan. Mix everything well and enjoy.

Troubleshooting tip: If you sauce is too thick you can pour in a little more milk to thin it out. If the sauce is too thin, just simmer it for a few minutes and it will thicken up.

Storing and Reheating Leftover Sauce

Any leftover cheese fry sauce should be kept in an airtight container and refrigerated for up to one week. You can reheat it in the microwave when you are ready to enjoy it again.

How to use this sauce

This smooth sauce is intended to transform any basic French fry into deliciously addicting cheese fries, but there are many more ways to enjoy it as well. This is the perfect cheese sauce to use with any of these foods:

• Serve over tater tots
• Cheesy broccoli, cauliflower, or Brussels sprouts
• Dip or potato or tortilla chips
• Nachos
• Dipping sauce for soft pretzels
• Loaded hot dogs

This recipe was originally published here on May 6, 2021.