How to Make Perfect Cheese Sauce (Mornay Sauce)
Tip and steps for making the perfect cheese sauce. Here you’ll learn how to avoid grainy cheese sauce, what types of cheese work best, and more!
The secrets to the perfect cheese sauce? High-quality cheese cooked low and slow
Ingredients
- This easy cheese sauce, also known as “Mornay” sauce is a flour-based roux sauce derived from Bechamel sauce (or a basic white sauce), which one of the 5 French Mother Sauces.
- All-purpose flour
- Butter
- Milk– whole or 2% milk
- Cheddar cheese– young sharp or mild cheddar cheese grated from a block.
- Lemon juice or white vinegar
- Seasonings: salt and white pepper
How to make a silky smooth cheese sauce
- In a large saucepan on low heat, melt butter, then add an equal amount of flour and whisk that together. It will be clumpy at this point, so don’t freak out. Cook it on low for 2-3 minutes.
- Gradually add room temperature milk in 1/2 cup increments, whisking constantly
- Once the roux and milk mixture is well combined, gradually add in shredded cheese a handful at a time; continue whisking and cooking on low heat
- Season to taste with salt and pepper or, if you prefer a spicy cheese flavor, add a little cayenne pepper or smokey paprika
Tips for making perfect cheese sauce
- Use a young cheese – this is a pliable and aged less than one year. Young cheese has more moisture and melts best; aged cheeses have less moisture and are more acidic. Avoid highly acidic cheeses like Cottage, Parmesan, Swiss, Emmentaler and Gruyere
- Use whole milk cheese- not reduced-fat
- Shred or cube from a block; pre-shredded cheeses don’t melt as well
- Low heat-this prevents separation
- Add acid-last and off heat
- Don’t over stir – continued stirring will cause separation
- Serve it warm – if it cools, it will tend to clump
Cheese Sauce FAQ
If your sauce turned out grainy, it’s usually due to a few things:
The heat was too high – always cook on low temperature to avoid separation.
Not enough fat – Low-fat and reduced-fat cheeses do not have enough fat in them
Too much acid – in order to get a smooth, silky texture, you need to use a young cheese and add a little acid to the sauce; however, if you add too much, the result is grainy
If your sauce is grainy, it might be due to the age of the cheese or the cooking temperature.
If you find your sauce is gritty or grainy, you can try two things, but you must do them in this order.
Remove the pan from heat and whisk in a little milk or cream.
If this doesn’t resolve the issue, let the sauce cool a little, then add a little lemon or vinegar and whisk again-off heat
Remember, always add acids LAST. Do not add milk/cream and acid at the same time. Do not add acid first and then the cream.
You can thicken this by adding more cheese or adding a thickening slurry of either cornstarch or flour.
To create a thickening slurry, add 2 tablespoons of cornstarch or water to 3/4 cup of water; combine well and add to mixture
If you use a cornstarch slurry, turn the heat up to medium high, as cornstarch thickens at a higher temperature.
If you use a flour slurry, keep the heat on low and continue to stir until the sauce thickens to your desired thickness.
Add in 1/4 cup of water to the sauce, raise the heat to medium-high or high, and whisk constantly. The high heat will re-emulsify the broken sauce.
Storage and reheating
Store leftovers in an airtight container in refrigerator for up to 3 days. Freezing is not recommended. To reheat, use stovetop or microwave on low heat.
This may thicken upon refrigeration, so you may have to add a little water. If so, reheat in a saucepan on low, add in a little water and whisk, whisk, whisk. Turn the heat up a little when you’re whisking.
Making perfect cheese sauce isn’t hard at all! It pairs well with vegetables or as a dip!
Related recipes
If you make this recipe, please scroll down and leave a comment and rating! I love to hear from you!
Foolproof Perfect Cheese Sauce
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons butter , salted or unsalted
- ¼ cup flour , all-purpose
- 1 cup milk , 2% or whole
- 8 ounces cheese , shredded from block, use a young cheese (see recipe notes)
- 1 teaspoon vinegar , white vinegar or lemon juice
- salt and pepper , to taste
Instructions
- On low heat, melt butter in saucepan4 tablespoons butter
- Sprinkle in flour; whisk¼ cup flour
- Add room temperature milk in ½ cup increments; continue to stir1 cup milk
- Add shredded cheese in increments, stirring in between8 ounces cheese
- Remove from heat; add vinegar; whisk till smooth1 teaspoon vinegar
- Taste for salt and peppersalt and pepper
Notes
- Use a young cheese – these are pliable cheeses that are aged less than one year; cheddar, colby-jack, Mozzarella and Monterey Jack are young cheeses.
- Use whole milk, not reduced-fat cheese: Reduced-fat cheeses have fat replacers that reduce the fat content; the replacers produce a stringy, rubbery texture
- Shred or cube cheese from cheese block
- Grated- grate cheese from a block of cheese; grating cheese increases the surface volume so the cheese melts better and faster; don’t use cubed or pre-shredded cheese; they are often coated with cellulose that does not respond to heat
- Room temperature cheese – allow for better melting
- Low heat-cheese will separate when added to a boiling liquid; to prevent separation, always use very low heat
- Add acid-last and off heat; a teaspoon of lemon, vinegar or wine when added to Cheddar, Colby and Monterey Jack will reduce the risk of the cheese forming clumps
- Don’t over stir – continued stirring will cause the cheese sauce to separate
- Serve it warm – if cheese sauce cools, it will tend to clump
- Highly acidic cheeses – Parmesan, Swiss, Emmentaler and Gruyere should be lightly dusted with cornstarch prior to melting because they’re more acidic
I use this recipe for my “go-to” cheese sauce on everything! LOL! Great recipe!
I never thought to put vinegar in cheese sauce. I’m going to try this next time!
Just a smidgen…it’s a food science thing:) …the acid works with the dairy proteins in some magical way to prevent clumping…you can also use wine or lemon juice…