A silky smooth Nachos cheese dip that doesn’t harden or congeal as it cools!! It is just as good served warm, at room temperature or cold. When warm, it can be used as a cheese sauce to pour over nachos, chips or whatever else takes your fancy. It takes just over 5 minutes to make and is great to make ahead as it reheats well.
Use this to make a Ripper Beef Nachos!
“This Nachos Cheese Dip was an invention out of necessity. Because I love cheesy dips, and I wanted one that did not harden or congeal as it cooled.”
I am yet to meet a cheese I don’t love. Plus I have a weakness for all things snacky. If there’s something to nibble on within reach, it’s like my arm is on auto pilot.
Therefore, this Nachos Cheese Dip is pretty much all my weaknesses bundled into one bowl. Place this with a pile of corn chips in front of me and I stand no chance.
I know there are loads of cheese dip recipes “out there”. And I tried quite a few of them (the ones without processed cheese), but the thing that I found inconvenient was that as the dip cooled, the cheese in the dip would harden. And when the dip was reheated, the dip would split (the oil would separate).
Being a Cheese Loving Snack Monster, I went on a mission to create a warm cheese dip/ sauce that would not harden as it cooled and was not made out of processed cheese. I was actually quite amazed that every recipe I looked at had a fairly similar base to the ones I had already tried, so I knew they would not achieve what I was after. Mind you, this was about 5 or so years ago. So maybe the internet is flooded with non-congealing warm cheese dips now!
“The secret ingredient in this is evaporated milk. That’s how this stays creamy – warm or cold.”
This dip is made with evaporated milk which makes all the difference. I was making an Alfredo Sauce using evaporated milk when the thought occurred to me that it might work for a dip too. Bit of corn starch / corn flour to thicken it, plenty of cheese (it is a Cheese dip!) and some additional flavourings to make it a nachos cheese dip.
So cutting to the chase, here are 7 reasons why I am obsessed with this Nachos Cheese Dip / Sauce:
1. It is ridiculously easy (5 ingredients, < 10 minutes);
2. Perfectly smooth;
3. Easily adjustable to your own taste. Increase, decrease or remove the spice factor, add your own flavourings;
4. Doesn’t use processed “plastic” cheese;
5. Can be made ahead. It keeps perfectly in the fridge for at least a week (it has never lasted longer in my house);
6. Reheats without splitting; and
7. Is a 2 in 1 recipe – a dip and a sauce. When warm, it is quite loose, like a thick sauce. It is pourable over nachos, chips or whatever else takes your fancy. (UPDATE: I just got a great tip from a reader to use this over tots! Never thought of that – that’s a step up from fries!!) When it is cool, it thickens up to a thick dip consistency. And when it is refrigerated, it is a spreadable consistency, like peanut butter. It can also be thinned out simply by adding a bit of milk (ordinary or evaporated).
Now please excuse me, I need to go and blow my my calorie budget for the entire week. Happy snacking! – Nagi x
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Nachos Cheese Dip & Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups / 225g / 8oz shredded cheese (Cheddar, Monterey Jack, Colby, etc), shred your own (Important - read Note 1)
- 1 tbsp cornstarch (corn flour)
- 1 can evaporated milk (375g / 12oz)
- 2 tbsp finely chopped jalapeño peppers (fresh or canned)
- 1 tbsp hot sauce (or adjust to your taste)
- 1/2 tsp onion powder (optional - adds extra flavour)
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder (optional - adds extra flavour)
- 1 tsp salt
Instructions
- Toss the cheese and cornstarch together in a saucepan.
- Add all other ingredients, cook over medium heat, whisking often until the cheese is melted and smooth.
- Adjust to your taste if required - with extra hot sauce and salt.
- While hot, it will have a sauce like consistency - perfect for pouring over nachos.
- As it cools, it will thicken and become a dip-like consistency. Whisk occasionally to mix in the skin that forms on the top.
- Stir in additional evaporated (or even normal) milk to achieve the desired consistency if you want to use it as a pourable sauce. Note that when you reheat it, it loosens up.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
PS Watch how easy to this to make in my Nachos Cheese Dip / Sauce VIDEO!
Mike says
Hey Nagy I tried this recipe is really yummy.!!! U think if I add more evaporated milk still gona be good l.?
Nagi says
Hi Mike! You can add a little bit more to make it a more sauce like consistency if you like? So glad you love it!
Jennifer says
I hate to rate a recipe I modified, but I can’t resist. It’s DELISH! I left out peppers, and only used a few dashes of hot sauce because the hubby hates spice, and used mostly medium cheddar with a tiny bit of american. I can’t believe how smooth it turns out! I might reduce the salt (used table salt) if pouring onto salty chips again though.
For the people looking for a cornstarch sub, I’ve heard arrowroot works…?
Nagi says
YAY! So glad you enjoyed this, THANK YOU!!!
Kathleen Lloyd says
Can your cheese sauce be used as Macraroni and cheese recipe? Thanks
Nagi says
YES it sure can Kathleen! What a great way to make Mac N Cheese – the sauce is so much silkier than the usual!
Sarah says
I didn’t have cornstarch so I used some tapioca flour I had left over. It still turned out fantastic! Thanks for the recipe! It was awesome and I have now made it twice in 2 weeks!
Nagi | RecipeTin says
That’s so awesome Sarah! Thank you so much for letting me know it worked with tapioca flour!!! I must update the recipe notes 🙂
Randolph says
Tried this recipe for our Super Bowl dinner menu. It was just as easy as stated. It’s a GREAT basic cheese sauce recipe. I ended up adding more cheese…cuz I like cheesy cheese sauce, LOL. I also added some Rotel, a little Cumin and just a pinch of Tumeric to add a little more color. It was DEFINITELY a hit with the family.
Nagi | RecipeTin says
Thanks Randolph! So glad you enjoyed it!!! Love your extra touches 🙂
Stacey says
I just made this sauce to get ready for a new years party I’m attending tonight…..My friend is really sensitive to spice so I just put mild green chilies instead of Jalapenos. So delicious! Thank you!
Nagi | RecipeTin says
I’m so glad you enjoyed this Stacey!! Thank you so much for taking the time to come back and let me know. 🙂 And HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Stuart says
Going to try this recipe tonight for my loaded wedges.
Great to see Aussie recipes.
Nagi | RecipeTin says
Thanks Stuart!! 🙂
Stuart says
Awesome cheese sauce, I used a pack of grated jalapeño cheese. Really good.
My wife and son thought it was a bit rich, but I thought it was awesome. Thanks
Nagi | RecipeTin says
YAY!!! So glad you loved it!! It is definitely richer than most sauces but definitely MUCH less rich than most cheese sauces!!
Earlene Burris says
Love this recipe, would like to try thr Rotel tomatoes/green chilis but wouldn’t this be too thin?
Nagi | RecipeTin says
Hi Earlene! I’m sorry, I’m not sure what you mean?
Randy Northcutt says
Rotel tomatoes and green chiles is a canned item. Rotel is the brand name. It’s used in “cheese dip” here in the US
Nagi | RecipeTin says
Oh! I didn’t realise you meant that! 🙂
Chris says
A few weeks ago, my son said he wanted me to send chips and cheese sauce in his lunchbox. I cringed because I am not a fan of overly orange overly processed cheese products. I thought I’d try an internet search, but I wasn’t very hopeful. And then I found your recipe! I omitted the spicy peppers but added in a couple of pinches of turmeric (could also use ground achiote if available) to make it more similar to the color the kids have seen. It was an immediate hit with the kids and they ate so much I wondered if my son would have enough to take in his lunchbox. Thank you so much!
Nagi | RecipeTin says
Gosh this is SO PERFECT for cheese and crackers for the lunchbox! Why didn’t I ever think of that?? So glad your son enjoyed it so much – thanks for letting me know!
viorica says
evaporated milk is the same with condensed milk ?
Nagi | RecipeTin says
Hi Viorica! Unfortunately not 🙂 Evaporated milk is concentrated milk whereas condensed milk has LOTS of sugar added to it so is not suitable to this recipe!
Anindya Ray says
Hi,
Loved your cheesy dip recipe. Just one question. What is evaporated milk. If I buy normal pasteurized milk, boil and cool it and then use it, will that be ok?
Nagi | RecipeTin says
Hi Anindya! It’s a long-life milk that is not required to be kept in the fridge. It’s thicker than normal milk. Sorry to say this doesn’t work with normal milk!
Van says
I was hunting for a queso recipe. Tried 3 and they all failed as a dip when cooled down and that was disappointing (not to mention all the wasted ingredients!) I don’t have a crockpot to keep the dip warm. They ended up either too stringy, hard, gritty, or gloppy.
Then I found your recipe! Your opening sentence was what I needed: a dip that stayed being a dip when cooled!
I tried your recipe and it was a winner for me. Who know all I needed was evaporated milk?
Thank you so much. You’ve saved me from a huge headache.
Nagi | RecipeTin says
I’m so glad you enjoyed this!!! It’s legendary, isn’t it? It’s how creamy cheesy dips are made in Australia. There are plenty of variations of this around!
Les says
Can you use heavy cream in place of the evaporated milk?
Nagi | RecipeTin says
Hi Les! No, it doesn’t work, it will either seize up when cools and/or you still struggle to get the cheese incorporated. 🙂 It needs to be evaporated milk!
Rosie says
I made this for the extended family – we all love spicy stuff so I added a fair bit of hot sauce. I also added bacon at the last minute (how could you go wrong). The family hasn’t stopped raving about it and I have had many requests for a copy of the recipe!!
I also thought I was going to have to freeze the leftovers (I love that it can be frozen), but the leftovers were eaten the next day before I could even get the chance =D
I will definitely be making this again 🙂
Nagi | RecipeTin says
Oh yay!! I am indecently obsessed with this dip 🙂 I swear, it’s even better the next day, it becomes silkier!
Thanks for coming back to let me know you loved it!!! And yes, I highly approve of spicy spicy spicy…. 🙂
Shane says
Looks awesome! Making this for a party this weekend. Do you know if I can use half/half instead of evaporated milk? I’ve seen other recipes use it interchangeably (and Costco has a great deal on a ginormous container of organic half/half, lol). But I don’t want to ruin it! Thanks!
Nagi | RecipeTin says
Hi Shane! Evaporated milk is they key to making this dip which stays creamy instead of hardening up like other cheese dips / sauces. 🙂 So sorry! Must be evaporated milk. If you use half/half, as soon as this cools down, it congeals and is un-dippable!!
Katie says
Can I make this in a crock pot?!
dani says
did You end up making the cheese sauce in a crock pot? I have an electric fondue pot I wanted to try it in
Nagi | RecipeTin says
Hi Katie! I’m sure you can but I don’t know the cook time, sorry!
Lori says
This cheese dip is fantastic! I will never go back to store bought queso again! Thanks for the recipe!
Nagi | RecipeTin says
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for coming back to share your thoughts!! 🙂
Cynthia says
Tried this today. It is delicious. I have been searching for a good nacho cheese recipes. This is the first one that I really like. Thanks for the recipe.
Nagi | RecipeTin says
Hi Cynthia! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!! I know what you mean, I was searching for ages myself. The cheese dips that go hard when they cool were driving me up the wall – I can’t eat it fast enough!
Thank you for coming back to share your feedback. Happy weekend! Nagi x
DaddyG says
Can’t wait to try this recipe. Hate it when my queso turns into a blob of rubber so this should be awesome. I’d like to consider adding beer to the recipe so where in the process would you suggest? Thx, Chris
Nagi | RecipeTin says
Hi Daddy G! I’m sorry, I’ve never used beer in this recipe before! If I do, I’ll update the recipe 🙂
Tiffanie says
I had high hopes for this but it ended up gritty and not smooth…. I followed the instructions exactly so Im not sure what happened….any ideas?
Nagi | RecipeTin says
Hi Tiffanie, I’m so sorry to hear that. I’ve made it about 20+ times and the only time I had the gritty problem was when I used provolone cheese. It just doesn’t melt well with cornstarch. What cheese did you use? Also, was your cornstarch past the expiry date? That will cause problems too.
Renee says
I can’t eat cornstarch. Do you think ground flax seed would work?
Elaine says
I just tried ground flaxseed in this recipe and it turned out very tasty.
Nagi | RecipeTin says
WOW! Thank you for sharing that tip, fantastic! So glad you enjoyed it Elaine! N x
Nagi | RecipeTin says
I’m sorry Renee, I don’t know! I’ve never tried this with anything other than cornstarch.
Sharon Anderson says
Thank you for such an amazing nacho cheese recipe. Me and my husband would say it is *Figer lickin good. Seriously, best we have found.
We did have to add half a cup of water once we took it off the stove and it sat, while we made the other toppings for nachos. But aside from that, on POINT!
Nagi | RecipeTin says
OH GOODIE! So glad you enjoyed this! I am obsessed with it – in fact, I think I might some this afternoon as I have friends coming over. 🙂 Yes, water or milk to adjust it to the thickness you want / need. And it does thicken up alot when it cools..
Thanks for coming back to share that you enjoyed it!
Christina Hammervold says
Hi! I’m doing a nacho bar for my daughter’s birthday party this weekend and came across this recipe. I like a lot of spice so the jalapeños sound great to me, i’m just worried my guests won’t like it that spicy. What do you think about substituting with pepper jack cheese? If you think that would work, would add to the already 2 1/2 cups or do something like 2 cups of the cheddar and 1/2 cup pepper jack?
Nagi | RecipeTin says
Hi Christina! This is PERFECTLY delicious if you just omit the spicy stuff altogether. Honestly, it’s the cheese that does it! It has always worked fab with any melting cheese so feel free to sub with any other cheeses you want!! 🙂 (Not mozzarella though, too stringy!)