Nacho Cheese

Are you ready for some football snacks? This super-easy recipe takes about 25 minutes from start-to-finish, and it's every bit as sleazy—and delicious—as the cheese you can pump out of the dispenser at 7-Eleven. We use all orange cheddar in this version, and add pickled jalapeños for an extra kick. The key to the velvety-smooth emulsified texture, though, is melting salts.

Adding acidic peppers means we had to balance the formula with melting salts to keep the cheese nicely emulsified and velvety. You'll need those ingredients to yield a smooth, creamy product, so buy 'em on Amazon Prime and whip this up just time in for Sunday.

Ever wondered how to make your own nacho cheese? This super easy recipe takes only about 25 minutes start to finish and its every bit as sleazy as the cheese you can get at 7-11. Its very similar to your cheddar cheese sauce from our new school poutine.

At ChefSteps, we don't tell you how to cook, we show you—with recipes designed to inspire and educate, tested techniques for successful results at home, and a lively forum where you'll chat with other chefs and home-cooking enthusiasts.

[TheRationalPi]

To the people wondering why they are using chemicals to do something you can do with a roux, I made two very similar dips, one using a roux and the other with the melting salts. While they both came out fairly smooth, the dip made with melting salts came out creamier, reheated better, and had a much more pronounced "cheesy" taste than the roux. This was using the same cheese, the same milk, and the same spices.

Ultimately, the roux adds starch to the party, and starches mute flavors. The melting salts do bring their own flavor (which not everyone will like), but they don't get in the way of the cheese as much.

[tronclay]

mmm that looked so good... When they added the jalapenos into the blended I literally went "oooh yeah" LOL

[erinsanidad]

Gastronomy vs cooking. Love them both 💕

[BRobes]

i bought some sodium citrate on amazon and going to be testing it out here soon when it arrives by cooking some cheese sauces. I do have 1 question though, do i have to also use SHMP as well, what are the differences with just using sodium citrate vs sodium citrate and SHMP?

[dariush]

This looks totally delicious. I still am not entirely certain why the shmp is in the recipe. I remember you guys saying somewhere that it can handle the emulsification at a lower ph (don't know if I'm remembering that correctly) but I have yet to run into a situation where sodium citrate wasn't up to the task all by itself. Could you please explain what the difference in end result would be without the shmp? I'm asking because at the restaurant I work at we make our own cheese slices and cheese sauce using just sodium citrate and am wondering if we're missing out on a superior recipe.

[Altraly]

They sous vided nacho cheese ladies and gentlemen I am officialy done.

[mahip]

For a second I thought that said "SHRIMP" and I was like wtf is this

[lisasa]

the best nacho cheese recipe i have ever seen

[audibly]

What kind of blender is that? It looks greate!

[tre-moon-dous]

What do you call a cheese that is not yours? Nacho Cheese

[AdhamOhm]

I always shake in a few dashes of Valentina muy picante sauce. Gives it a spicy kick.

[isurvivednam]

this should just be called the sous vide channel. seriously how much are they paying you guys?!

[davidtait]

if i make this recipe without the jalapeños, do i still need to use SHMP? Does it solidify quickly? or is it pourable at room temp?

[julianlina]

surprised u didn't put it through a sift XD

[panagiotisjevan]

Is socium citrate the same with citric acid? And why do we need it?is the mixture going to spoil fast? And why not use caragenan iota as a gelling agent? Works well with calsium.

[Radders]

The Sodium Citrate I have is actually TriSodium Citrate Dihydrate. Now when I've used this it seems very easy to go over the balance of just enough to make it emulsify and too much which makes the cheese taste very salty (i'm assuming from those three sodium atoms in the trisodium citrate). Does using SHMP reduced the amount of sodium citrate you're using and hence reduce the overall amount of sodium and hence effects on taste and my blood pressure?

[michaelbakhet]

hi chefsteps can you hold that sauce in a bain marie without splitting ?

[avneeshrox]

Can you please make a recipe for those chips ?

[luqmanhafeez]

(drolls) *** currently one step away from food heaven **k

[jtv]

go hawks! fuck yeah was not expecting that haha