Easy Keto Cheese Sauce

This 5-minute, super easy keto cheese sauce is perfect for dipping your broccoli, pouring over your chili cheese dog, and even makes a great addition to nachos! With only a handful of ingredients, it’s a great low carb recipe you are going to want to have! 

Looking for a keto cheese sauce for broccoli? Look no further! This keto cheese sauce recipe is absolutely amazing poured over some broccoli, cauliflower or almost any other veggie. Actually, not just poured over veggies, it can be used served over chicken, put on top of your low carb tortillas and used on nachos, or wait for it…. serve it with your chili cheese dog. 

That’s a personal favorite of mine, I love cheese dogs or chili cheese dogs…mmm I’m getting hungry guys. 

Having a keto cheese sauce recipe in your life is going to change your life with the endless amount of possibilities you can put it on. Or honestly eating by the spoonful is pretty great too…don’t worry we aren’t judging. 

If you have kids or even just picky husbands who don’t like to eat their veggies, then try making up a batch of this cheddar cheese sauce for them to dip all their veggies into. I have a feeling that this might be just what they need! 

What is Keto Cheese Sauce?

What is keto cheese sauce? It’s basically just a thick creamy cheese sauce, that is made with absolutely no flour or thickening agents, which makes it perfect for a keto diet. It’s great for dipping or pouring over other foods.

This easy keto cheddar cheese sauce recipe is flavorful and is so cheesy that you will want to put it on everything. Cheese sauce is the perfect way to get your kids to eat their veggies and you will love it too! 

Is this Cheese Sauce Low Carb? 

One of the many benefits of this easy cheese sauce is that it’s totally keto-friendly. 

Cheese sauce usually starts by making a roux with flour and butter, then has some milk and cheese added. But my low carb cheese sauce doesn’t contain any flour whatsoever, and you would never even know that you were missing flour. 

And we also don’t use milk, cause as you know milk is higher in carbs. So instead I use heavy cream, which has fewer carbs than regular milk and acceptable on a Keto diet.

For ¼ cup of keto cheese sauce, it’s only 1.7 NET CARBS. 

What Ingredients are in Keto Cheese Sauce 

Cheddar Cheese – Shredded cheddar works the best, it melts much quicker. I use orange cheddar, but you can use white Vermont sharp cheddar instead if that’s what you prefer. 

Heavy Cream – Rather than using milk, we use heavy cream. It’s lower in carbs and makes for a nice thick sauce. 

Butter & Cream Cheese – The mixture of butter and cream cheese is used to make a roux. Plus the cream cheese helps to thicken up the keto cheese sauce. 

Mustard & Spices – ¼ tsp of Dijon mustard, salt, and pepper is all I used. But you can add onion powder, garlic powder, or even a dash of paprika if you’d like.

Can You Make Cheese Sauce without Flour?

One of the best things is that this easy keto cheese sauce doesn’t contain any flour whatsoever. You might not have thought you can make a cheese sauce without flour but it’s definitely possible and so easy. 

Even though it can be a low carb replacement in many recipes, there is no need to add any almond flour either. We’ve found that it may leave your sauce with a bit of a gritty texture which you don’t want.

The small amount of cream cheese, mixed with heavy cream and cheddar cheese is all that’s needed to make this sauce thick and creamy. Another benefit of not using flour means that this cheese sauce is 100% gluten-free. 

What Kind of Cheese is Best for Keto Cheese Sauce?

What’s the best kind of cheese to use for homemade low carb cheese sauce? You really can use a lot of different kinds of cheese, but it might depend on what you’re using the sauce for: 

• Cheddar – this is perfect if you are looking for a Keto cheese sauce for broccoli, cauliflower, roasted Brussel sprouts, hot dogs, nachos, soft pretzel bites, dipping for different kinds of breads, the list goes on and on.
• Monterey Jack or Pepper Jack – good for Nachos, tacos, pretty much any type of Mexican dish. 
• Mix of Parmesan and Cheddar – also great for veggies
• Swiss Cheese – perfect for pouring over Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole 
• Nacho Cheese – great for nachos and adds a little kick!

How to Make Low Carb Keto Cheese Sauce from Scratch

I love making a homemade keto cheese sauce, and I’m excited to share it with you. Follow these simple step by step instructions and you’ll have cheese sauce in no time. 

Preparing Ingredients

There’s not a lot to prepare, which is awesome. I love quick recipes, and I’m sure you guys do too. So start by shredding your cheese, using a standing box grater. 

Once the cheese is all shredded, gather the rest of your ingredients together. 

Making the Cheese Sauce Smooth / Making Roux

Add the butter to a saucepan and let it melt.

Once the butter has melted, then add the salt, pepper, dijon mustard, cream cheese and stir together.

Continue stirring until the cream cheese has melted. 

Add the heavy cream and stir. Keep stirring until the sauce starts to thicken up.

Melting the Cheese

Now it’s time to add the cheese. Put the cheese into the pan and stir together.

Stir for a minute or two until the cheese has completely melted. 

That’s it, your cheese sauce is done!

Best Tips for Easy Keto Cheese Sauce

Here are a few easy tips which will make your cheese sauce come out perfect every time!

• The cheese sauce is best served right away while still hot.
• You can adjust the thickness of your cheese sauce. If it’s too thick, add more cream. If it’s too thin, then add a little bit more cheese. 
• Stir the sauce frequently while cooking, otherwise, it can burn easily.
• Cheese sauce can be stored in the fridge for 4-5 days.
• When reheating the cheese sauce, cook on low while stirring constantly, to prevent burning.
• If you find that the recipe is too much and you don’t want to have leftovers, then simply cut the recipe in half. 

How to Make Keto Cheese Sauce Thicker

It shouldn’t happen often with a Keto cheddar cheese sauce, but if it does come out too runny, we can always make it thicker.

Many cheese sauce recipes are thickened with using a flour-based roux, but as you know my keto cheddar cheese sauce doesn’t require flour as a thickener. We thicken our cheese sauce by using…actual cheese! 

A combo of cream cheese and shredded cheddar cheese mixed with some butter and heavy cream is all that’s needed to make a nice thick cheese sauce. So if you find it needs to be thicker, just add a bit more cheese and that will do the trick.

Making Cheese Sauce Thicker without Almond Flour

Almond flour is not needed to thicken this cheese sauce. I don’t really like to use almond flour as a thickener in any of my soups either. It doesn’t dissolve as regular flour does. So if you wanted to use an actual thickener for sauces or creamy soups then I would use a very small amount of Xanthan Gum instead. 

Always start with only ½ tsp at a time as Xanthan Gum thickens very quickly and you don’t need much. This is a trick we use when making our Low Carb Gravy and it works perfectly.

Why does a Cheese Sauce Split?

Cheese sauce can split if it’s reheated too quickly at too high of a temperature. So to prevent this from happening, reheat it over very low heat, and continue to whisk constantly. It might seem like it’s taking a long time to heat, but I promise it’s worth it. Slow and steady…

Different Variations of Keto Cheese

There are different ways to “spice up” your keto cheese sauce. Here are a few ideas: 

• Nacho Cheese Sauce – You can add pepper jack or Monterey jack, salsa, and jalapenos. 
• Add Parmesan Cheese for a saltier taste.
• Using Spices like paprika, garlic powder, onion powder can add some nice flavor.

What Can I Put Keto Cheese Sauce On?

What can you put this low carb cheese sauce on? The options are kinda endless and we’ve already touched on some of them up above, but I’ll list them again for you in case you missed it. 

• Roasted Broccoli or Steamed Broccoli – Having a Keto cheese sauce for broccoli is our favorite way to eat these green veggies.
• Roasted Cauliflower
• Nachos made with Low Carb Tortilla Chips
• Tacos
• Hot Dogs
• Keto Soft Pretzel Bites
• Jicama Fries or Jicama Chili Cheese Fries
• Pour it over Chicken or Pork Chops 
• Use it as a Cheese dip with Low Carb Tortilla Chips, Raw Veggies, and Italian meats
• Pour it over Pasta for a non-keto idea

Other Diets This Recipe is Good For 

Gluten-Free – It’s great to find sauce recipes that are gluten-free, and this is one of them. It doesn’t contain any flour at all. But obviously it’s low carb and doesn’t even have any gluten-free flour. 

Can I Make Low Carb Cheese Sauce Ahead?

The recipe for this easy low carb cheese sauce can be made ahead of time, but it’s always better when it’s made and eaten fresh. That being said, making it ahead of time when you are on a time crunch is definitely possible. 

How to Store Keto Cheese Sauce

Whether you made the keto cheese sauce ahead of time, or you have leftovers, storing the sauce is easy. Put it in an airtight container, or a jar and place it in the fridge for 4-5 days. 

How to Reheat Cheese Sauce

You can reheat your cheese sauce in the microwave or on the stove. 

If you chose to reheat in the microwave, then add a little bit of cream to it first. Heat in 30-60 second intervals, stirring in between until you have reached the desired temperature. 

If you reheat the sauce of the stove, add a little bit of fresh cream. Heat on low, and stir constantly, so it doesn’t burn. Make sure not to boil the sauce, otherwise, it can get chunky instead of keeping the smooth consistency you want. 

Can You Freeze Cheese Sauce?

To be honest, I don’t recommend freezing this keto cheese sauce. Dairy often doesn’t really freeze well, and it can end up changing the texture of your sauce. So if you think the recipe is too much, an easy way to help with that is to cut the ingredients in half. 

Other Low Carb Sauce Recipes:

If you’re in the mood for some other Keto Sauces and Dips then try our:

• Sugar-Free Keto BBQ Sauce
• Tzatziki Sauce
• Perfect Keto Gravy
• Low Carb Pepperoni Pizza Dip
• Cheesy Spinach Artichoke Dip

All of them are Keto-friendly and low carb, and will have your friends raving!

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