Learn how to make cheese sauce with this easy recipe. Great for cauliflower cheese, fish pies, mac and cheese and pasta.

Each serving provides 216 kcal, 9g protein, 9g carbohydrates (of which 4.5g sugars), 16g fat (of which 10g saturates), 0g fibre and 0.8g salt.

Prepare

less than 30 mins

Cook

10 to 30 mins

Serve

Serves 4

Dietary

Egg-free

Nut-free

Pregnancy-friendly

Vegetarian

Ingredients

• 25g/1oz butter
• 25g/1oz plain flour
• 400–500ml/14–18fl oz milk
• 80g/3oz mature cheddar, grated (or substitute another good melting cheese, such as gruyère)
• salt and white pepper

Method

Melt the butter in a saucepan.

Stir in the flour and cook for 1–2 minutes.

Gradually stir in the milk, stirring constantly. Ensure that the milk is completely absorbed and the sauce is smooth and shiny before each addition of more milk. This will help ensure you get a smooth sauce with no lumps. Once all the milk is added, keep stirring, and bring the sauce to a gentle boil.

Reduce the heat and simmer gently for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Stir in the cheese and allow to melt. Don't re-boil the sauce or it will become stringy.

Recipe tips

You can easily customise this basic cheese sauce recipe with any bits of cheese you have in the fridge that melts well. You can also add a teaspoon of mustard at the end to perk it up.

White pepper is preferred because it won't leave dark specks in your sauce like black pepper would, but there's no difference to the flavour.