Freezer Cheese Sauce
An easy, cheesy sauce that goes great with just about any vegetable imaginable – it stores great in the freezer until needed!
Make-Ahead Freezer Cheese Sauce
This Make-Ahead Freezer Cheese Sauce is something that I highly recommend you keep on hand in your freezer if you have kids around! Why?
I don’t know how things go in your household, but in my house, making a child (or husband) eat their vegetables is a fate worse than death! I mean, it’s the worst punishment a parent can give!! My kids are picky eaters, but one thing they are not picky about is their universal hatred of anything that looks, smells, tastes or acts like it might possibly in some slight way be a vegetable, or be related to a vegetable, or have touched a vegetable at any time during its existence. They are equal-opportunity vegetable haters. Corn? Hate. Peas? Hate. Broccoli…don’t even go there!
Most of the time I’m doing good if I can get them to eat the main meal (in which I have usually hidden a few vegetables when possible). But ask them to eat a side dish comprised of nothing but vegetables? NOT. GONNA. HAPPEN!
So, we’ve taken to having to hide vegetables around our house. Usually, our cloak of invisibility of choice is ketchup. We go through SO much ketchup!
But sometimes it’s nice to have a change from the ketchup. Enter this Freezer Cheese Sauce.
It goes great with just about any vegetable you can think of! It works as a sauce over the top, or you can use it as a dip. One batch makes quite a lot, and it stores nicely in the freezer until needed!
I like to use mild cheddar in this freezer cheese sauce, because my kids like cheese but not a bold cheese flavor. If you like a stronger cheese flavor, try using sharp cheddar.
I recommend defrosting the cheese sauce in the fridge, and then heating in a saucepan on the stovetop. Sometimes dairy with separate a little when frozen. But heat it over the stove and give it a few stirs with a whisk and it comes right back together. I have not had much luck with the microwave, because it tends to heat it unevenly and then I get burned spots.
One batch of this Freezer Cheese Sauce makes about 10 cups, so I usually put about 2 cups into each of various freezer-safe containers for freezing.
My kids are still not big fans of vegetables. But I can usually coax at least a few small bites out of them with sufficient “cheese-sauce-toppage”. Mostly the key is to hide the very appearance of a vegetable. Go figure. But if it gets them to eat a few bites, I suppose that is better than nothing…right?
An easy, cheesy sauce that goes great with just about any vegetable imaginable - it stores great in the freezer until needed! Recipe adapted from the book, Make-A-Mix, by Karine Eliason, Nevada Harward and Madeline Westover. Nutrition information provided as an estimate only.
Freezer Cheese Sauce
Ingredients
Instructions
To re-heat:
Notes
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 40
Serving Size: 1/4 cup
Amount Per Serving:
Calories: 134Total Fat: 11gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 49mgSodium: 281mgCarbohydrates: 4gFiber: 0gSugar: 0gProtein: 6g
MaeWest Judy
Saturday 11th of June 2022
Chicken broth & eggs? I don't use either, but I do use heavy whipping cream & butter. Do you think that might work to freeze too?
Erica
Monday 13th of December 2021
I was REALLY leary about a cheese sauce that says it can be frozen and still turn out creamy and delicious. I made a batch and hoped for the best. I wanted to make frozen portions of buffalo mac and cheese that I could just reheat at lunch because I'm addicted to it right now. Let me tell you, I was shocked! I tested it cold from the fridge, reheating in a microwave and it was perfect. Then, I tested it straight from the freezer and.... PERFECT!!! It did NOT curdle, it wasn't gritty, it was still creamy and absolutely delicious! I have saved this recipe and will use it again and again which doesn't happen very often so kudos!
Philomena
Wednesday 4th of May 2022
@Candi, made this cheese sauce with frozen double cream and cup of milk,delicious used Brie and mature cheddar,thank you from u k.Philomena.
Candi
Tuesday 21st of December 2021
So glad you liked it!! :)
SHANNON CASEY
Saturday 30th of January 2021
what is the approximate weight of the cheese in this recipe? Would a pound be fine? Thanks.
Candi
Saturday 30th of January 2021
6 cups of shredded cheese is approximately 1.5 pounds. You can use a pound, but the cheese flavor will not be as strong. Totally doable though.
Maria Demetriou
Saturday 2nd of January 2021
Can you use Stilton instead of Cheddar cheese ???
Candi
Monday 4th of January 2021
I'm not familiar with using Stilton as it is not common here in my area of the US. However, any cheese that melts should work. If you try it definitely let us know how it works out!
jas
Wednesday 5th of August 2020
How necessary is the egg on this recipe? I am pandemic cooking the 10 lbs of grated cheese I got from the foodbank (yikes!) but can't get eggs for another couple of weeks when I do my next grocery order. I doubt the cheese will keep till then and I love the idea of freezing small batches cheese sauce to top whatever I manage to get my hands on in the upcoming months.
Candi
Thursday 6th of August 2020
They help stabilize the mixture for freezing by adding extra protein and binding. I have never tried the recipe without, but you certainly could give it a shot! Maybe make just a small batch without the eggs (you might need to add just a bit extra half-and-half to compensate) and give it a test freeze. Another alternative would be to freeze the shredded cheese as-is (I usually put mine just straight in big freezer ziptop bags and toss them in the freezer), and then pull it out to thaw to make the cheese sauce once you can get eggs. Because you are changing the state of the cheese (from shredded to melted in the sauce), you should be fine freezing the cheese "twice" like that.