The Best Keto Cheese Sauce | KetoDiet Blog (2024)

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The Best Keto Cheese Sauce

4.8 stars, average of 3,658 ratings

By Martina Slajerova, updated October 10 2023175
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Game changer guys! This creamy grain-free cheese sauce is the real deal. It's so versatile and delicious with steak or poured over steamed low-carb vegetables.

It's really easy to make low-carb cheese sauce that is thick and creamy. No thickeners and no flour needed! You will only need heavy whipping cream, butter, shredded cheese, cream cheese, salt and pepper. If the sauce is too thick, just add a dash of water.

How To Make Keto Cheese Sauce

It will take just five minutes to make this low-carb cheese sauce from scratch. You'll start by heating up the cream with butter and then add shredded cheese and cream cheese. Bring to a boil and cook briefly until it thickens. That's it!

I kept my cheese sauce plain but you can use any of your favourite herbs and spices. Here are some of the optional seasonings you can use:

¹/₄ tsp cayenne pepper
¹/₂ tsp garlic powder or 1 minced garlic
¹/₂ tsp onion powder
¹/₂ tsp paprika
¹/₂ - 1 tsp mustard powder
2-4 tbsp freshly chopped herbs of choice (basil, parsley, thyme, rosemary, mint or chives)

Which Cheese is Best to Use for Cheese Sauce

To make grain-free cheese sauce, you'll need two types of cheese; soft cheese and hard cheese. For the soft cheese you can use full-fat cream cheese for plain flavor, or use fresh goat's cheese or sheep's cheese for a stronger flavor.

For the hard cheese you can use cheddar, hard goat's cheese, Manchego, Gouda, Emmental, Edam, Swiss cheese such as Gruyere, Parmesan or Pecorino Romano.

Strong tasting types of cheese such as Gorgonzola, Roquefort, Brie or Camembert are best combined with plain full-fat cream cheese.

I find that the best way to combine different types cheese is to always use one mild, neutral tasting cheese and one strong tasting cheese. Here are some of my favorite combinations:

cream cheese + hard goat's cheese
cream cheese + Swiss cheese
soft sheep's cheese + Pecorino Romano
soft goat's cheese + Parmesan

How to Serve Cheese Sauce

This keto cheese sauce can be drizzled over steamed or roasted vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower or zucchini. I used this cheese sauce to make Low-Carb Cauliflower Cheese, a keto alternative to traditional Mac and Cheese, and Low-Carb Broccoli Cheese Gratin which can be served as a side or vegetarian keto lunch or dinner.

And it's not just vegetable dishes. This gluten-free cheese sauce is perfect to serve with steak, pork chops, lamb chops, roast chicken and baked salmon.

0 days, 0 hours, 0 minutes

Hands-on 5-10 minutes Overall 5-10 minutes

Serving size about ¹/₄ cup/ 60 ml

Allergy information for The Best Keto Cheese Sauce

✔Gluten free

✔Egg free

✔Nut free

✔Nightshade free

✔Pork free

✔Avocado free

✔Coconut free

✔Fish free

✔Shellfish free

✔Beef free

Pescatarian

Vegetarian

Nutritional values (per serving, about ¹/₄ cup/ 60 ml)

Net carbs1.3 grams

Protein4.8 grams

Fat20.7 grams

Calories203 kcal

Calories from carbs 3%, protein 9%, fat 88%

Total carbs1.4 gramsFiber0 gramsSugars0.9 gramsSaturated fat12.7 gramsSodium149 mg(6% RDA)Magnesium6 mg(2% RDA)Potassium41 mg(2% EMR)

Ingredients (makes about 1 cup, 4 servings)

¹/₄ cup heavy whipping cream (60 ml/ 2 fl oz)
2 tbsp unsalted butter (28 g/ 1 oz)
¹/₄ cup cream cheese or soft goat cheese (60 g/ 2.1 oz)
¹/₂ cup grated cheddar or hard cheese of choice (60 g/ 2.1 oz)
pinch of sea salt, if needed
2 tbsp water or more cream if you need to thin it down
Optional: spices & herbs of choice

Instructions

Place the cream and butter into a small sauce pan and gently heat up. Add the grated cheddar cheese (or any hard cheese of choice) and cream cheese.
Stir until melted and bring to a simmer. Once you see bubbles, take off the heat.
Mix until smooth and creamy. If you prefer a thicker sauce, cook for 3-5 more minutes while stirring. If too thick, add a splash of water or cream.
Serve over steamed vegetables, fish and meat.
If you can't use the whole recipe, only make one serving. The sauce should be eaten immediately or kept at room temperature before serving. If you do need to refrigerate and then heat it up, make sure to heat up gently over a low heat while stirring to prevent the butter from separating and the cheese sauce from clumping up.

Ingredient nutritional breakdown (per serving, about ¹/₄ cup/ 60 ml)

Net carbs	Protein	Fat	Calories
Cream, heavy whipping, pouring, full-fat (30-40% fat)
0.4 g	0.3 g	5.7 g	55 kcal
Butter, unsalted, grass-fed
0 g	0.1 g	5.8 g	51 kcal
Cream cheese, soft (full-fat)
0.5 g	1.1 g	4.2 g	37 kcal
Cheddar cheese
0.5 g	3.4 g	5 g	61 kcal
Water, still
0 g	0 g	0 g	0 kcal
Total per serving, about ¹/₄ cup/ 60 ml
1.3 g	4.8 g	20.7 g	203 kcal

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Comments (175)

Jewel one month ago # Reply

We are carnivore and I was looking for something tasty we could do.I used what I had.Heavy whipping cream, goat cheese, shredded parmesean,hard Swiss and a bit of the dri3d parmesean.Oh and butter.Turned out amazing!! I poured over freshly air fried chicken thighs.Hubby Approved!
Thanks. It's so easy and good 👍

Martina @ KetoDiet one month ago # Reply

Thank you so much, I'm glad you enjoyed! 😊

Angela 10 months ago # Reply

Hi, just found this recipe and it sounds heavenly. I was wondering if this could be use for lasagne as I really miss the white sauce and don't like the version made with ricotta
Thanks
Angela

Martina @ KetoDiet 9 months ago # Reply

Yes, you could definitely use this sauce in pasta dishes! I made a low-carb version of Mac & Cheese with this sauce and it was amazing (The Best Keto Mac And Cheese).

Yvette one year ago # Reply

This was a great sauce. The best I ever made.I poured it over steamed broccoli. I used cream cheese and cheddar cheese.

Martina @ KetoDiet one year ago # Reply

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed!

Tim one year ago # Reply

Hands down THE BEST cheese sauce imaginable. What a way to spruce up Cauliflower rice!!!

Alecia carter one year ago # Reply

very good cheese sauce. My children usually don't eat cauliflower.I put sauce on it and they said that it tasted like macaroni and cheese. They really enjoyed the sauce. I use cream cheese and gouda.

Timm one year ago # Reply

This sauce really is the bomb. Get creative and mix different cheeses together. I never really liked riced cauliflower until I blended it with this sauce.

Alex Abraham one year ago # Reply

Hi, the first time I made this sauce I over-heated it terribly and it became a solid chunk - which was ok, but obviously, not a great result!
Had a second attempt and OMG!! It's absolutely top notch!
I made 4 times the amount because of expediency and lack of time to always make a batch as needed...
How long will this keep in the fridge - ? Quite some time I would imagine... but if you could give me a 'ballpark figure... Bearing in mind I'll probably put it on EVERYTHING - from Abalone to Zander, so it's probably going to be all gone before I know it!!

Martina @ KetoDiet one year ago # Reply

Glad it worked the second time! I think this should keep fresh in the fridge for about a week but mine never lasts more than 2 days 😊 It's also better fresh as reheated sometimes splits unless heated up gently.

Kirsty 2 years ago # Reply

This is the best cheese sauce ever!! I use it for cauliflower cheese for Sunday roast and always get comments on how delicious it is, and never any left over, often get asked to share the recipe too. It is so much nicer then non Keto cheese sauce and you can use it for many other dishes. It is so simple to make. Thank you 😊

Martina @ KetoDiet 2 years ago # Reply

Thank you so much! I must have made variations with at least 6 types of cheese so far. Really versatile 😊

Laurie Rasmussen 2 years ago # Reply

I love your recipes. Thank you

Lisa 2 years ago # Reply

This cheese sauce was FANTASTIC!!!Even my picky hubby LOVED IT!!I used a blend of medium cheddar, fancy super sharp white cheddar, a just a little bit of ghost pepper cheese. DAMN!!! This recipe link is now added to my homescreen doni van quickly find it! Thank you for the awesome recipe. Way better than regular cheese sauce.