A good cheese sauce is one of those brilliant back-pocket kitchen building blocks that’s very much worth knowing. This guide shows you how to make a smooth, creamy, cheesy béchamel without the stress and without the lumps. You’ll be left with a gorgeous sauce to use for mac and cheese, lasagna, bakes, pies, and so much more.
Table of Contents
- Cheesy Béchamel, at a Glance
- A Silky, Cozy, Building Block of a Sauce
- Ingredients you’ll need
- How to Make Cheesy Béchamel
- Kate’s Top Tips for Super Smooth Béchamel
- Four Easy Flavor Variations
- Troubleshooting Tips
- Six Great Ways to Use Cheesy Béchamel
- Cheesy Béchamel FAQs
- Like this recipe? Try these easy sauces next
- Smooth, Cheesy Béchamel Sauce Recipe
Cheesy Béchamel, at a Glance
⏰ Total time: 20 minutes
🍽 Makes: About 2 cups
🛒 Key Ingredients: Butter, flour, milk, cheese, salt, pepper
🧠 Skill level: Easy
🔥 Cooking Method: Stovetop
🧀 Best Cheese: Sharp cheddar, gruyere, parmesan, or a mix
💕 Why You’ll Love: A gorgeously smooth, creamy, cheesy sauce to have in your back pocket to use for mac and cheese, loaded wedges, lasagna, pies, and bakes.
A Silky, Cozy, Building Block of a Sauce
A good cheese sauce is one of those simple kitchen building blocks that’s definitely worth having up your sleeve.
It starts with simple ingredients – butter, flour, and milk – transformed into a smooth, creamy, white sauce. That’s classic béchamel. We’re taking things further by adding lots of lovely cheese and a little extra optional seasoning to turn it into a cheesy béchamel, which is traditionally called a mornay sauce.
It’s a classic sauce that has so many potential uses – think lasagna, pie fillings, vegetable gratins, mac and cheese, loaded potatoes – and once you nail the basic version, you can take the sauce in so many jazzy, fun, flavor-boosted directions.
This is a simple, make-it-your-own, genuinely useful sauce to have in your back pocket, and it’s much easier than you might think. I was always a little scared of lumpy, grainy béchamel, but once you know the tips and tricks I’m sharing below, you’ll be absolutely fine.
Thank you so much for being a member of Dished by Kate Plus 💕. Your support really means so much to me, and I hope this becomes a very useful little sauce in your kitchen too.
Ingredients you’ll need
- Butter. Regular unsalted butter is great because you can really control the salt levels of the finished sauce, but salted butter works well, too.
- Flour. This thickens your sauce – regular plain, all-purpose flour is best.
- Milk. I like using whole milk for the best, creamy flavor, but low-fat milk will still work.
- Cheese. Go for a strong-flavored cheese – you want to be able to taste it. Sharp cheddar, gruyere, or parmesan are great, or use a mix. If you want a super gooey sauce that’ll give you a cheese pull, add a bit of mozzarella in too. I wouldn’t go all mozzarella, though – it’s too mild.
- Seasoning. A little ground nutmeg lifts the sauce, and I love adding white miso paste to take it to another level. This is optional, but I do recommend trying it if you can. Season with salt and pepper to taste – the amount of salt you need (if any) will depend on the saltiness of your cheese, and whether you’ve used the miso.
How to Make Cheesy Béchamel
- Melt your butter, then add the white miso paste.
- Sprinkle in your flour, then stir to combine with the miso butter.
- Continue stirring for a couple of minutes to cook out the flour. A thick paste should start to form.
- Slowly pour in about half a cup of the milk, whisking as you go. Once it thickens, pour in more milk, whisking continuously.
- Continue adding all your milk, whisking as you go, until the sauce is lovely and thick. It should be able to coat the back of a spoon and hold its place.
- At this point, turn the heat off, then whisk in the freshly grated cheese and a good grind of black pepper.
- Continue to stir until the cheese melts into the sauce. Taste, then season with a little salt or extra pepper as needed.
Kate’s Top Tips for Super Smooth Béchamel
Grate your own cheese. This is one of the biggest reasons you might end up with a grainy sauce. Pre-shredded cheese is often coated with anti-caking agents, which can prevent it from melting smoothly into the sauce.
Warm the milk first. Not essential, but a nice way to make the whole process easier. Warm milk will help prevent lumps and make the sauce thicken faster. Just warm it gently in the microwave, or on the stovetop – you want it warm, but not boiling.
Add the milk slowly at first. It’s a little bit annoying, but gradually whisking in the milk initially will make a big difference. Once the mixture is a bit looser and creamier, you can pour in more milk at a time.
Add the cheese off the heat. Another big one! If you add the cheese over high heat, it can split, making the sauce grainy. Turn the heat off, and let it sit for a minute before stirring in your cheese.
Four Easy Flavor Variations
- Spicy gochujang béchamel. Whisk 1 or 2 tablespoons of gochujang paste into the sauce before you add the cheese. This is one of my favorite variations – spicy, cheesy, delicious.
- Green goddess béchamel. Stir through finely chopped flat-leaf parsley, basil, chives, and dill. Or, blitz a green puree and stir that through the sauce at the end.
- Herby pesto béchamel. Mix in a good dollop of fresh basil pesto at the end.
- Cheesy Buffalo béchamel. Crumble in about ½ cup of creamy blue cheese and a tablespoon or two of Buffalo hot sauce.
Troubleshooting Tips
My sauce is lumpy. Vigorously whisk your sauce, or if it’s really not shifting, you can blitz it briefly with an immersion blender.
My sauce is too thick. Add a little more milk, then stir again until it’s as saucy as you’d prefer. If you think it’s too thick after it’s cooled, it will loosen up again once it’s heated.
My sauce is too thin. Continue to simmer your sauce for a few more minutes. It will also thicken as it cools.
My sauce is grainy. This can happen if you add the cheese while the sauce is too hot. Remember to turn the heat off, let it sit for a minute, then stir in the cheese. You also want to make sure you grate your own cheese, rather than using pre-shredded cheese. That tends to have an anti-caking coating to prevent it from sticking together in the packet, which can make your sauce grainy.
Six Great Ways to Use Cheesy Béchamel
- Mac & Cheese. One of the most classic ways to use this cheesy sauce. For the simplest version, mix cooked pasta through the sauce, top with more grated cheese, and bake. Or, switch up your flavors and make a green mac & cheese (like this wild garlic mac & cheese).
- White Pizza. If you’ve not tried pizza with cheesy béchamel as the white base, it’ll change your life! Try it and make this lovely peach, blue cheese & sweet chili pizza.
- Spicy, Cheesy Loaded Wedges. I love these gorgeous sharing wedges for entertaining or game day – they use spicy gochujang béchamel as the cheesy, saucy topping.
- Kiwi Mince & Cheese Party Pies. Traditionally, a Kiwi mince & cheese pie doesn’t use a cheesy béchamel sauce, but it truly takes them up a level in terms of gooey luxuriousness. I know savory pies aren’t a big thing outside of New Zealand, Australia, and the UK, but they are very worth trying.
- Cheesy Bolognese Rice Bake. This LOVELY, super comforting bake is like a lasagna, but without the fussy layers. Use it as the cheesy topping for a gorgeous, gooey finish.
- Vegetable Gratin. Pour the cheesy sauce over roasted cauliflower (like cauliflower cheese), broccoli, leeks, potatoes, zucchini, or a nice mix, then top with grated cheese and bake until bubbling and golden.
Cheesy Béchamel FAQs
Yes! Make it up to three days ahead of time, and store it in an airtight container in the fridge.
Keep in mind that it’ll thicken as it sits and cools, but you can loosen it again by gently heating it, either in the microwave or on the stovetop, or mix in an extra splash of milk.
A good strongly flavored cheese that melts well is best. I tend to reach for sharp cheddar the most, but you can make the flavor profile your own by using different cheese, or a mixture.
Gruyere is great, as is parmesan, or pecorino. Mozzarella is great for that gooey, melty, cheese pull factor so I like including a little bit if I want that kind of sauce. I don’t recommend only using mozzarella though, as it’s too mild in flavor.
Whole or full-fat milk does give you the creamiest, silkiest sauce, but I’ve made this with lower fat milk and it works fine too. The cheese adds a lot of the richness, so you can kind of get away with it.
Unsweetened oat milk actually works well too, but it won’t be quite the same.
You don’t have to use the white miso paste. I love it because it adds a deep, savoriness to the sauce, but it’ll still be great without it.
Like this recipe? Try these easy sauces next
If you make this recipe, I’d love to hear from you! You can leave a recipe rating and a comment below. And remember to tag @DishedByKate on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok if you’ve made one of my recipes. Seeing your recreations really makes my day 😊.
Smooth, Cheesy Béchamel Sauce
Ingredients
Method
- Warm the milk.Add 1 ½ cups of milk to a small saucepan or a microwave-safe jug, and warm gently until moderately hot, but not boiling.
- Make the roux.A roux is a French term for the base of this sauce. Basically, it's equal parts fat and flour cooked into a paste. Here we're using butter and flour, as is traditional for a béchamel.Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the white miso paste if you're using it, and whisk it into the butter until smooth.Add 2 tablespoons of flour, whisking to combine into a paste (roux), and keep whisking to cook the raw flour for a couple of minutes.
- Add the milk and thicken the sauce.Turn the heat to low and slowly pour in the milk, whisking as you go. At first, it'll thicken quite quickly, then thin out as you keep adding milk. Keep whisking as it thickens up and starts to bubble. Continue whisking as you keep adding the milk.Increase the heat slightly, then continue whisking, until the sauce thickens. This will take around 5 to 8 minutes. It should be smooth, creamy, and about the consistency of thick gravy.
- Add the cheese and season to taste.At this point, turn the heat off. Sprinkle in ¼ teaspoon of nutmeg, and the cup of grated cheese, whisking as it melts into the sauce. Taste, then season with any extra salt if needed (start sloiw if you've used the miso paste), and a very good grind of black pepper.It's now either ready to use or ready to store in the fridge in an airtight container.
