Keto Nacho Cheese Sauce
This easy-to-make keto nacho cheese sauce contains a total of four ingredients, and three of them are cheese! Unlike most gluten-free keto queso recipes, this cheese sauce is not grainy or greasy.
6
Servings
195
Calories
14.8g
Fat
11.8g
Protein
0.1g
Net Carb
0.1g
Total Carbs
Low carb queso sauce recipe
Delicious Keto Nacho Cheese sauce recipes are hard to find, but our mixture of sharp cheddar, fontina, and swiss cheese hits it right out of the ballpark.
While many keto queso sauces can’t achieve the right texture because they use almond flour or xanthan gum, our recipe uses a secret ingredient – sodium citrate! By using sodium citrate, the proteins in the cheese sauce become more soluble while lowering the level of acidity in the sauce. It gives the sauce a smooth and creamy texture without curdling the cheese, which makes the perfect topper for keto nachos. This is a much better alternative than the grainy consistency that comes with an almond flour thickener or a slimy cheese sauce when xanthan gum is used.
Some keto queso dip recipes even use American cheese since it is easy to melt and creamy, but it is highly processed and high in carbs. In fact, American cheese is not even considered a real cheese; it is a cheese ‘cheese product’.
Other recipes use cream cheese as a softer cheese, but again this is higher in carbs which we are trying to avoid on the keto diet.
Keto Nacho Cheese Sauce Recipe Video
With 100s of videos and millions of views, Ketofocus is one of the most popular Keto channels on YouTube.
Keto Queso Sacue Ingredients
7 oz sharp cheddar cheese, shredded - 2.5 oz fontina cheese, shredded
- 3 tablespoons shredded swiss cheese
- 1 ⅓ cup water, divided
- 1 tablespoon sodium citrate
Keto Nacho Cheese Sauce Directions
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Blend of cheeses
In a medium bowl, combine cheddar cheese, fontina cheese and swiss cheese. Toss until mixed.
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Simmer
In a medium saucepan, whisk together ⅔ cup water and sodium citrate over medium heat. Stir until sodium citrate dissolves and the mixture begins to simmer. (Warning: Do not use a Calphalon pan.)
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Add cheese
Gradually add one handful of the cheese blend at a time, stirring constantly. Make sure the cheese is fully incorporated until adding the next handful.
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Thick it
Reduce heat to medium-low and whisk in remaining ⅔ cup water. Stir until slightly thickened, about 2-3 minutes. Mixture will continue to thicken as it cools. For a thicker sauce, simmer longer. For a thinner sauce, add more water if needed.
Fantastic! Tastes exactly like you’d expect nacho cheese to taste like, except I can actually feel good about it because it’s made from quality ingredients. Thank you!
Close to perfect but the 2/3 cup water at the end was too much. I’ll adjust that next time and it’ll PERFECT.
I read in many publications sodium citrate is extremely harmful. Is there something healthy you would substitute?
Sodium citrate is used in a lot of different foods and recipes. It is salt of citric acid which is found naturally in plants and animals. It is only harmful in very, very large doses as it affects the pH. In fact, they use sodium citrate pharmaceutically to treat kidney stones.
No, Bernice. It is extremely healthy when used properly and FOOD GRADE is . necessary when cooking.
I didn’t think Casava flour was Keto?
This recipe doesn’t use casava flour
Can you explain the issue with the Calphalon pans? We just got some then I saw this while looking up Queso..
One person had an issue with it. I’m not sure why someone would use a non-stick calphalon sauce pan. My saucepans are all stainless steel, but apparently the citric acid can eat away on the surface. I’m not sure if it’s all non-stick pans or just the Calphalon brand.
Is there citric acid in this recipe? I’m not seeing that ingredient in the list…
I use sodium citrate.
Isn’t Calphalon aluminum? Perhaps lowering the pH causes aluminum to leach into the food?
Saw this recipe on Highfalutin. I only have one sauce pan and it’s non-stick, I opted to do this in the microwave in a glass bowl. I came out perfect. Heated the water and sodium citrate first and gradually add the cheese, microwaving 30 secs at time until blended continued repeat to add cheese & 30 secs. Gradually added water 1 Tbsp at time until happy with the consistence. Yum… Yum Yum
Thank you for this recipe! 🙂 Can the cheese sauce be frozen in serving sizes and reheated? Also, I would like to make a white version with green chilies. Any suggestions on what cheese I should use?
Can this sauce be frozen? If stored in the fridge, how long will it last?
Thank you!
I haven’t tried freezing it yet.
What other cheese could be used in place of Fontina? My local stores do not have it in stock.
provolone should work
In one of your videos on YouTube you used a powdered cheese, but now I can’t locate the video. After watching the Nacho Cheese Recipe video, I’m wondering if the podered cheese is even necessary to have on hand?
I used the powdered cheese for cheez-its and keto doritos. Unless you plan on making those, you don’t have to have the powdered cheese on hand. Hope that helps!
This recipe for nacho cheese is wonderful. So simple and delicious. I usually double the recipe. Much better than that velvetta stuff.
I put it in “take away” microwaveable containers and store on my fridge. But they keep disappearing, hum so good and quick 1 minute heat in microwave with pork rinds. Awesome!