Beer Cheese Nacho Sauce

A spicy cheese sauce made with beer. Great as a dip, on nachos, tacos, or veggies.

Beer and cheese are staples while watching football. At least that's the case in my house. We drink plenty of beer while watching the game(s) and I love to add cheese to any (and just about all) gameday snacks. So when I was making my gameday snack(s) I decided to combine the two.

Beer and cheese make great gameday snacking. [Tweet this]

If you don't like the taste of beer you won't like this (or any) beer cheese dip. The cheese is melted in a beer sauce. So the main flavors are cheese and beer...gooood. I used my favorite sharp cheddar that I shredded myself (in my food processor). I would suggest doing this because usually blocks of cheese have better flavor than the pre-shredded kind (and sometimes the pre-shredded cheese doesn't melt right...I think they add something to keep it from clumping). I used a Coor's light for the beer in this dip (it's what we had that day) and it was good but next time I make this I will use a better, more flavorful beer...maybe something local.

Beer Cheese Nacho Sauce is only as good as the beer and cheese used to make it. [Tweet this]

One thing to note...unprocessed cheese doesn't stay smooth in sauce like processed cheese (a.k.a American cheese). However, you sacrifice flavor by using American versus cheddar (unless you really love American cheese; then use it). It may not be as smooth as store bought nacho cheese sauce, but it's real (no fake cheese flavoring) and really tasty. I did some research and apparently if you add sodium citrate you can melt any cheese like it's Velveeta and make awesome nacho cheese sauce. Eventually, I'm going to buy some sodium citrate from Amazon(.com) and try my hand at molecular gastronomy. Until then this will do.

Beer Cheese Nacho Sauce

Cook time: 20-30 minutes
Servings: 6

Ingredients:

1/4 cup Butter
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 12-oz beer
1 cup milk
1/4 cup minced pickled jalapenos
12 oz shredded sharp cheddar cheese
dried hot green chili flakes (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

In a large saucepan over medium heat melt the butter. Stir in the flour and keep stirring for a few minutes until the flour just barely starts to turn golden.

Then pour in the beer, milk, and jalapenos. Cook, stirring often until mixture begins to boil. Keep stirring until sauce thickens to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and stir in the cheese, a cup at a time, until it's melted and as cheesy as you like it. Taste and adjust seasoning. I wanted my sauce spicier so I added hot green chili flakes until I was happy.

While still warm pour into bowls to serve or over chips, vegetables or whatever. Pour any leftover sauce into a jar to cool then refrigerate. It solidifies when it's cold, but I just microwaved mine 30 seconds at a time until it was hot and liquefied (use a towel or pot holder to lift it gets very hot).

Makes about 6 servings (of about 1/2 cup each).

Enjoy.