Dress up your favorite Keto vegetables in just 5 minutes with this quick and easy cheese sauce! Smooth and creamy, this will soon become one of your favorite Keto sauces!
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Need a Low Carb Sauce to add some healthy fat to your Keto diet? Cheese sauce is one of many ways to add more healthy fats to your diet.
Mascarpone cheese makes this cheese sauce smooth and creamy. The cheddar cheese gives it a classic flavor and a little tang from the lemon zest brightens it all up!
Adding lemon zest to dishes, gives them such a fresh flavor! Serve it over any Keto veggies, like broccoli or asparagus, and serve along side your favorite protein like grilled steak or chicken for a complete meal. Or, if you’re a Vegetarian, you use this cheese sauce in many different Low Carb vegetarian dishes!
This is also a great cauliflower “mac” and cheese sauce recipe! Give this sauce a try and you will find that it makes a great addition to just about any Low Carb side dishes!
What Ingredients Do I need to Make this Easy Cheese Sauce?
This Low Carb cheese sauce only uses 5 ingredients, plus salt and pepper!
- Heavy cream
- Shredded cheddar cheese
- Mascarpone cheese
- Grass-fed butter
- Lemon zest
- Salt & pepper
*Exact measurements are listed in the recipe card below.
How to Make Easy Keto Cheese Sauce
Let’s start by adding the butter to a sauce pan and turn on to medium heat. Once the butter has melted, you can add in the heavy cream and heat for just a minute.
Then add in the mascarpone cheese, salt and pepper (to taste). Once the mascarpone has melted, add in the cheddar cheese and stir.
Cook over medium low heat for a few minutes, or until the sauce is the thickness that you prefer. You’ll find that this sauce comes together pretty quickly, so it’s really great for last minute meals! It should take just over 3 minutes.
Once it’s thickened, add in the lemon zest and serve. If you’re planning to serve it over broccoli or asparagus, you can add in extra lemon zest to really brighten it up. I would only do this if you’re serving it over something that goes really well with lemon.
If you’re in a hurry to make your broccoli, check out this Instant Pot Broccoli! You can make it while you’re whipping up the sauce!
Tips on How to Make this Easy Keto Cheese Sauce
What Cheese is Best to Use to Make a Low Carb Cheese Sauce?
A combination of cheddar cheese and a thick creamy cheese like mascarpone or cream cheese works perfectly. If you can’t find mascarpone cheese or don’t have an on hand, you can substitute with cream cheese. You can also use Monterey Jack or Colby, pretty much any cheese that melts really well would work.
How do you Thicken Cheese Sauce without Flour?
The good news is that there’s no flour needed to thicken this wonderfully creamy cheese sauce! And because there’s no flour in it, it makes this a great gluten free cheese sauce!
Mascarpone not only makes this cheese sauce super creamy, but it also acts as a thickener. In fact, there are many recipes that use mascarpone helps to thicken them, like Alfredo Sauce, Mushroom Gravy, Pot Roast Gravy, or the sauces in Butter Chicken and Chicken Marsala.
Mascarpone cheese is my favorite secret weapon! If you’ve never tried it, I’d say it compares closely to cream cheese, is lower in carbs, but still high in fat. Because it’s so mild in flavor, it makes a great thickener for sauces, making them creamy, without overpowering the flavor.
Can you Freeze Cheese Sauce?
Absolutely! It actually freezes really well and when you’re ready to use it again, just reheat it in a saucepan and it will come together nicely.
Can I add More Flavor to this Cheese Sauce?
Yes, you sure can! Adding in parmesan, Romano or asiago cheese will give this sauce even more flavor. If you like really bold flavors, you can make different variations of this sauce!
For example, if you like the flavors of Jalapeño Poppers, you will love a variation of this sauce in Jalapeño Popper Cauliflower “Mac” and Cheese. If you’re a Buffalo Wings fan, you might also like the Buffalo Cheese Sauce used in Buffalo Cauliflower “Mac” and Cheese! These are both definitely worth trying, they have a wonderful bold flavor!
More Low Carb and Keto Sauces…
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Easy Keto Cheese Sauce – Keto/Low Carb
Recipe Video
INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 1/4 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- 1/4 cup mascarpone cheese
- 1 tablespoon grass-fed butter
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1-2 teaspoons of salt to taste
PREPARATION
- Add the butter to a sauce pan on medium heat. Add in the heavy cream and heat for a minute. Then add in the mascarpone cheese, salt and pepper.
- Once the mascarpone is melted, add in the cheddar cheese and stir. Cook over medium low heat for a few minutes, or until the sauce has thickened to your liking. Mine took a little over 3 minutes.
- Once thickened, add in the lemon zest and serve.
NOTES
How much is considered a serving?
1/6th of the recipe is a serving.
i did not want to waste the lemon, so i used the juice too. OMG could not believe the rich, delicious taste and texture. reminded me of the sauce on eggs benedict. thanx.
Love the idea of using the juice too, I am ALL about lots of lemon flavor! Glad you enjoyed it 🙂
How much is considered a serving? Extraordinarily delish!!!
I just made this and it looks like slime. I used cream cheese and mexican cheese blend (cheddar, queso quesadilla, asadero, and Monterey jack). What did I do wrong? Yummy but super stretchy.
Wow, I have no idea why that would be! I make this sauce all the time, it’s one of my favorites. Maybe it cooked too high and fast or not enough heavy cream?
This is really yummy and easy! I didnt have mascarpone, so I just used cream cheese. I measured all ingredients into a small sauce pan and heated it slowly on low while I was making the rest of our meal and once it started getting warm I whisked it here and there. It was great over our steamed broccoli, and a welcome flavor and fat boost for my keto hubby. Thank you for sharing!
Awesome, so glad you and your husband enjoyed it! And the cream cheese is a perfect sub for the mascarpone 🙂
Can I substitute creme fraiche?
Hi Cathy,
Assuming you mean subbing for the mascarpone cheese, I don’t see a problem with that. I haven’t tried it before, but it should work just fine.
Coukd crwam cheese be used instead if mascarpone?
Yes, you sure can! Just be sure to adjust your macros, since the carbs will be a little higher. It will have a stronger flavor, since mascarpone is very mild, but it should still taste great 🙂
This is delicious and creamy! I love the addition of the mascarpone, makes the sauce decadent – and the lemon zest keeps it fresh. Thanks for a great recipe!
You are most welcome and thanks for the feedback! I use mascarpone in so many recipes, it’s mild in flavors, loaded with healthy fat and very low carbs. Glad you enjoyed it!
How would this pair with Mexican food? Like taco salad…
I think it would pair nicely, but I would probably omit the lemon zest.
How well does this reheat?
Very easily! You can either reheat in the microwave or stovetop, just mix in a tiny bit of hot water first.