How do you melt your cheese for Nachos and hot dogs?

United States
August 18, 2008 1:28pm CST
I once had an awesome hot dog that only had melted cheese and jalapenos on it. Ever since then I have been looking for the perfect melted cheese sauce. I need it to be a little spice yet creamy. Yesterday I made some nachos with jalapenos. I melted some kraft cheddar cheese with milk, a little cornstarch, salt , pepper, red pepper, and butter. It looked good but was very very grainy. No matter how I make it, it's always grainy. I think it's the cheese. Any ideas how to get a creamy non-grainy cheese sauce?
2 people like this
7 responses
@jsmith12 (438)
• Canada
18 Aug 08
I make a nacho dip using the following: Cheese wize (Or that kraft cheese spread of some type) Salsa Galic powder Graded cheese ground round (Could proably use ground beef, but I don't eat that) To make it I do the following: 1) Melt the cheese wise in the microwave so it's runny 2) Once it's melted mix with about equal parts salsa, galic powder, and the ground round. Stir it all together. 3) Top with the graded cheese, and head again so the cheese melts I bet you could easily throw in more spices from the galic powder to make a speicy version.
2 people like this
• United States
19 Aug 08
Thanks for the reply. This sounds interesting. Next time I have a party I will try it out.
1 person likes this
@snowy22315 (169832)
• United States
18 Aug 08
I think use a basic cheddar cheese and melt it in the microwave. That should work. Some of the nacho kits you can buy have cheese that melts very easily also. I'm not sure personally if I would like the hot dog jalpenos and cheese combination. it sounds like it would be very spicy to me. I hope you can get your cheese right.
1 person likes this
• United States
18 Aug 08
I tried to microwave the cheese once, it was a greasy mess.
• United States
18 Aug 08
yeah chedder can get nasty when melted...reminds me of the old commercial.. "Velveeta versus cheddar our velveeta melts much better when the cook book calls for cheddar use velveeta it melts better"...I used to love that commercial..
1 person likes this
• United States
18 Aug 08
yea, those commercials were awesome.
@kareng (54554)
• United States
19 Aug 08
Ragu makes a melted cheese in a jar. Add some Rotel tomatoes to that and you have a spicy cheese dip. You can heat in the microwave to warm it up before serving. I like the jar, you can dip out what you need and refrigerate the rest to use at a later date. Nachos is a favorite of mine. I need to plan on having them for dinner soon. Oh, and football season is right around the corner too. This is an awesome game time snack/meal!
• United States
19 Aug 08
I wish I could make it as good as in a jar. There has to be a way.
• United States
18 Aug 08
velveeta and salsa, pop it in the microwave and boom, instant sauce...yummmo
1 person likes this
• United States
18 Aug 08
Yum, mix with salsa . Sounds good to me.
@magojordan (3252)
• Philippines
19 Aug 08
Well maybe you should eliminate the cornstarch or if not you could mix it first with water to remove all the lumps to avoid it being grainy. Make sure that your cornstarch and water mixture (or slurry)is in the proper proportions and maybe you could have your cheese sauce stay a little longer until it thickens while boiling. Avoid overcooking it though.
1 person likes this
• United States
19 Aug 08
I added the cornstarch to hold the cheese together. I thought that would elliminate the grainy taste from the cheese melting. There were no lumps in the cheese, it was just grainy.
@zeny_zion (1283)
• Philippines
18 Aug 08
use cheese whiz its a melted cheese. we have it in our country. i dont know if you have it there. its in the bottle. you dont need to melt it cause its already melted. we use it for sandwich spread or spaghetti sauce or even pizza. its good for dippings also.
1 person likes this
@zeny_zion (1283)
• Philippines
18 Aug 08
use cheese whiz its a melted cheese. we have it in our country. i dont know if you have it there. its in the bottle. you dont need to melt it cause its already melted. we use it for sandwich spread or spaghetti sauce or even pizza. its good for dippings also.