Homemade Orange Nacho Cheese Sauce

One of my guilty favorites is liquid orange nacho cheese. I doesn’t matter how much health food my mom raised me on, when I see that glistening, spicy orange cheese I just have to have it. 

Orange cheese inspiration on a foot long dog at Madison Square Garden 

My lazy Saturday experiment was to make my own.  I happened to have a tub of pickled hot peppers from the great NY pickle shop, The Pickle Guys, kicking around in the fridge. They were the perfect tangy, spicy bedfellow for a pot of melted cheese. 

This was way simple to whip up and unfortunately just as addictive as the stuff from the jar!

Ingredients

1 Tbs butter

1 Tbs flour

1 cup milk

1 cup grated sharp cheddar (I used the good stuff from Saxelby's Cheese Mongers)

6 hot pickled peppers (I had a mix of jalapenos and cherry peppers) finely chopped

1 tsp Sriracha sauce (for color, heat, and garlic)

1 tsp Cholula sauce (for heat and vinegar tang)

Tortilla chips for dipping

Pickled peppers and cheese sauce

In a small saucepan (or frying pan - because it was out on the stove already and I was being lazy) heat the butter and flour, whisking until foamy and golden brown.  Add in milk and heat until simmering and slightly thickened.  Let the white sauce cool for 5 minutes (if you don't the cheese will seize up and get lumpy), then whisk in the cheese. Once the cheese has melted, whisk in the peppers and hot sauces and you're done.  

Whisking

The nacho cheese even reheated well in the microwave (set on low) which made it easier to portion control and just heat up a little of the leftover nacho cheese at a time.

Dip!