Recipe This | Flourless Cheese Sauce In The Instant Pot (2024)

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Flourless CheeseSauce. How to make the best flourlesscheese sauce in the instant pot. This cheese sauce without flour is loaded withhidden veggies, totally gluten free and so easy to make at home.

Recipe This | Flourless Cheese Sauce In The Instant Pot (1)

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Flourless CheeseSauce

Even though this flourless cheese sauce is gluten free and perfect for keto. There is more to this flourless cheese sauce then being suitable for keto people.

It is about a cheese sauce where you don’t have to use flour and butter and that you don’t have to spend ages slaving over a big pan while you make your roux, then add in your milk and then keep staring like a stovetop slave while your white sauce comes together.

Then you still must add in the cheese and make sure thatyour cheese sauce is of the right consistency.

Instead a flourless cheese sauce is a wonderful alternativethat just happens to be healthy too. It is loaded with cauliflower, alsoincludes red onion and is easy to adapt for what you are using your cheesesauce for.

Best of all there are no ingredients in our flourless cheese sauce that are unobtainable or not in your kitchen already.

Forget having to make a cheese sauce with a keto alternative such as coconut flour or needing to use cornflour or corn starch to thicken it.

In the Milner house we just know it as our favourite cheese sauce,and we choose to make this gluten free cheese sauce from scratch instead of theclassic old school method.

My Love Affair WithThe Cheese Sauce

If you don’t know by now fromreading Recipe This, I love cheese sauce and pasta bakes are my life! I spentnearly ten years as a vegetarian and there was nothing better than havingmacaroni cheese for dinner.

In fact, a cheese sauce was thefirst thing I could ever make (back when I was 12) and according to my sonKyle, lasagne is my signature dish. It was also a homemade lasagne that I madeDominic the first time I cooked for him.

I still binge on lasagne now butinstead it is made with a flourless cauliflower cheese sauce. Or creamy cheesesauce as I call it!

Why Make Flourless Cheese Sauce In The Instant Pot?

Recipe This | Flourless Cheese Sauce In The Instant Pot (3)

Our flourless cheese sauce gets its wonderful thick texture from cauliflower.

The cauliflower steams in the instant pot FAST and you don’t have to wait long for the instant pot pressure cooker to put together a quick flourless cauliflower cheese sauce for you.

Also, you can use the Instant Potfor sautéing your cheese sauce and as your base for blending your ingredientsinto that creamy cheese sauce.

Flourless Cheese Sauce Ingredients & Gadgets

Recipe This | Flourless Cheese Sauce In The Instant Pot (4)

There are 5 main ingredients that go into a flourlesscheese sauce:

  • Cauliflower
  • Cheese
  • Red Onion
  • Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • Seasoning

Our gluten free cheese sauce is a fantastic basic recipe for using in all kinds of dinners. Then you can mix and match it with add ins depending on what you are cooking.

This might be adding garlic for an Italian dish to adding cayenne for a spicy dish.

Any standard 6 or 8 quart electric pressure cooker will work well in this cheese sauce recipe.

You will also need a hand blender to blend your cheese sauce.

Its much easier than moving your flourless cheese sauce ingredients from the instant pot to the blender and I use this method every time I make a homemade cheese sauce in the instant pot.

Types OfFlourless Cheese Sauce

What I love about my flourless cheese sauce, is that like I mentioned above you can use this cheese sauce as your white sauce for everything.

Just like how we have our own Instant Pot Paleo Sauce this works on so many dishes and has so many great uses.

Here are a few examples of how you can use our flourlesscheese sauce in your family dinners:

Paleo Bechamel Sauce – Want that creamy and delicious garlic sauce to serve with all your favourite French food? Or a sauce that is without cheese that you can just load up with other things?

Then a Paleo Bechamel Sauce is PERFECT. Leave out the cheese and instead add in some coconut milk, mushrooms and OMG it is too good to be healthy!

Flourless Cheese Sauce For Lasagne – Whether you live in the UK and call it lasagne or live in the US and call it lasagna, this sauce is perfect for next time you want a lasagne for dinner.

Don’t just focus on lasagne because this flourless cheese sauce is perfect for lots of different pasta dishes. Just as it is cooked in the recipe below and layer it onto your lasagne and it is perfect.

The Alfredo Sauce – If you are having chicken alfredofor example, you can use this recipe, but add in extras such as garlic, whitewine and a little coconut milk.

Recipe This | Flourless Cheese Sauce In The Instant Pot (6)

Flourless Cheese Sauce For Enchiladas – You can addin some hot sauce to our cheese sauce and it can give you a deliciousalternative next time you’re making a round of chicken enchiladas.

Flourless Cheese Sauce For Broccoli – If you lovebroccoli in a cheese sauce and like to make a broccoli gratin or a broccolirice casserole, then add in this delicious cheese sauce. It will make the prepof the dish so much faster.

Flourless Cheese Sauce For Cauliflower – In the UK we have cauliflower cheese which translates to cauliflower in a creamy cheese sauce, or as the French call it “cauliflower gratin”.

Whatever you call it then you can make it with a flourless cheese sauce. Or even better follow our 2 minute Instant Pot Cauliflower Cheese recipe.

Of course, you have your own ideas and what is perfect isthat you can use this flourless cheese sauce in so many ways. Below you can seeit loaded with leftover turkey and perfect for a quick warming dinner:

Recipe This | Flourless Cheese Sauce In The Instant Pot (7)

Flourless CheeseSauce In The Soup Maker

I know some of our readers that have a soup maker want to know if you can make this flourless cheese sauce in their soup maker instead.

When I originally started making a flourless cheese sauce, I made it in my old soup maker, which is like this Cuisinart model or the new Ninja Soup Maker.

Well the answer is a big fat YES. Simply make it likeyou would a smooth soup and then the soup maker will do the work for you, itwill even blend it for you into a smooth creamy cheese sauce.

How AMAZING does that sound?

How To MakeCheese Sauce Without Flour?

Recipe This | Flourless Cheese Sauce In The Instant Pot (8)
  1. Steam a kilo of frozen cauliflower in the instant pot pressure cooker.
  2. Drain and remove.
  3. Sauté your favourite cheese sauce flavours in the instant pot. Such as garlic and red onion.
  4. Add back in drained cauliflower, seasonings and coconut milk.
  5. Stir until the cauliflower is mushy but not smooth and then blend into a perfect creamy cheese sauce.
  6. Add in cheese and its done!

Can You Freeze FlourlessCheese Sauce?

Absolutely! Though do note that this flourless cheese sauceis better than a regular cheese in the freezer. That is because a regularcheese sauce because of the roux goes incredibly thick and hard when frozen andis hard to use when reheating.

In comparison our gluten free cheese sauce is the opposite and comes out just like it did when it was originally cooked.

Recipe This | Flourless Cheese Sauce In The Instant Pot (9)

Print Recipe

Flourless Cheese Sauce In The Instant Pot

Flourless Cheese Sauce. How to make the best flourless cheese sauce in the instant pot. This cheese sauce without flour is loaded with hidden veggies, totally gluten free and so easy to make at home.

Prep Time3 minutes mins

Cook Time4 minutes mins

Total Time7 minutes mins

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: Instant Pot

Servings: 4

Calories: 513kcal

Author: RecipeThis.com

Ingredients

Kitchen Gadgets:

Flourless Cheese Sauce Ingredients:

MetricImperial

Instructions

  • Place a cup of cold water into your instant pot inner pot. Lower your steamer basket and load it up with your frozen cauliflower. Place the lid on the instant pot, set the valve to sealing and cook for 2 minutes on manual pressure.

  • Once it is done and beeps, drain it in the sink in a sieve. Also remove the excess liquid from the bottom of the instant pot.

  • Put the instant pot on sauté and while it warms up peel and thinly slice fresh garlic and a red onion. Sauté for about 2 minutes or until the onion and garlic have softened.

  • Turn off the sauté and add back in the drained cauliflower.

  • Add in seasonings, coconut milk and keep stirring until the cauliflower is nice and mushy.

  • Using a hand blender, blend until smooth.

  • Add in cheese and stir until the cheese is mixed in and the cheddar has melted.

Notes

We used frozen cauliflower florets in this recipe. You can use fresh or frozen but note to add in 2 more extra minutes of pressure cook time if using fresh cauliflower.

When the cheese sauce is done and if it is too thick add in a little skimmed milk. Or if it is not thick enough add in a little more coconut milk.
I also like to add in a little white wine as it gives it a much better flavour.

Nutrition

Calories: 513kcal | Carbohydrates: 20g | Protein: 21g | Fat: 41g | Saturated Fat: 24g | Cholesterol: 108mg | Sodium: 550mg | Potassium: 963mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 1194IU | Vitamin C: 123mg | Calcium: 498mg | Iron: 3mg

Nutrition InfoPlease Note: Nutrition values are our best estimate based on the software we use at Recipe This and are meant as a guide. If you rely on them for your diet, use your preferred nutrition calculator.

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Recipe This | Flourless Cheese Sauce In The Instant Pot (2024)

FAQs

Can you make cheese sauce in an Instant Pot? ›

Place all of the ingredients into your Instant Pot and lock the lid into place, making sure the nozzle is in the sealing position. Use the Manual setting and set the timer for 5 minutes. Use the quick release method when the timer is up.

How to make cheese sauce that doesn't harden? ›

For Smooth, Stable Cheese Sauces, Cornstarch and Evaporated Milk Are Your Friends. How to make a stable emulsion of melted cheese using two basic pantry staples.

How does a cheese sauce become thick and smooth? ›

Dice the butter into small cubes and melt it in a saucepan over low heat. Once the butter is melted, begin whisking in the flour. When all the flour is incorporated, continue stirring and cooking for a few minutes to activate the starch granules. This is what will thicken the sauce.

How do you thicken sauce in Instant Pot? ›

Thicken it

Moisture is retained during pressure cooking which means sauces don't thicken. You can thicken afterwards by leaving your pressure cooker on the heat once the lid is removed and reducing. A mixture of cornflour and water added at this point will help it along.

What is the best melting cheese for a sauce? ›

Cheeses with more moisture and lower melting points make for mouthwatering, creamy cheese sauces. Cheddar is one of the most popular choices, but Swiss and Gruyère are also terrific options.

What thickens cheese sauce? ›

Egg yolk. Grated cheese. Grated cheese, such as cheddar or parmesan, can also act as a thickener in a cheese sauce and becomes a great binding agent in the cooking process. Try, for example, incorporating it into crustless quiches and cauli-pizza dough.

How do you keep cheese sauce creamy? ›

Remove the saucepan from heat and slowly incorporate the cheese, whisking constantly. According to AlSawwaf, adding the cheese over heat can cause the fats and milk solids to separate, resulting in a lumpy sauce with a curdled texture — so always take the pan off the burner first.

How to make cheese sauce taste better? ›

  1. Sub whole milk for at least part of the cream. Cream is heavy and mutes the flavor of cheese.
  2. Add a dash of garlic powder, dry mustard, and smoked paprika to the roux while it cooks. ...
  3. Temper a couple egg yolks and integrate into the sauce before you add cheese. ...
  4. Good cheese, and multiple cheeses!
Jul 4, 2017

How to make cheese sauce without curdling? ›

One way to avoid curdled mac and cheese sauce is by tempering, or combining two ingredients with different temperatures and slowly bringing them to the same temperature, so there is no shock or coagulation.

What happens if you overcook cheese sauce? ›

If the cheese is too cold, the sauce will clump. And if you cook it too long, it'll separate into an oily mess.

What happens when you overcook cheese sauce? ›

Thing is, once cheese is heated too far beyond its melting point, the proteins firm up and squeeze out moisture—the same way protein does in meat. When this occurs you're left with rubbery, clumpy bits of cheese protein that separate from the fat and moisture.

How do you make homemade cheese sauce thicker? ›

Flour or cornstarch can both thicken a liquid. In a small separate bowl, mix a tablespoon of either flour or cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of cheese sauce until the mixture is smooth. Add the mixture back to the milky cheese sauce, and stir until combined and desired thickness is achieved.

Can I use cornstarch in a pressure cooker? ›

Don't add thickeners.

Pressure cookers work off the steam pulled from the liquid inside the pot, so it's important that you don't add thickeners like cornstarch or roux before the food starts cooking.

Do sauces reduce in a pressure cooker? ›

Remember, liquids don't really reduce in a pressure cooker, which means that the final flavor of a pressure-cooked sauce is not quite the same as that of an oven-cooked sauce. But, unless you're doing a direct, side-by-side comparison, it's not something you or your dinner companions are likely to notice.

Can you put cornstarch in a pressure cooker? ›

Follow this tip: For the best results when making thick soups and sauces in the pressure cooker, always plan to add the thickener (like cornstarch or a roux) after it's cooked — not before.

Can you melt cheese into a liquid? ›

The basic building blocks of cheese are milk protein (casein), water, fat, and salt. When heated, the protein molecules break apart and become fluid. Melting, a phase change from a solid to a liquid isn't really happening, the cheese becomes fluid, much like what happens to plastic when it's heated.

Can you melt mozzarella cheese into a sauce? ›

A common ingredient in everybody's favorite pizza, mozzarella won't melt fully like other cheeses. It does reach a soft and gooey state, making it a fun feature for paninis, pizzas, and mozza sticks. You can use it in sauces only if you combine it with other cheeses.

How do you make liquid cheese melt? ›

The ratio could not be simpler. For every cup of grated cheese (about 3 ounces) you will need a quarter cup of water and a half-teaspoon of sodium citrate. Heat the water to a simmer, add the sodium citrate to dissolve, then whisk in the cheese of your choice a bit at a time until you get a smooth and creamy mixture.

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