Whether you’re gluten intolerant, just want to cut back or perhaps you have friends who are — this is a perfect sauce to have in your back pocket. Toss it on some pasta, zucchini ‘pasta’ or dress up some steamed cauliflower, you’ll be surprised at how good it is! I’m using my tried and true lentil purée for the thickener and boy does it thicken! And the cheese creams up with it perfectly — I used cheddar, but you can use whatever cheese you prefer. You’ll have to watch this sauce because it thickens very quickly and can become too thick when it cools down, so serve it hot. I hope you love this sauce as much as I do.
Gluten Free Cheddar Cheese Sauce
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup cooked puréed lentils
- 1/2 cup skim milk
- 60 g grated sharp cheddar cheese
- 1/4-1/2 tsp salt to taste
- Pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)
Directions:
- Cook milk and puréed lentils until smooth, thick and creamy.
- Add cheese and stir until smooth and melted.
- Season with salt, pepper and cayenne to taste.
I don’t know how I missed this post…what a great idea! I never knew just how good lentils could be with cheese until I used some leftover ones as the “beans” in a tortilla wrap. I would never have thought of using them as the thickener in a sauce but it totally makes sense.
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With the added puree lentils in here, what a genius tasty & filling idea! xxx
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Thank you kindly Sophie.
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I made now, like 3 times! every time, it was super yummy & a success! xxx
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Eva, the sauce looks so lush, and I’m loving the lightened up version. So versatile too!
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Thanks Brooks, not sure if it is lightened as such but removing the gluten certainly makes it lower on the glycemic index and I suspect a little easier for our bodies to process.
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What a great way to thicken your sauces and, well, so many other dishes. It would add another level of flavor and healthiness to it as well! Great idea!
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Thank you so much Barbara, these days it really doesn’t hurt to cut out the super processed foods (like all purpose flour) and if one can do it in a way that you don’t miss anything then it’s a bonus, for sure.
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What a terrific idea it is to thicken this with lentils! Not something I’d have thought of. But definitely something I’ll be trying. 😉 Thanks for this.
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Thank you John for your kind words, I hope you enjoy using this healthy and gluten free thickener. I keep a bag of frozen (ice cube sized portions) in the freezer for quickie sauce thickeners instead of opting for flour as I would have normally done.
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Wow what a great idea!.
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Thank you kindly Tania and welcome to my humble blog.The taste was fantastic and it was very creamy too.
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What a great idea to test your puréed lentils in this cheese sauce Eva – making it both gluten-free and grain free. Sounds like it worked like a charm too — I’m a lentil fan and will be putting this one on the list to try, thank you. Tasty, textured and a great way to enhance the nutrient content too. Soon you’ll be experimenting with puréed cauliflower for your upcoming cocktail parties (since paleo will no doubt be the next wave of requests 😉 ).
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I love puréed cauliflower and I have made an incredible alfredo sauce with it a while ago, but I didn’t make notes and I didn’t take a photo! I’m going to see if I can squeeze in the cauliflower purée sauce into the Easter dinner plans!
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What a great idea!
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Hi Lizzy, koszonom szivesen.
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That’s a beautiful looking sauce, Eva – so smooth and creamy. I have made a similar one for my mother who is GF. It uses cannelini beans instead of lentils. I’d be interested to try your version xx
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Mmmm, cannelini beans sound wonderful Charlie, I must give that a try one day. I like the lentils because they don’t take any time to make, but I keep some in the freezer for unexpected situations.
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By a strange coincidence I made a cheese sauce this weekend as well. Not gluten free, of course. If yours tastes as good as it looks, that’s an amazing addition to the menus of people who can’t eat gluten.
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Thank you kindly Maria, a traditional cheese sauce is definitely on my favourites list, but I like to keep a gluten free version for when my friend comes over because she is gluten intolerant.
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Looks like a delicious bowl of cream soup. Unfortunately I may not be able to enjoy cheese anymore, my health problems may be caused by rennet. Still trying to pinpoint the exact causes so am not ruling out cheese forever yet.
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Hi Norma, what a shame about the cheese, so many of my recipes contain cheese. I wonder if all cheese has rennet…when I made ricotta, I used lemon juice and not rennet. I’ll have to research a bit for you.
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How clever to thicken it with lentils. Clever woman!
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Thank you Maureen.
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I want to drink the whole bowl!
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Wow, Angie, I’m quite flattered, thank you!
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