This creamy and marvelous White Hot Chocolate can be made with just two ingredients in five minutes.
Hey friend, how is the weather where you are right now? Here in California, it’s just starting to cool down, and you know what that means. It’s hot chocolate weather! (AKA the best weather.)
If it’s hot chocolate weather where you are today, you should absolutely treat yourself to a cup of something warm and sugary.
And if it’s warm and sugary you want, you can’t go wrong with a cup of creamy, marvelous White Hot Chocolate. A cup of it could be yours with just two ingredients, milk and white chocolate, and five minutes.
Ingredients
- Milk: You can use any percentage milk you’d like. The higher the fat content, the creamier your drink will be.
- White chocolate: Make sure to use a high-quality white chocolate bar or high-quality chips.
A Note on White Chocolate: Because this hot chocolate gets all its flavor and sweetness from the white chocolate, it is incredibly rich and creamy, BUT that also means that you must use high-quality white chocolate in your drink.
High-quality chips are fine, but you want chocolate that tastes good on its own. If you wouldn’t eat the chips (or chunks) by the handful, don’t put them in your hot chocolate, because that’s what your hot chocolate is going to taste like.
How to Make White Hot Chocolate
- Heat milk until steaming on the stove or in the microwave.
- Stir in chopped high-quality white chocolate until melted.
- Pour into a mug and top with an obnoxious number of marshmallows and enjoy.
Variations
- Peppermint: Add just a couple drops (to taste) of peppermint extract to your hot chocolate or crush a candy cane and melt it into the milk while heating it on the stove.
- Snickerdoodle: Place 2 cinnamon sticks in your milk and heat milk to steaming. Turn off heat and allow the cinnamon sticks to sit in the milk and infuse it with flavor for 5 minutes before continuing with the recipe as written.
- Extra creamy: You can also add a splash of heavy cream for an ultra-rich and creamy drink.
- Large batch: This recipe easily scales up to make enough for sharing. To adjust the recipe yield, in the recipe card below, hover over the serving size or click if you’re on mobile, and slide the slider.
Does this taste like Starbucks white hot chocolate?
I stopped in and picked up a Starbucks white hot chocolate so I could compare the two, and I’d say that both versions are delicious, but this is definitely a more decadent-feeling hot chocolate than theirs. Because it’s made with real white chocolate, it’s much richer and creamier than the Starbucks version.
Can I add coffee to this?
Sure. If you want to add coffee, go make my White Chocolate Mocha . It uses the same ingredients but has slightly different ratios to better highlight the coffee flavor. (You might enjoy also my Homemade Mocha or Caramel Macchiato .)
More Hot Chocolate Recipes
White chocolate not your thing? Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered. Try one of these other hot chocolates:
- Hot Chocolate (Classic)
- Rich and Thick Hot Chocolate
- Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate
- Chai Hot Chocolate
This recipe makes one cup of hot chocolate, enough to fill an 8-ounce mug. If you’d like to fill an oversized mug, 1 1/2 or double the recipe.
Ingredients
White Hot Chocolate
- ▢ 1 cup milk any percentage
- ▢ 2 ounces ( about 1/3 cup ) good-quality white chocolate chopped*
Optional Toppings
- ▢ Whipped cream
- ▢ Marshmallows
- ▢ Crushed candy cane
Instructions
- In a small saucepan or the microwave, heat milk until steaming. Add white chocolate and stir until melted.
- Pour into an 8-ounce cup, top with optional toppings, and enjoy!
Notes
This post was originally published on 10/24/18. It was updated on 10/4/20 with additional information and tips.
This fabulous creamy homemade cheese sauce is one of the quickest, easiest sauces to make. It’s perfect for dipping broccoli and other veggies or drizzling over baked potatoes, nachos, or french fries.
You’ll be so glad to have this little recipe in your back pocket because it’s so useful and versatile.
Need a quick lunch? Steam some broccoli in the microwave and top with cheese sauce. Nachos for dinner? Cheese sauce. Baked potato feeling a little sad? CHEESE SAUCE IT.
If you have a couple of minutes and some cheddar cheese, you could probably make this sauce right this second.
Ingredients
- Butter: The base of this cheese sauce is a roux made with butter and flour. You can use salted or unsalted butter for this recipe.
- All-purpose flour: Using equal parts (by volume) of flour to butter helps thicken the cheese sauce.
- Milk: You can use any percentage milk you’d like in this recipe, but the higher fat the milk, the smoother and creamier your sauce will be.
- Cheddar cheese: Be sure to use full-fat cheese and start with a block of cheese that you shred yourself. The anti-caking additives in bagged, pre-shredded cheese can make your sauce lumpy. I prefer to use sharp cheddar, but mild to extra sharp will all work.
How to Make Cheese Sauce
- You start with a roux made by melting the butter in a small pot and whisking in the flour until you get a lightly golden paste. Cooking the flour with butter first cooks the raw flour taste out of the mixture.
- Then slowly pour in the milk, being careful to whisk out any lumps as they form, and stir until you have a nice bubbly, creamy sauce.
- Once the sauce is thickened, turn off the heat and stir in the cheese a handful at a time. Add salt, pepper, and optional cayenne to taste, and voilà. Perfect cheese sauce ready to tasty up whatever you’re going to pour it over.
Sauce Variations
While I love a good cheddar cheese sauce, this recipe is endlessly customizable. Here are some recommendations:
- Switch up the cheese: Any good melting cheese will work in this recipe. Give monterey jack, gouda, gruyere, or asiago cheese a try.
- Make it spicy: Use pepper jack cheese and/or stir in extra cayenne pepper to taste for an extra spicy kick.
What to serve with cheese sauce?
The answer to this is: whatever you want!! If you can dream of drizzling cheese sauce over it, you can do it. But here are my recommendations to get you started:
- Vegetables, especially broccoli, cauliflower , and Brussels sprouts
- Baked potatoes with homemade chili
- Homemade pretzels
- FRENCH FRIES!
(If you’d like to make this cheese sauce for fries, go check out my Cheese Fries post , which has instructions for making homemade fries to go along with the cheese sauce.)
How do you make a smooth cheese sauce?
To get the smoothest cheese sauce possible, follow these golden rules:
- Use full-fat cheese that you grate yourself as bagged cheese has additives that can prevent it from melting smoothly.
- Let the shredded cheese sit at room temperature for a short time so you’re not putting cold cheese into hot liquid.
- Remove the sauce from heat before you stir in the cheese. Overheated cheese can clump.
Why does my sauce taste floury?
If your sauce tastes like flour, it’s probably because the roux was not cooked long enough before adding the milk. Next time, cook the butter and flour mixture until it begins to turn golden. This cooks out that raw flour taste.
Can I store this?
Sauce can be stored in the refrigerator and reheated gently on the stove or in the microwave, but it is best eaten right after cooking. It won’t be quite as smooth and creamy after refrigeration and reheating.
More Cheesy Recipes
- Homemade Nacho Cheese Sauce
- Cheesy Sausage Potato Soup
- Mac and Cheese for One
- The Best Baked Ziti
A Note on Serving Size
As written, this recipe makes about 1 cup of cheese sauce, which generously serves 2. To change the recipe yield, in the recipe card below, hover over the number of servings (or click if you are on mobile) and slide the slider. Add a couple of minutes to the cooking time when doubling or tripling.
Ingredients
- ▢ 1 tablespoon ( 14g ) butter
- ▢ 1 tablespoon ( 8g ) all-purpose flour
- ▢ 3/4 cup milk any percentage
- ▢ 3/4 cup ( 3oz ) shredded Cheddar cheese
- ▢ Pinch of cayenne to taste
- ▢ Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a small pot, over medium heat, melt butter. Whisk in flour and cook, whisking continuously, until flour is lightly golden, about 1 minute.
- Slowly pour in milk, whisking out any lumps as they form. Continue to whisk the mixture until it is thick and bubbly, 3 to 4 minutes.
- Remove from heat, stir in the cheese a handful at a time until all the cheese has been used and sauce is smooth and creamy. Add cayenne, salt, and pepper to taste.
- Serve immediately and enjoy!
Notes
This post was originally published on 1/24/18. It was updated on 10/4/20 with additional information and tips.
Cilantro lime rice is the perfect simple side for taco night and any time you want to give your rice a seriously delicious boost of flavor.
A good cilantro lime rice recipe is one of those dishes everyone should have in their cooking arsenal because it is endlessly useful. It can be used as a filling in burritos , a base to build rice bowls , or serve it as a side to complete a meal.
It’s filling, delicious, and has just the right balance of cilantro and bright tangy lime flavor so you’ll want to serve it with everything.
Ingredients
- Long-grain rice: I prefer long-grain rice like basmati or jasmine rice for cilantro rice because it cooks up fluffy and not too sticky. You can use almost any rice, but you might need to adjust the cooking time and amount of liquid in the recipe.
- Butter: Adding just a bit of fat to the rice gives it a little extra flavor and richness.
- Lime juice and zest: We’ll use both the zest and the juice from one lime for this recipe. For the easiest zesting, zest the lime first using a microplane and then slice it open and juice it.
- Chicken broth: Replacing the water in the rice with chicken broth adds a ton of flavor.
- Cilantro: When measuring cilantro for the recipe, very loosely pile it into your measuring cup. Don’t pack it in tightly or you’ll end up with a LOT of cilantro in your rice.
How to Make Cilantro Lime Rice
- Zest and then juice your lime into separate containers.
- Pour lime juice into a 2-cup measuring cup and then fill the measuring cup the rest of the way with chicken broth so you have exactly 2 cups of liquid total.
- In a medium saucepan, melt butter and stir in rice, followed by the chicken broth mixture and salt.
- Cover and bring to a boil before turning the heat down to low. Cook at just barely a simmer for 20 minutes, until all the liquid has been absorbed and rice is soft and fluffy.
- Stir in half of the lime zest and half of the cilantro, and then add more to taste if desired.
Can I make this in a rice cooker?
Yes! To make cilantro rice in a rice cooker, just add the rice, butter, lime juice, chicken broth, and salt to the rice cooker and let the cooker do its job. Once the rice is done, follow the rest of the recipe as written.
Can I make cilantro lime rice with brown rice?
You can. To make cilantro rice with brown rice, follow the measurements and cooking instructions on the rice package. Replace the water with the juice from one lime and enough chicken broth to equal the amount of water called for in the recipe, and add butter and salt. Cook according to package instructions and then stir in lime zest and cilantro to taste.
What to serve with cilantro rice?
- Barbacoa Beef
- The Best Easy Carnitas
- Carne Asada
- Steak Fajitas
Ingredients
- ▢ 1 lime
- ▢ Scant 2 cups chicken broth
- ▢ 1 tablespoon ( 14g ) butter salted or unsalted is fine
- ▢ 1 cup long-grain rice rinsed
- ▢ 1/2 teaspoon salt
- ▢ 1/4 cup chopped loosely packed cilantro
Instructions
- Zest and juice lime into separate bowls. Pour lime juice into a 2 -cup measuring cup. Fill the measuring cup the rest of the way with chicken broth so you have 2 cups of liquid total. Set aside.
- In a medium saucepan, over medium heat, melt butter. Add rice and stir until rice is well-coated.
- Add chicken broth and lime juice mixture and salt. Cover and bring to a boil. Turn heat down to low, until just barely at a simmer, and simmer for 20 minutes, or until rice is soft and all of the liquid has been absorbed.
- Stir in half of the lime zest and half of the cilantro. Taste and add more zest and cilantro as needed.
- Serve and enjoy!
White Hot Chocolate
Ingredients
White Hot Chocolate
- 1 cup milk any percentage
- 2 ounces ( about 1/3 cup ) good-quality white chocolate chopped*
Optional Toppings
- Whipped cream
- Marshmallows
- Crushed candy cane
Instructions
- In a small saucepan or the microwave, heat milk until steaming. Add white chocolate and stir until melted.
- Pour into an 8-ounce cup, top with optional toppings, and enjoy!
