Don't Toss That Leftover Nacho Cheese — Use It For Pasta Sauce Instead

Few things are as weirdly versatile and delicious as that jar of neon orange nacho cheese crouched at the back of your fridge. Plasticky when cool, velvety when warm, and wonderfully zesty, that gluey little blob of cheese at the bottom of the jar is one of the ingredients perfect for giving your mac and cheese a serious upgrade. It's also great for adding body, flavor, and silky texture to tomato-based pasta sauces.

There are a few ways to add nacho cheese to macaroni and cheese properly. If you're working with instant mac and cheese with cheese powder, slowly and gently rewarm your nacho cheese in the microwave or a double boiler and stir it into the mix after adding the powder to prevent your meal from becoming grainy. You can also add nacho cheese to homemade cheese sauce for either saucy stovetop or dense, baked mac and cheese; it melts and mixes easily to give the dish a dash of zesty deliciousness.

It's also common to amp up store-bought tomato sauce with cream cheese, and nacho cheese can do much the same thing. Both cheeses are soft, creamy, and flavorful, so adding that last dollop of nacho cheese to a simmering pot of tomato sauce should thicken it and add a lovely richness. The only caveat is that nacho cheese also adds a distinctly Tex-Mex undertone to your sauces, so keep that in mind when adjusting the seasonings in your sauce and while planning your meals.

When using nacho cheese for macaroni, it's difficult to hide that tangy, lightly spicy nacho flavor — so lean into it. Adding an extra dash of taco seasoning, chili lime Tajín, or a few shakes of your favorite hot sauce enhances the cheese's taco-like flavor. This makes the choice to use it feel more intentional, rather than letting it sit in flavor limbo. Other ways to enhance that nacho flavor involve serving your cheesy pasta with pico de gallo or a warm chimichurri sauce.

Adjusting the flavors in tomato sauce can be a little trickier because the interplay of acids and fat creates a lovely balance of flavor that also brings out the nuances in the cheese. That means making nacho-style tomato sauce is easy. Methods for enhancing it are similar to those already discussed, though you can also throw in a little salsa since it breaks down and melts into the tomato sauce. This version is delicious on deeply flavorful chorizo meatballs served over orzo, or a playful shape such as orecchiette.

To downplay the flavors of the nacho cheese, try and push them into the background with astringent ingredients, such as onions and garlic, along with distinctly Italian herbs, such as oregano and rosemary. Rather than covering the taco-like flavors, these ingredients blend with and disguise them, turning them into a background flavor rather than the main event.