Homemade Condensed Cheddar Cheese Soup is easy to make and a perfect substitute for the Campbell’s Soup canned variety you use in your favorite casseroles.
Cheddar Cheese Soup is the fourth soup post in a new series I’m referring to as the Kitchen Pantry series here on the blog.
We’ve already got a pretty good number of recipes for you to keep in your back pocket.
Hopefully you find this resource is helpful for you, keeping you away from a lot of the pre-packaged products and you enjoy them so much you’ll bookmark the whole Pantry Recipes page!
This Cheddar Cheese Soup is so easy to make it will shock you how quick it is and how much more you want to make those recipes again now that you have a natural swap you can make! Plus, it FREEZES! 
How do you make cheddar cheese soup?
Condensed Cheddar Cheese Soup is really just a very thick cheddar béchamel sauce made with butter, flour, milk, cheddar cheese and salt. The consistency is a perfect swap for canned soup.
What can you substitute for Cheddar Cheese Soup?
This cheddar cheese soup is a perfect homemade substitution for the canned variety, but if you want a more mellow flavor that is slightly more authentic you can also use American cheese or Velveeta Cheese.
Other condensed soup recipes for you to save:
- Cream of Chicken Soup (Condensed)
- Cream of Mushroom Soup (Condensed)
- Cream of Celery Soup (Condensed)
Have requests? Please leave them below! 
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 cup cheddar cheese , shredded
Instructions
- In a small saucepan add the butter and melt over low heat.
- Add in the flour and whisk, cooking for about a minute (but stop if it turns brown at all).
- Add in the salt, dry mustard and milk and whisk until smooth.
- Add in the cheddar cheese and whisk until smooth.
Notes
- Change Serving Size: Click on the yield amount to slide and change the number of servings and the recipe will automatically update!
- Conversion: To convert measurements to grams, click on the Metric option next to Ingredients in the recipe card.
- Kitchen Timer: Click on times in the instructions to start a kitchen timer while cooking.
Nutrition
So if I want to use this in a casserole would I treat it like canned soup and add more milk? I usually add a soup can’s worth of milk to thin it out.
No need to add more milk. Ready to go when you want it. Thanks for asking and please let us know what you think.
Can you freeze this ?
This Cheddar Cheese Soup is so easy to make it will shock you how quick it is and how much more you want to make those recipes again now that you have a natural swap you can make! Plus, it FREEZES!
Can I can this?
If you have a pressure canner, follow the proper canning procedures and keep it for up to 6 months at room temperature.
My hero! I have had the biggest hankering for tatertot casserole but there’s gluten in the condensed cheese soup. So im swapping the flour for my measure-for-measure gluten free flour and making a few servings of this today to stick in the freezer. Thank you so much for sharing this. You are a busy mom’s life saver!
This made my day Kaitlin! You’re very welcome and thanks for the five star review!
2 thumbs all the way up! I made this keto, by subbing the flour with my homemade keto flour, and it came out perfect! Thank you
Glad to hear you were able to adapt the recipe and thanks for the five star review Melody!
If I need this gluten free would it work to sub cornstarch?
Hi Cathi, I honestly don’t know as I haven’t tested this recipe using cornstarch; however, I have heard that using a cornstarch slurry over flour does work well. It will taste slightly different. Let us know what you decide to do and would love hearing your feedback.
Is this a recipe that can be canned?
Butter, milk, cream, cheese and other dairy products are low acid foods that should never be home canned. It can be frozen once completely cooled in an air tight freezer safe container.
How can this be stored for later use?
Freeze in an airtight container for up to 3 months! Enjoy.
Has this ever been made with lactaid and gluten free flour? Is it the same consistency?
I haven’t tested lactaid and gluten free versions of this recipe. I’m sorry.
I have found that lactose- free products tend to split if you cook them at too high a heat. You would need to hear it slowly. Not sure about the gluten-free flour. Would depend on the kind, but might be able to use a cornstarch slurry instead.
What can I use instead of dry mustard, sorry
The best substitute for dry mustard is prepared Dijon mustard! Use 1 teaspoon dry mustard = 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard. This substitution works for most types of recipes.
Thank you for this recipe. We don’t have canned cheese soup here in Australia and this would substitute in some if the recipes I’ve collected.
Very Good. I used it to replace the canned soup.
Is this the equivalent of one can? My recipe requires two cans so I was trying to figure out how much of this I would have to make. Thanks.
It should make the equivalent of about one can.
Thank You so much for this substitute! I am making cheddar cheese chix for dinner, and my can of soup is no where to be found. Those cans are not good for you either, so this is an awesome alternative!! You saved dinner!!
Can you leave out the salt. Or is this considered low sodium?
Cheese has high content of sodium. 1/4t kosher salt is probably not going to significantly change sodium content.
Do you think I could use whole powdered milk reconstituted in place of what I assume you used – whole regular milk? Thank you
So insanely easy; this is a lifesaver to us gluten free folks! I was able to sub gluten free flour and it turned out amazing! I can’t wait for my dad and other celiac friends to try this!
Worked great in a recipe when I was out of canned, but I will be using this forever instead of canned now. Thanks!
Look forward to using this in my famous scalloped potatoes
Super easy and turned out perfect.
Thank you for this life saver for tomorrow thanksgiving couldn’t find any cheddar soup been to 6 stores
Hooray! Happy Thanksgiving!
This is not gluten free
My daughter has Celiac’s disease and we convert stuff all the time. I am using a gluten free flour like that is measure for measure like King Arthur, Bob’s Red Mill, Namaste, Cup4Cup or similar. I don’t think cornstarch will work as well in this case. I am also omitting salt as the sodium content is already very high for this recipe and it seems unnecessary.
Hello, so I really want to make a nacho cheese condensed soup. Is it just about spices and peppers? Or do I need a different cheese?
Would I be able to use cornstarch instead of flour? I need a gluten free alternative
I’m just confused about serving sizes. You don’t specify how much is in one serving, so I have no idea how much to make for a recipe that calls for one can.
It is usually about 100 grams.
I tried making this but it came out watery and not thick what did I do wrong?
Oh no! The flour and butter work as a roux and will thicken it. Try having the heat turned up a bit more to gentle boil when adding the milk and whisking before adding the cheese. Hope this helps for next time.
I am always surprised how easy it is to make. I’m starting to think I don’t have to buy from the store if I can just make it. Making it might be cheaper then buying it anyways.
Definitely plus you have the bonus of knowing exactly what’s in it. Thanks for the 5 stars, Sarah.
Can I make this a day ahead of when I will use it and place it in the fridge until I need it?
Of course 🙂
Just made this soup for the first time and it’s a GREAT recipe. Took less than 10 minutes total. I added it to a tomato basil soup that was rather bland and the result is creamy and delicious. Thank you ?
Thank you so much, Penny! Glad you enjoyed it!
I will be making this shortly, but I have tried the Cream of Celery and I also converted that recipe to Cream of Onion by just using finely minced onion instead of the celery (I saw someone asked about Cream of Onion below). I am making all of mine salt free (recent diagnosis of high blood pressure). I will be perusing your site more as I will have to make more canned staples from scratch. I have always made my cheese sauce from scratch for mac and cheese and cheesy potatoes, but never thought of doing this and freezing it!
Thanks for the suggestion, Gina.
Golden mushroom soup
Thanks for the suggestion.
Yes! Golden mushroom soup (condensed) would be great!
I am searching for a substitute for two canned soups that have become practically impossible for me to find locally this past year. They are (1) Fiesta Nacho Cheese Soup and the other is (2) Cream of Onion Soup). They are in a large number of my recipes and so far I have not found a substitute that gives the right flavor.
I’ll add them to my research list. Thanks for the suggestions.
This was awesome for my cheddar potato soup! Did not want to run to the store for the two cans I needed and your recipe worked PERFECTLY!! Will definitely be saving this to use again. Can’t wait to try your other recipes. Thank you sooo much!
Hi Lisa! Did you double the recipe to substitute the 2 cans of cheddar cheese soup?
Can this soup be made into Fiesta Nacho Cheese Soup? How would I do that? Also, can I use almond or coconut flour instead of AP flour to make it Keto friendly? I can not find it in stock at the stores or online
I’ve not tried testing it to adapt to the Fiesta Nacho cheese soup or using other flours. Usually almond flour is an equal substitution but coconut requires less. If you decide to try, I’d love to know what worked.
Does this make about 14 oz? I can never find 14 OZ of the soup anymore in stores. Just the 10.5 cans.
This makes the equivalent to a 10.5 ounce can.
Thank you so much from Kentucky! 🙂 In times like we’re now facing, dreading to go to the grocery store, homemade means more now then ever! Hopping you can find some others for those of us who love to cook! 🙂 Stay well & God bless! 🙂
You’re welcome, Kathy.
Hi Sabrina and thanks for your recipes! I’ve been wanting to make this and cream of celery for a while, and I’m grateful you’ve provided easy ways to avoid the highly processed versions.
I wonder, in general & for similar recipes, is there any milk alternative (almond, coconut, oat, etc) that would keep the same consistency and not separate or look curdled, particularly after freezing the soup? I’m not vegan but prefer to use less dairy when I can, but I often get a weird result if I substitute plant milks. Maybe I just don’t know how to incorporate them properly or which options are better for cooking.
Thanks for any suggestions!
I would suggest using coconut milk as it’s full fat and creamier.
Would this be ok to leave out the kosher salt?
You can add half as much table salt. If you leave out salt altogether your flavor will be different, but of course it’ll still turn out. A lot of people prefer lower sodium, so as long as you expect the flavor difference, sure!
My husband and I were making a casserole that called for a can of condensed cheddar cheese soup. I won’t be buying the can now that I’ve found your recipe. This soup is delicious. Your website was clutch!! Thanks for sharing!
Fantastic!
Have you actually made this with Velveeta and it came out right?
Yes just substitute the cheese portion for Velveeta. Enjoy!
Same amount of Velveeta as cheddar?
A keto version of this would be great!
In the new year my second site will be coming back up with new recipes, cookingmadehealthy.com and I have a keto version of many recipes coming! I’ll make a note to work on keto cheese soups 🙂
Is this gluten free? I don’t know a lot about GF foods, but a recipe I tried to make for a GF friend had the canned cheddar cheese in it so she was unable to eat it. If I used this instead would it be okay?
I think as long as you use gluten free flour, you’ll be okay. 🙂
I made it gluten free by using corn starch instead of flour… You generally need half as much corn starch as flour…. so In this case I substituted 1 1/2 Tablespoons corn starch for the flour. I did do a different order of operations because of using corn starch: Melt butter. meanwhile, Add cold milk to corn starch and stir until dissolved/combined. then add that milk to the melted butter in saucepan, stirring constantly and heat til thickened. Stir in seasonings and cheese and heat/stir til melted. Worked well for me! And worked very well in the recipe for which I needed it.
Otherwise, yes, try using a gluten free flour.
Mine did not come out thick at all very milky/runny. What did I do wrong?
Did you change any of the ingredient amounts? The flour and butter whisked in the beginning should have kept it thick. If you’d like to troubleshoot, email me at contact @ dinnerthendessert .com
Same here. Doubled recipe, but other than that, followed it to a T.
If you’re doubling it, you’ll need to cook it longer to thicken it.
Hi! How many cans of soup is this recipe equivalent to? Thanks!
This recipe makes 1 can. Enjoy!
Hi! How many cans would this recipe be equivalent to? I use that soup all the time for my Homemamde Mac and cheese and would much rather have a homemade version of it. So if I can make a bunch and freeze it that would be awesome!
Such a great idea! This recipe makes equivalent to one can of condensed soup.
Is it possible to can this soup recipe?
Yes, but I’m not well versed in canning enough to give you directions safely.
How do u freeze this? Then to use it, once thawed, do you add any milk to it like canned soup or just as us?
I usually freeze it in 1 1/4 cup increments since that is what comes in the canned variety using freezer safe containers (http://amzn.to/2fNnR7x). Once thawed, you’ll use it just like the can either by mixing it with milk or adding it in it’s condensed version to any recipe.
Do you have to add the dry mustard, what is it for?
It adds a tangy flavor to it and because it’s acidic, it can help cut through the creamy, fatty taste of a rich cheese sauce.
Mustard (dry or normal) is an ’emulsifier’- it’s what allows oils & water to combine into a smooth, thick soup instead of blobs of oils floating in liquid. Mustard is probably important in this recipe to provide the creamy, uniform consistency, much more than flavor (canned varieties use other chemical emulsifiers!). I suspect (I’m just learning myself) the mustard flavor is barely noticeable, but leaving it out will probably change the texture significantly.
Thought I’d mention because I like to customize recipes, and only recently started learning that a lot of ingredients work in ways that I never realized. I made some pretty sad sauces and salad dressings before I figured out this one!
Can I use quest blanco cheese sauce in a can for the cheddar cheese?
I’ve found that most processed cheese works fine 🙂
Thank you for this recipe!
You’re welcome Eric!
How about condensed French onion soup and Fiesta Nacho condensed cheese soup?
Condensed French Onion has been tested and is going to be going up soon. Fiesta Nacho I’ve never tried, but I will certainly add it to the list of recipes to test!
Wendy’s chili?
I actually have this on my to do list so great minds think alike! Look for it by the end of the year. 🙂