3 Tricks for Making Sure Cheese Never Clumps in Pasta (2024)

FAQs

3 Tricks for Making Sure Cheese Never Clumps in Pasta? ›

Hot liquids, like pasta water, heavy cream, melted butter, or beaten eggs, help distribute melted cheese evenly by surrounding it with heat. Since every bit of surface area is in contact with hot liquid, the cheese melts at the same rate. No clumps to be found, just a glossy, luscious sauce.

It's most likely because the sauce is too hot at the point at which you're adding cheese. Make sure the heat is relatively low, and add the cheese a little at a time while stirring gently.

One of the most common ways to help cheese melt smoothly is to add starch: this is a process that works in sauces like mornay, or nacho cheese sauce. Starches and other thickeners will physically impede fat molecules from joining up into larger droplets, as well as making the water phase of the cheese more viscous.

And if it still clumps because you added the cheese too fast, you can add something acidic, like a little white wine or lemon juice. Whisk well and the clumps should dissolve.

Cheesecloth is your new best friend

Using gauze-like products like cheesecloth is nothing new to chefs and aspiring home cooks — but if you're unfamiliar with the material, allow us to acquaint you, as it is one of the simplest yet most essential kitchen tools.

Cheese sauce can be kept from congealing by applying enough heat to keep it semi-liquid but not enough to scorch it or dry it out. A candle or an electric heat source can be used for this. A fondue pot is one type of vessel commonly used for the process.

Use cellulose or potato starch

Many manufacturers of shredded cheese coat them with cellulose or potato starch because the coating repels moisture so the cheese won't get sticky and clump together.

It's kind of a no brainer, but stirring the pasta helps keep the noodles moving and breaks up sticky spots before they become full-on clumps. But you don't have to sit over the pot and stir constantly. Aim to stir the pasta fully within the first two minutes of cooking, then another time or two while the pasta cooks.

But Not Too Much Heat: The 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 to stop grated cheese from clumping? ›

According to Taste of Home, simply use a touch of cooking spray. By giving your box grater a brief spritz, the cheese shouldn't stick as it falls through the holes and should be a little less clumpy, too.

Hot liquids, like pasta water, heavy cream, melted butter, or beaten eggs, help distribute melted cheese evenly by surrounding it with heat. Since every bit of surface area is in contact with hot liquid, the cheese melts at the same rate. No clumps to be found, just a glossy, luscious sauce.

Melt butter into a pan over medium heat, then sprinkle in your flour. Whisk the two to form a paste, then very gradually start pouring in your milk, whisking as you go to ensure no lumps form. If at any point you notice tiny lumps forming stop pouring the milk and whisk until the sauce smooths out.

In the dairy industry, cellulose is used mainly as an anti-caking agent that ensures shredded cheese will “flow and not clump into a ball,” when it's coming out of a shaker. To make the additive, the raw fiber is chemically treated until it's refined to a microcrystalline powder or reconstituted as gum.

The pre-grated packaged parmesan won't melt into the alfredo sauce nearly as well. Instead, buy a brick of parmesan and use a grater to grate it fresh. Don't bring to a boil. Cooking alfredo sauce over too high of heat can cause the cream to curdle and the sauce to break.

So, how to prevent it? You need to equalize the texture as much as possible - either thin out your cheese, or thicken what you're melting it into, so the proteins will not clump together but spread out into a melty puddle.

It should be grated, not cubed. Grated cheese will melt in the sauce quickly and evenly. Cubes of cheese, on the other hand, will take longer to melt, so your sauce can overcook before the cheese has melted. It's that overcooking that can cause the sauce to curdle.

For a cheese dip or sauce, the addition of cornstarch serves a similar function: Starch molecules absorb water and expand, not only thickening the liquid phase of the sauce, but also physically preventing the proteins from binding into long, tangled strands and the fats from separating out and pooling.

This curdling reaction is a result of overheating the cheese's proteins, which causes them to separate from the fat and water in the sauce.

Why is my cheese clumping instead of melting? ›

But Not Too Much Heat: The 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.

There is a much easier, and much less wasteful, way to stop the pasta sticking while cooking: just stir the pasta regularly as it cooks. Kenji discussed this technique, along with other surprising pasta-cooking insights, in a past article on Serious Eats, which is definitely worth a read.