Impress Your Friends with an Easy Fondue Recipe

In my opinion, fondue is more than a tasty, cheesy treat: fondue is an experience--a performance even. We’ve found a way to make cheese feel so fancy, it’s an event in itself to be eating it. Despite the perceived grandeur of partaking in such a dish, the process of making fondue can be extremely simple. Read on to learn how you can impress your friends, and maybe even yourself, next time you’re hosting a gathering.

Ingredients

Flour - Butter - Milk - Cream Cheese - Parmesan - Gouda - Mozzarella - White Cheddar - Wine - Potato - Carrot - Broccoli - Bread - Apple

This recipe is dairy heavy. You will need butter, milk, cream cheese, and your choice of cheese. I’ve listed the five cheeses that I’m most likely to use above. You can use all five if you’re feeling extra, or you can choose three to simplify the process (I’d recommend parmesan, mozzarella, and white cheddar for just three).

Other than the pile of dairy, you’ll need flour, white wine (optional in my opinion--I never use it, but I also don’t want to go to jail for leaving it off the list), and whatever items you’d like to dip in your fondue. I go for potatoes, carrots, broccoli, apples, and rustic bread or pretzel bites.

Directions

Be warned: I tend to eyeball this recipe, so I’m offering up estimates rather than strict measurements. Plus, you may need to tweak the amounts if you’re hosting a bigger or smaller group. I’m generally making fondue for 3 or 4 people with the rough estimates below.

Do yourself a favor and start with the prep work of grating your cheeses (or breaking into small pieces if you’re using a cheese that refuses to be grated). I probably use a third to a half of a cup of each cheese, and usually end up making a bit too much.

This is also a good time to prep your dippers. Cut up your potatoes, broccoli, carrots, and/or apples. I like to roast the veggies and prepare the fondue while the veggies are in the oven. You can put the potatoes, carrots, and broccoli on a sheet pan with a bit of oil, pepper, and salt, and pop it in the oven for 25 mins at 425. I add sliced bread directly on the oven rack for the last 5 to 10 minutes to crisp it up, then cut it into bite sized pieces when removed. (Or you can simplify things further by just aiming for bread, broccoli, and apples. The broccoli can be microwaved for 2 mins and salted, the cut bread can be microwaved for 30 seconds, and the apples are perfect as they are!)

You’ll also want to combine your cream cheese and milk prior to cooking. (I often use whipped cream cheese because it’s what I usually have on hand.) I use about ⅓ cup of cream cheese and a little more than half a cup of whole milk. (Don’t overthink the ratios; if the fondue becomes too thick we can add more milk later!) Tediously mix these until the cream cheese is much less clumpy, though it is okay if a few clumps remain. They should smooth out when heated later in the process.

To begin the fondue, melt a couple tablespoons of butter with a couple tablespoons of flour in a small pot over low heat to form a roux. Continue cooking this on low for several minutes to cook out the taste of the raw flour.

Add your mixture of milk and cream cheese. Stir until combined and smooth. Keep the temperature low.

Slowly begin adding your cheeses, about a handful at a time, and stir until melted and combined. Repeat this until you have added and melted all of your cheeses. If the fondue begins looking too thick, you can add a bit more milk to thin it out. I believe this is where you’d add your white wine as well, but I prefer my alcohol unaccompanied by cheese and poured directly into my mouth so I’ve never made that inclusion.

It can be tempting to raise the temperature while adding cheese to help it melt faster, but if the temperature gets too hot and the cheese becomes gritty, I don’t have a recovery method for you. Be patient, keep the temperature low, and if the devil compels you to mess with the temp then promise me you’ll at least keep it below medium. Though how dare you ignore me, the fondue angel on your shoulder, to begin with.

If you’ve made it this far and have a beautiful, gritless fondue at this point in time, then congratulations! I never doubted you--I knew you could fondue it. The last step is to serve your beautiful creation. If you have a fondue pot of some sort to maintain the warmth, then your fondue should last longer before any textural changes take place.

If you’re serving it out of the small pot from the stove, then you’ll want to leave it warming (on low) on the stove as long as you can while setting up the dippers/whatever else. The heat helps keep the texture consistent and smooth, so once it’s removed to be served you’ll want to start eating as soon as possible for the most impressive fondue experience.

And there you have it, in less than a thousand words, an easy fondue recipe that will make you look like the fanciest host in your friend group--for roughly a half hour of work that mainly consists of throwing dairy in a pot. Woohoo, fondue!

If you have any cheese or dipper recommendations, or if you want to change my mind on the necessity of wine in fondue, feel free to share your thoughts in a comment below. Thanks for reading!