Coconut Milk Cheddar Sauce for Full GAPS

Coconut milk cheddar sauce brings coconut flavor into a warm, savory cheese sauce. Rich homemade coconut milk loosens thick yogurt cheese, then grated white cheddar melts through the base. It is a three-ingredient stovetop sauce, with no flour roux to prepare.

Use it over cooked vegetables or a serving of meat when those flavors suit the meal. This version still contains dairy from the yogurt cheese and cheddar. The coconut milk replaces the liquid cream portion; it does not make the whole sauce dairy-free.

Having homemade ingredients ready is useful in our kitchen, but I want them labeled well enough that the next cook can tell what is in the jar. My older kids can cook and follow directions. A white liquid might be yogurt, cultured cream or coconut milk, and those are different ingredients in a sauce. For this one, set out the finished coconut milk and the drained yogurt cheese separately before weighing or pouring.

Allow about ten minutes of preparation and fifteen minutes of cooking once those ingredients are ready. The batch gives approximately two and a half cups, or about ten quarter-cup servings. Gentle heat and gradual cheese additions matter more than trying to finish the melt a minute sooner.

Use Rich Homemade Coconut Milk

Measure one and a half cups of rich homemade coconut milk. Use the plain strained preparation linked here. It contains coconut and water, with no honey, dates, vanilla or other drink flavorings.

Measure the finished milk after straining. A cup of starting water is not the same as a cup of recovered coconut milk, because some liquid remains in the pulp. Make enough of the linked preparation to measure the full one and a half cups for this sauce.

Homemade coconut milk can separate in the refrigerator. A firmer coconut-fat layer may sit above thinner liquid. Stir or shake the milk back together before measuring so you are not scooping only the thick top or pouring only the watery bottom.

The linked rich milk has its own heating, cooling, blending and straining method. Follow that preparation first, then bring the finished milk to this recipe. A more diluted coconut drink is not the same starting ingredient.

This is why I keep the milk-making job separate from the sauce time. Preparing a homemade ingredient can be mostly waiting, but it still needs to happen before the saucepan goes on for dinner. A measured jar ready to pour makes the later job much easier to follow.

The Two Dairy Ingredients

Eight ounces of drained homemade yogurt cheese: Use the thick dairy left after draining completed 24-hour yogurt. Weigh it after draining, and keep the whey collected underneath in a separate container.

The cheese should hold a mound on a spoon. Loose yogurt brings more water into the saucepan and changes the base. The eight ounces in the card refer to the finished thick cheese, not the amount of yogurt poured into the cloth.

My Luvele Pure Plus is my go-to yogurt maker for the long yogurt ferment before draining. That appliance prepares the dairy ingredient; the sauce itself is made in a saucepan. Making and draining yogurt are not included in the twenty-five-minute sauce estimate.

Eight ounces of natural white cheddar: Choose a plain, additive-free block, weigh it and grate it. Divide the shreds roughly in half so the first gradual additions and the final addition stay clear.

Read the cheese ingredients rather than judging by color alone. A plain block grated at home is different from shreds coated with potato starch. White cheddar gives this version a pale color, with the coconut milk and yogurt cheese contributing their own creamy appearance.

Warm The Base Before Adding Cheddar

Put the measured yogurt cheese and recombined coconut milk in a saucepan before turning on the heat. Set the burner to medium-low. Stir and press the thick cheese into the milk while scraping across the bottom and around the edges.

Allow about seven minutes for the base to warm. Large cold lumps should soften and distribute through the milk. You want the two ingredients more evenly combined before you begin adding the grated cheddar.

Keep the dairy mixture below a boil. If it bubbles actively or begins sticking at the bottom, lower the heat. Stirring is part of the method, rather than something to do only after you notice a patch catching on the pan.

While the base warms, finish grating and dividing the cheddar if needed. Keep both portions beside the stove so you can add cheese with one hand and keep track of the saucepan without hunting for the next ingredient.

Melt The Cheddar In Two Stages

Add The First Half A Little At A Time

Add a large pinch of cheddar, about a tablespoon, and stir it into the warm base. Let the shreds melt before adding the next pinch. Continue until the first half of the cheddar has been incorporated.

Watch for recognizable shreds to disappear through the mixture. If cheese is still sitting in a pile above the liquid, stir and give it time before adding more. Reach the bottom with the spoon so that part of the sauce keeps moving too.

The sauce stays pale with white cheddar. Look at the texture rather than waiting for a bright yellow color. The useful change is cheese melting into the warm coconut-milk base instead of remaining as separate shreds.

Finish The Second Half On Low Heat

After the first half is mixed in, continue gently for about three minutes. Add the remaining half together, stir and reduce the burner to low. Give those last shreds a few more minutes to melt.

A heavy pan retains heat after the burner is turned down. If the sauce keeps bubbling, move the saucepan off the heat while stirring. You are finishing a cheese melt, not boiling away liquid to make a reduced sauce.

Once the cheddar is melted through, give the whole pan a final stir. Serve while the sauce is warm and spoonable. It should move with the spoon and coat the food underneath, without a pile of unmelted cheese left in the bowl.

If The Sauce Starts Looking Greasy

Oil collecting at the edges with a grainy mixture is a reason to stop increasing the heat. Move the pan off the burner and stir gently. More heat will not help cheese that is already overheating.

Keep that different from a few shreds that have not melted yet. Unmelted cheddar still looks like the cheese you grated. Continue working it through the warm base over gentle heat rather than adding the rest of the cheese too quickly.

Start with the measured, recombined coconut milk and properly drained yogurt cheese. If only watery coconut liquid went into the pan, adding an unmeasured spoonful of oil later does not restore the original ingredient. The first measuring step is worth doing before the burner is on.

Where This Sauce Fits On Full GAPS

This sauce fits Full GAPS once coconut, homemade yogurt cheese and natural cheddar have been introduced. Gut and Physiology Syndrome includes homemade coconut milk and gives a strained coconut-and-water preparation. That is the homemade milk used here.

The dairy sequence still applies. Dr. Natasha describes draining homemade yogurt into a thicker cheese and introducing natural cheeses such as cheddar after yogurt, sour cream and kefir are established. Coconut milk does not move the cheddar to an earlier stage.

This is not an early Intro or No-Plant recipe. Coconut is one of the ingredients. It also is not labeled ketogenic GAPS, since this version retains yogurt cheese and the 2020 ketogenic guidance replaces yogurt and kefir with homemade sour cream.

If you are looking for a dairy-free topping, the separate fermented cashew faux sour cream has its own dairy-free starter, measured ingredients and culturing method. It is a tangy cultured condiment rather than a cheddar sauce. Follow that preparation instead of replacing both cheeses in this recipe by guesswork.

Choose The Sauce That Fits Your Prepared Ingredients

The cultured cream cheddar sauce uses completed homemade sour cream as its liquid dairy ingredient. The yogurt cheddar sauce uses a separate portion of plain homemade 24-hour yogurt.

This coconut-milk version keeps the coconut flavor alongside the savory cheddar and tangy yogurt cheese. Choose the recipe whose liquid ingredient you have prepared, then follow its amounts and directions.

For serving, spoon a little over cooked broccoli, cauliflower or meat and offer more at the table. About a quarter cup is the serving estimate. The exact yield can vary with the homemade milk and cheese, so measure the finished amount when portioning it for another meal.

Storage And Reheating

Transfer leftovers to a shallow covered container and refrigerate promptly. Keep at 40°F or below and use within three to four days. Label the sauce with its name and date so it does not get confused with the plain coconut milk.

It will become thicker as it chills. Reheat only the portion you need in a small saucepan over gentle heat, stirring until it reaches 165°F. Scrape the bottom as the sauce warms so the dairy does not sit against the pan untouched.

If a reheated portion needs loosening, add a little of the same rich homemade coconut milk and stir it through. Recombine that milk before pouring it too. Stop when the sauce is spoonable rather than adding another unmeasured cup to the original batch.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is This Sauce Dairy-Free?

No. It contains drained yogurt cheese and cheddar. The coconut milk is the liquid ingredient in this version, while the two cheeses remain in the sauce.

Do I Measure The Coconut Milk Before Or After Straining?

After straining. Stir or shake the finished milk back together, then measure one and a half cups. The amount of water used to make it is not the finished milk measurement.

Can I Use Sweetened Coconut Milk?

Use the plain homemade milk linked above. It has no honey, dates or vanilla added. Those drink flavorings would change a savory cheddar sauce.

How Do I Double The Batch?

Use sixteen ounces of drained yogurt cheese, three cups of rich coconut milk and sixteen ounces of cheddar. Expect about twenty quarter-cup servings. Use enough saucepan space for stirring and keep the same gradual first-half addition and low-heat finish.

Recommended Equipment

Use a kitchen scale, measuring jug, grater, wooden spoon, serving spoon and saucepan. My 1.75-quart Le Creuset Artichaut saucepan has a rounded base that is useful for stirring sauces. A shallow covered container and food thermometer are useful for leftovers.

My upcoming Sauces, Dressings & Condiments Cookbook will gather more ways to finish Full GAPS meals with prepared homemade ingredients. Visit the WFLI shop for the collection as it becomes available.