This easy cheese fondue recipe is a favorite retro recipe!
Swiss and Gruyere cheeses are melted together with a splash of kirsch for a deliciously dippable appetizer.
Perfect for New Year’s Eve, Christmas, or really, any type of gathering!
Easy Cheesy Fondue!
- Party Pleaser: Cheese fondue is a hit at gatherings, bringing everyone together around a pot of melty, gooey goodness.
- Easy to Make: You don’t need to be a gourmet chef to master this delicious dish.
- Prep-Ahead: Easily prepare it up to 2 days in advance and reheat for smooth, creamy perfection.
- Equipment-Friendly: No fondue pot? Use a stovetop, ceramic bowl, or mini Crockpot.
Ingredients for Cheese Fondue
Cheese – The most popular cheese for fondue is gruyère cheese which is mild while the addition of Swiss cheese adds a bold flavor. You can vary the cheese mixture based on what you have, gouda or fontina are other favorites!
Kirsch – Kirsch is a cherry brandy and is a traditional ingredient in cheese fondue. It can be replaced with sherry or a dry white wine if you don’t have any. For non-alcoholic cheese fondue, use any clear fruit juice like apple cider, apple juice, or even lemon juice.
Cornstarch – A little corn starch helps to thicken the fondue and keeps the cheese from clumping.
How to Make Cheese Fondue
This recipe can’t get any easier!
- Gently toss the shredded cheese with with the cornstarch per the recipe below.
- Rub the inside of a saucepan with garlic. Add the wine and simmer.
- Slowly stir in the cheese, whisking until melted. Season and serve!
Delicious Dippers for Fondue
- Bread Cubes: chunks of French or sourdough bread, soft breadsticks, garlic crostini rounds
- Chips: tortilla chips, pretzels or pretzel sticks
- Vegetables: roasted broccoli or cauliflower florets, strips of bell pepper, carrot, or whole (cooked) baby red potatoes or fingerlings.
- Fruit: cubed apples, seedless grapes, dried fruit, pineapple slices
- Meat: meatballs, grilled steak, chicken, shrimp
Leftovers
Reheat cheese fondue in the microwave and loosen it up by adding a little milk and a dash of salt for flavor. Freeze cheese fondue in zippered bags and reheat it with milk and extra cheese to emulsify it again.
Cheesy Appetizers
Did you love this Cheese Fondue? Leave us a rating and a comment below!
Easy Cheese Fondue Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 clove garlic whole
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 8 ounces Swiss cheese or Emmental, shredded
- 4 ounces Gruyere cheese shredded
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon kirsch optional but delicious, or sherry
- ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 pinch black pepper
- 1 loaf french bread for dipping
Instructions
- Cut the garlic clove in half and rub the cut side inside the saucepan. Discard the clove (or save it for another use).
- Add the wine to the saucepan and bring it to a simmer over medium heat, let simmer for 1 minute.
- In a bowl, gently toss all shredded cheeses with cornstarch. Set aside.
- Reduce heat to low and add cheese, a few tablespoons at a time gently stirring until melted before adding more. This should be done very slowly.
- Once melted, stir in kirsh, nutmeg, and pepper.
- Serve warm with bread for dipping.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Appetizer, Dip, Party Food
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
The nutrition facts you gave. That is the facts for how much fondue ?
Hi Aubrey, a serving is about ¼ cup.
I make cheese fondue for my husband and his elderly parents every New Year’s Eve, although I’ve never settled on a single recipe and have hunted around for THE recipe every year, looking for something easy and delicious. I finally found it! We all agreed this was my best batch of fondue yet.
I made the recipe exactly as written, with the exception of the Kirsch, which I do not have and haven’t been able to justify as a purchase considering such a tiny amount will be used every year. I had cherry liqueur in the house (from another recipe) and decided to try it; because of how sweet it is I wasn’t sure if it would work, so I added a tiny amount at a time and tasted it to make sure I didn’t ruin my fondue. It was delicious and I thought that it added an alternate but not conflicting note to all the melty cheese goodness.
I also doubled the recipe, because I would rather have too much fondue than not enough. In hindsite, I could’ve made up about 1.5 times the original recipe for the four of us, but it’s not like we let the extra fondue go to waste.
As far as dippers go, I usually go overboard and get way too much, so this year I kept it simple with french bread, green apple, homestyle (mini) meatballs, and roasted broccoli. It was perfect.
I have always had good success with this site. I consider myself to be a bit of a foodie and a pretty good cook, and I enjoy cooking. However, time and money make it more difficult for me to cook as much as I would like, but this site helps a lot! Thank you! I believe that good food doesn’t need to always be fancy. It just needs to be well made.
Aww, thank you so much for the kind words, Leah! I’m so glad this recipe was a hit and I hope you enjoyed your New Years ❤️
Help! For some reason all my cheese has clumped into a ball and won’t blend with the wine. I’ve added more cornstarch but it’s not helping. Used freshly grated cheese and followed the instructions. Any chance of salvaging it? I don’t know what I’ve done wrong. Thanks Holly!
Hey Barb! Was your element on a higher heat setting? It needs to be on low to medium heat so the cheese melts low and slow. Did you gradually add the cheese or add it all at once? Gradually adding the cheese helps it melt evenly and prevents it from clumping. I hope you were able to recover the fondue!
This recipe sounds awesome. Could it be made in a mini crockpot?
Hi Sherry, this recipe should be made on the stovetop in a saucepan, but can be transferred to a crockpot after it’s done so it stays warm!
Notes from 6/9/23: HEAD-TO-HEAD FONDUE COOK OFF!
We had the entire family of 10 for French Onion Soup. Along with this I made two batches of Cheese Fondue to use both of our Fondue pots. One was a pre-mised Fondue from Publix and the other this recipe. The Recipe was the unanamaus favorite. The only change I made was to prepare it in a skillet rather than making it in the Fondue Pot which takes too long. Also, I used Kirschwasser rather than Kirsch liquor.
We served it with cubed baguettes, blanched broccoli, cherry tomatoes, chunks of ham, and boiled baby potatoes for dipping. I was really fun for all. Everyone loved it and literally scraped the bowl clean Repeat performance requested by all.
This is so fun Ed! I love this idea and so happy to hear this recipe was the winner ;)
Thank you for sharing!
so easy and delicious.
I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe Lise!
It was delicious! So easy to do! Thank you so much!
I am so glad you enjoyed this fondue Jan!
Does the alcohol cook out in this amount of time?
Not all but a good portion should cook out while preparing this cheese fondue. You can replace the white wine with vegetable or chicken broth if you prefer.
Easy and awesome. Will make again for sure!
mmmmm fondue
This was delicious! I used Swiss, Gruyere, and sharp white cheddar, all pre-shredded, and it tasted just like cheese fondue at The Melting Pot. Will definitely make again.
This recipe was out of this world!! I didn’t add the optional Kirsh, but I’d still give it an A++. After watching a travel show on Switzerland, I just had to dig out my old electric fondue pot (never used) and I’m glad I did! We enjoyed it with French bread and Granny Smith Apples.
Hi Kristin!
Sounds delicious! Glad you liked it!
Making this right now! I hope I make it as good as it sounds!