What Makes Shake Shack's Cheese Sauce So Irresistible

If you're having a conversation about the best burgers in America, Shake Shack will always find mention. What started off as a hot-dog stand in New York City has grown into a multi-billion dollar global burger giant. They may not have the heft of McDonald's, but when it comes to quality, it's no contest. In fact, when Tasting Table ranked 21 burger chains worst to best, Shake Shack was in the Top 3 (McDonald's was 17th). It's not just their burgers that have a fan following. The cheese sauce is a star itself — which shouldn't come as a surprise, considering their secret ingredient is a generous splash of white wine.

Mark Rosati, the culinary director at Shake Shack, showed fans exactly how to make the decadent sauce which has two cheeses and cream apart from the white wine. The recipe video, which was posted on X as part of the chain's "Shake Shack at your shack" series, takes 30 minutes to make and is guaranteed to take your homemade burgers to the next level.

To make the sauce, you'll need cheddar and American cheese, onions, canola oil, white wine vinegar, jalapenos, onions, salt, peppercorns, cream, and white wine. After sauteing the onions, jalapenos, and peppercorns for a few minutes, Rosati deglazes the pan with a splash of white wine vinegar and Shake Shack white wine. "After the vinegar and white wine reduce down, I'm going to add in the cream, turn off the heat, and let everything steep for 30 minutes," he says. The mix is then strained, and boiled with the two cheeses to make the thick and creamy sauce.

Cheese is an integral burger topping, adding a rich creaminess. Traditionally, a slice (or two) of cheddar was slapped on top of the meat as it cooked, allowing it to melt snugly around the patty. Over time, chefs have been getting increasingly creative about how to introduce the cheese.

Five Guys uses thick cut slices of American cheese that melt so well the cheese could be mistaken for a sauce (Organic Valley is a great American cheese brand to replace your Kraft singles in burgers). The Cheesy Cheddar Burger at Wendy's comes with a slice of cheese and a cheese sauce with a sharp Cheddar base, tomato concentrate, and citric acid, as well as sodium citrate, which helps give it the beautiful, silky texture. But the most over-the-top use of cheese sauce in a burger comes from Applebee's. The sizzling new Japanese-inspired addition to their menu is just too cheesy to ignore. The O-M-Cheese Burger is based on the viral Japanese phenomenon that has a hamburger served in a tray full of sizzling, bubbling cheese sauce. In Japan, this is called Cheese ni In-Shita, which literally translates to hamburger-in-cheese.

If you're looking to take your homemade burger game to the next level, the Shake Shack cheese sauce or the hamburger-in-cheese are great options — though the ultimate experiment might lie in making a sizzling hamburger-in-cheese using the Shake Shack cheese sauce.