[1][2] Orangish-yellow in color, it usually comes in a glass jar and is used as a topping for various foods, including corn chips and hot dogs.

[3] A 1953 ad in Kraft Foods’ home city, Chicago, included a label illustration listing the product’s original ingredients: “American Cheese, Water, Nonfat Dry Milk Solids, Condensed Whey, Sodium Phosphate, Cream, Worcestershire Sauce, Lactic Acid, Mustard, Salt, U.S. Certified Color--Moisture 52%, Milkfat 28%.”[6][7] As of 2016, Kraft describes Cheez Whiz as a "cheese dip" with the word cheese spelled correctly.

[8] Ingredients: whey, milk, canola oil, maltodextrin, milk protein concentrate, sodium phosphate, contains less than 2% of modified food starch, salt, lactic acid, whey protein concentrate, mustard flour, Worcestershire sauce (vinegar, molasses, corn syrup, water, salt, caramel color, garlic powder, sugar, spices (contains celery), tamarind, natural flavor), sodium alginate, sorbic acid as a preservative, color added, cheese culture, enzymes, natural flavor[9] In some markets, the product has been sold in a narrow jar that tapered narrower towards the base, and sold as a spread.

Over the years since the product's creation, Kraft has altered its recipe due to changes in dairy sourcing and the regulatory environment, resulting in a reduction of cheese content.

[8] Dean Southworth, who was part of the original team that developed Cheez Whiz in the 1950s, described a jar he sampled in 2001 as tasting "like axle grease".