Queso Dip Recipe: How to Make It at Home

Queso dip, or chile con queso, is a warm, smooth dip of melted cheese and chile peppers, served with tortilla chips. It is a staple of Tex-Mex restaurants, where it often comes white or yellow.

To make white queso at home, melt white American cheese and Monterey Jack into warm milk over low heat. Then stir in sautéed onion, fresh serrano and jalapeño, and a handful of spinach. It takes about 20 minutes and stays silky as long as the heat stays low.

This post covers what queso is, its history, the best cheeses, the method and the science of a smooth dip. It also covers variations, high-altitude notes, how to keep it warm, storage and safe reheating. In Breckenridge, you can order our chile con queso with serranos and spinach at Mi Casa.

What Is Queso Dip?

Chile con queso means "chile with cheese" in Spanish. In the United States, most people just call it queso.

It is an appetizer or side dish of melted cheese and chile peppers. Tex-Mex restaurants serve it as a dip for tortilla chips. It is also spooned over tacos, fajitas, enchiladas and quesadillas.

The base is usually melted American cheese, Velveeta or another processed cheese, Monterey Jack or cream cheese, plus cream or milk. Onion and paprika are common extras. Restaurants often stir in pico de gallo, black beans, guacamole or ground beef.

Queso is served warm. In many restaurants, chips and salsa come free, while queso costs extra.

A Short History of Chile con Queso

Chile con queso most likely began in Mexico. It is probably a relative of queso flameado, a melted cheese dish from the northern state of Chihuahua.

According to food writer Lisa Fain, the earliest printed reference to chile con queso appears in an 1816 Mexican novel, El Periquillo Sarniento. The first published recipe to use the phrase appeared in the United States, in an 1896 magazine article. That dish, Chiles Verdes con Queso, mixed long green chiles, tomatoes and cheese and was served as a side.

In Texas, chile con queso was on restaurant menus by 1910, at San Antonio's Gunter Hotel. A San Antonio club cookbook of the early 1920s printed the first recipe to call for American cheese.

Two products shaped the modern dip:

• Velveeta. Invented in 1918, it first appeared in a queso recipe in 1939, in a Lubbock church cookbook.
• Ro-Tel. Carl Roetelle began canning tomatoes blended with green chiles in Elsa, Texas, in 1943. A 1949 Ro-Tel ad printed a recipe: heat the tomatoes with processed cheese and serve with chips.

Arkansas has its own claim. Blackie Donnely, the original owner of the Mexico Chiquito restaurants, is credited with inventing Arkansas cheese dip. He opened in North Little Rock in 1935. North Little Rock has hosted the World Cheese Dip Championship since 2010.

Queso Dip Ingredients

This recipe makes about 3 cups, enough for 6 to 8 people as a dip.

• 8 ounces white American cheese, from the deli counter, torn or cubed
• 4 ounces Monterey Jack or asadero cheese, freshly shredded (about 1 cup)
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch, tossed with the shredded jack
• 3/4 to 1 cup whole milk, plus more to thin
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/4 cup finely diced white onion
• 1 small garlic clove, minced
• 1 serrano and 1 jalapeño, seeded and finely diced
• 1 cup packed baby spinach, chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin (optional)
• Salt, to taste (taste first, since the cheese is salty)

That spinach and two-chile mix mirrors the Mi Casa Chile con Queso, which lists white cheese, serranos, jalapeños and spinach.

Best Cheese for Queso

The best queso uses a mix of cheeses. One melts smoothly, and one adds flavor.

• White American: Smooth, stable base (notes: Processed cheese, so it melts without separating)
• Monterey Jack: Mild flavor, creamy stretch (notes: Shred it yourself)
• Pepper jack: Built-in heat (notes: Swap for half the Monterey Jack)
• Asadero: Mild, milky Mexican melting cheese (notes: Good for a more Mexican flavor)
• Velveeta: Classic yellow, very smooth (notes: A processed cheese, like American)
• Sharp cheddar: Strong flavor (notes: Can turn grainy alone; mix it with American)

Buy American cheese at the deli counter, sliced thick or in a block. Shred the jack yourself for the smoothest melt.

Equipment

• Medium heavy-bottomed saucepan
• Silicone spatula or wooden spoon
• Box grater
• Small slow cooker or fondue pot, for serving warm (optional)
• Instant-read thermometer

How to Make White Queso Dip

1. Cook the aromatics. Melt the butter in the saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the onion, serrano and jalapeño. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, until soft. Add the garlic for the last 30 seconds.
2. Wilt the spinach. Stir in the spinach and cook for 1 minute, until it collapses.
3. Warm the milk. Pour in 3/4 cup of milk. Heat until it steams, but do not let it boil.
4. Add the American cheese. Turn the heat to low. Add the American cheese a handful at a time, stirring until each batch melts.
5. Add the jack. Add the cornstarch-tossed jack cheese in two batches. Stir slowly until smooth.
6. Adjust. Stir in the cumin. Add more milk, a tablespoon at a time, until it pours off a chip the way you like. Taste for salt.
7. Serve warm. Pour it into a warm bowl or a small slow cooker set to warm.

Total time is about 20 minutes. The recipe makes about 3 cups.

Why Queso Gets Grainy (and How to Keep It Smooth)

Real cheese is a mix of milk proteins, fat and water. Heat it too hard and the proteins tighten into clumps, and the fat leaks out as grease.

Processed cheese solves this with emulsifying salts, such as sodium citrate and sodium phosphate. They stop calcium from holding the casein proteins in a rigid network. The proteins then blend into the fat when melted, instead of clumping and separating.

That is why American cheese makes such a smooth base. The rest comes down to technique:

• Keep the heat low. Melt cheese slowly, well below a boil.
• Add cheese in batches. Each handful should melt before the next goes in.
• Use starch. A little cornstarch on shredded cheese helps hold the sauce together.
• Grate your own. Freshly shredded cheese gives you control over the texture.
• Fix a broken queso. Take it off the heat and whisk in a splash of warm milk. Then add a slice of American cheese and stir.

Queso With Real Cheese and Sodium Citrate

To make queso without processed cheese, use sodium citrate. It is the same salt used to make processed cheese. In Switzerland in 1911, Walter Gerber and Fritz Stettler added it to melted Emmentaler. They found the resulting sauce could set again, which led to processed cheese.

Dissolve 2 teaspoons (about 10 grams) of sodium citrate in 1 cup of milk over medium-low heat. Add 12 ounces of shredded cheese, such as cheddar, Monterey Jack or a mix, a handful at a time. Whisk until smooth, then add the chiles and spinach.

Sodium citrate is sold online and in some specialty stores. It tastes slightly salty, so add salt only at the end.

Variations

The basic dip takes add-ins well. Stir them in at the end, once the cheese is smooth.

Loaded Queso With Beef and Beans

Loaded queso turns the dip into a hearty appetizer. The Mi Casa Loaded Queso tops chile con queso with charro beans and seasoned ground beef.

To make it at home, brown 1/2 pound of ground beef with 1 teaspoon each of chili powder and cumin. Cook it to 160°F, the safe minimum internal temperature for ground beef. Drain the fat. Spoon the beef and 1 cup of warm charro or pinto beans over the queso.

Chorizo, Green Chile and Spinach Queso

• Chorizo. The "con carne" style of queso adds ground chorizo. Cook 4 ounces of fresh Mexican chorizo to 160°F, the safe temperature for ground pork. Drain it well and stir it in.
• Roasted green chile. Stir in 1/2 cup of chopped roasted Hatch, Anaheim or poblano chiles for a smoky flavor.
• Ro-Tel style. Stir in a drained 10-ounce can of tomatoes with green chiles, the classic Texas shortcut.
• Extra spinach. Double the spinach for a greener, milder dip.
• Pico de gallo on top. Finish with a scoop of chunky pico de gallo for color and crunch.

High-Altitude Notes

Cheese melts by temperature, not by boiling, so queso works almost the same in the mountains. Breckenridge sits at about 9,600 feet.

Two things do change. Water boils at a lower temperature at altitude, about 193°F at 10,000 feet versus 212°F at sea level. Milk will come to a simmer sooner than you expect, so watch it closely and keep the heat low.

Liquids also evaporate faster in dry mountain air. Queso thickens quickly on the stove and on the buffet. Keep extra warm milk on hand, and keep the pot or slow cooker covered between servings.

If you fry your own chips, lower the oil by about 3°F for every 1,000 feet, according to Colorado State University Extension. At 9,600 feet, that means about 320°F instead of 350°F.

Keeping Queso Warm for a Party

Queso firms up as it cools. Keep it warm and stir it every 15 to 20 minutes.

• Slow cooker. Transfer it to a small slow cooker on the warm setting. Stir in a splash of milk if it thickens.
• Fondue pot or chafing dish. Both keep a steady low heat.
• Double boiler. Set the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water.

For food safety, hold hot food at 140°F or above. Check the queso with an instant-read thermometer during a long party.

Storage, Reheating and Food Safety

Queso is a perishable dairy dish. Do not leave it out of hot holding for more than 2 hours, or 1 hour above 90°F.

Refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours in a covered container. Label them and use them within 3 to 4 days. Chilled queso turns solid, which is normal.

To reheat, warm the queso in a saucepan over low heat with a splash of milk. Stir often until smooth. In the microwave, heat it in 30-second bursts and stir between each one. Reheat leftovers to at least 165°F.

Freezing is possible but not ideal. Thawed queso can turn grainy. Reheat it slowly with milk and stir hard to bring it back.

What to Serve With Queso

• Tortilla chips. Sturdy corn chips hold the most dip.
• Guacamole. Serve a side of smashed avocado guacamole for a cool contrast.
• Salsa. Add a bright red salsa for contrast, and you have the classic chips-and-dips trio.
• Nachos. Pour it over chips, beans and meat for nachos smothered in queso.
• Burritos. Ladle it over the top for burritos smothered in cheese sauce.
• Fries and vegetables. Queso is good on fries, roasted potatoes and steamed broccoli.
• A margarita. Salty, rich queso pairs well with a cold drink. Browse frozen and flavored margaritas for ideas.

Frequently Asked Questions

What cheese is used in white queso?

Most white queso uses white American cheese as the base, because it melts smoothly without separating. Many recipes add Monterey Jack, pepper jack or asadero for more flavor.

Why is my queso grainy?

Queso turns grainy when the heat is too high. The cheese proteins clump and the fat separates. Keep the heat low, add cheese in batches and use a processed cheese or sodium citrate.

How do you thin out queso?

Stir in warm milk, a tablespoon at a time, over low heat. Warm the milk first so the dip stays hot and smooth.

Can you make queso in a slow cooker?

Yes. Add the cheese, milk and aromatics to a slow cooker on low. Stir every 15 minutes until smooth, about 1 hour, then switch to warm.

Is queso Mexican or Tex-Mex?

Both. Chile con queso most likely began in Mexico, probably from Chihuahua's queso flameado. The smooth processed-cheese dip served with chips is a 20th-century Tex-Mex creation.

What is the difference between queso and cheese dip?

They are close cousins. Texans call it queso or chile con queso, while Arkansans call their version cheese dip. Arkansas fans point to differences in consistency and to the dip's large role in Arkansas food culture.

Chile con Queso at Mi Casa

At Mi Casa Mexican Restaurant & Cantina in Breckenridge, our Chile con Queso blends white cheese with serranos, jalapeños and spinach, served with white corn tortilla chips. The Loaded Queso adds charro beans and seasoned ground beef.

Chips & Dips pairs our famous guac and queso with corn and flour tortilla chips. During happy hour, from 2 to 5 pm daily in the cantina, you can get half orders of guac and queso at happy hour. Our Cantina Fries come topped with chile con queso too.

Our queso dishes contain dairy. For details, see the dairy and allergen details for our dips.