Queso Dip with Chorizo
Rave reviews
This is THE best! Even better than restaurant queso. ~Julie
Quick Overview: Queso Dip with Chorizo
- ⏱️ Prep Time: 5 minutes
- 🍳 Cook Time: 25 minutes
- 🕒 Total Time: 30 minutes
- 👥 Servings: 10 (about 5 cups with chorizo)
- 📊 Calories: 286 kcal per serving
- 🔥 Cook Method: Sauté the chorizo and vegetables, build a creamy cheese sauce, top and serve!
- 👩🍳 Flavor Profile: Rich, creamy, and boldly spiced with layers of melty white queso dip and savory chorizo.
- ⭐ Difficulty: Easy, just keep the heat low when melting the cheese!
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Table of Contents
What Makes This Queso Dip So Special
- Two-cheese blend – White American and Monterey Jack melt together into an incredibly smooth, creamy sauce that stays velvety and rich. If you love a classic queso blanco, this similar but even better.
- Loaded with flavor – Sautéed chorizo, onion, jalapeño, and red chili pepper go into every bite, not just on top.
- Ready in 30 minutes – Fast enough for a weeknight snack, impressive enough for a party spread.
- Built for a crowd – Easily doubles for game day, Cinco de Mayo, or any gathering where the dip needs to disappear fast. If you want to go all out, my ultimate queso dip takes the party to a whole new level.
- Totally customizable – Dial the heat up or down, swap the cheese, use it as a nacho topper. This recipe is as flexible as it is delicious.
Ingredients Notes and Substitution Options
- Chorizo: Use Mexican-style fresh (uncooked) chorizo here, not the cured Spanish variety. Fresh chorizo is raw, fully seasoned ground pork that you cook and crumble directly in the pan.
- Heavy Whipping Cream: cream will create the best creaminess and richness to the queso. However, you can substitute half and half. Do not use anything with less fat than that.
- Cheeses: you’ll need a mix of Monterrey Jack and white American cheeses! White American cheese is mostly to keep the queso white. Use yellow if that’s the only option. Use Pepper Jack cheese instead of Monterrey Jack if you want to add more spice.
- Use block cheese: Block cheese is always the best option for nacho cheese sauces, cheese dips (like beer cheese dip), and queso! Pre-shredded cheese is coated in cornstarch and separators, which is why it’s powdery. It won’t give you as smooth of a result.
- Chili Peppers: Both jalapeños and a red chili pepper go into this recipe.
- More or less spicy: If you want more spicy, you can add a serrano pepper, habanero peppers, or a spicier chili pepper. Remember the most spice is in the pepper’s membrane and seeds, so leave those in or discard depending on your spice tolerance. For a less spicy queso blanco, use younger jalapeños (smooth dark green skin) and take out the seeds and membrane.
How To Make My Queso Dip with Chorizo
- Cook the chorizo. Heat a little oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the diced onion and minced jalapeño and let them soften for a couple of minutes. Add the chorizo, breaking it apart into small crumbles as it cooks. You want deep orange, fully cooked crumbles with no pink remaining. Season with cumin and salt, stir well, and take it off the heat.
- Sauté the vegetables for the queso. In a heavy-bottomed saucepot, heat a little oil over medium heat. Add the remaining onion, jalapeño, and red chili pepper and sauté until softened and just starting to turn translucent.
- Add the flour. Sprinkle the flour over the softened vegetables and stir well to coat everything evenly. Cook for about 30 seconds, this cooks out the raw flour taste and sets up your thickener.
- Pour in the cream. Slowly pour in the heavy whipping cream while stirring. Keep stirring as it heats through. You want it warm and steaming but not simmering or boiling.
- Melt in the cheese. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Add the cheeses one handful at a time, stirring slowly and constantly between each addition. The sauce should look glossy and smooth. The moment it’s melted and silky, take it off the heat, do not let it boil.
- Season and serve. Stir in the cumin and salt. Transfer the queso to a serving bowl, spoon the chorizo right over the top, and get it to the table while it’s hot.
My Tips On Ingredients and Making Queso Blanco with Chorizo
- To ensure smooth cheese sauce, remember to pour in the liquids slowly as you whisk and stir slowly but constantly!
- Add your cheese gradually. Dumping all the cheese in at once causes clumping. One handful at a time with steady, slow stirring is what gives you that restaurant-smooth result.
- One of the main reasons that queso separates is overheated, over-cooked, or even scalded! Cheese sauce for any cheese dips should be cooked over lower than medium (medium-low) heat so that the cheese melts but does not over-cook or scald. Don’t ever let your cheese sauce boil. It’s always best to cook it just until it’s melted and smooth, then remove it from the heat.
Storing and Reheating
- Make sure to store leftover queso blanco dip in the refrigerator in an airtight food storage container. Properly stored, it should last up to 4 days.
- I do not recommend reheating queso in the microwave! The best way to reheat it is on the stove-top or in the oven. On stove-top, reheat queso over medium-low heat just until heated through. Make sure to stir often. In the oven, reheat it in an oven-safe baking dish or a skillet at 325°F, just until heated through. Note that reheating in the oven will take longer.
What to Serve with Queso Dip
Tortilla chips are the classic move, but this queso dip is the kind of thing that elevates everything around it. Pile it onto my Chorizo Nachos for a serious double-chorizo situation that belongs at every game day spread. It’s also fantastic served alongside my Guacamole recipe and easy Pico de Gallo, having all three on the table at once is basically a full Tex-Mex appetizer bar. And if you want to make a full party spread, don’t forget to mix up a batch of Spicy Margaritas to go with it.
Queso Dip with Chorizo FAQs
Queso dip is a broad term for any warm, melted cheese dip. Queso blanco specifically refers to a white cheese sauce, typically made with white, easily melting cheeses rather than yellow. This recipe is a queso blanco-style queso dip, creamy, white, and loaded with chorizo.
The chorizo topping can be made a day ahead and reheated. The queso itself is best made fresh, but leftovers reheat well on the stovetop over medium-low heat with occasional stirring.
The most common culprit is heat that’s too high. Cheese sauce should never boil. Keep the heat at medium-low when adding the cheese and take the pot off the heat as soon as it’s smooth. Adding all the cheese at once instead of gradually can also cause separation.
Freezing is NOT recommended for this queso. Dairy-based cheese sauces tend to separate and become grainy after freezing and thawing. Store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 4 days instead.
I created this recipe for making it on the stovetop. However, once it’s done, you can transfer it to a Crockpot set to the warm setting to keep it hot for a party. Do not cook it from scratch in the Crockpot.
Add a small splash of heavy cream or half and half and stir over low heat until the consistency loosens to where you want it.
More Delicious Recipes To Try
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Queso Blanco Dip Recipe with Chorizo
Ingredients
Chorizo part:
- 1-2 tbsp canola oil
- 1/2 lb Mexican style chorizo sausage
- 1/2 Vidalia onion minced
- 1 jalapeno seeds taken out and minced
- 1/4 tsp cumin
- Salt
Queso Part:
- 1-2 tbsp canola oil
- 1/2 Vidalia onion minced
- 1 red chili pepper seeds taken out and minced
- 1 jalapeno seeds taken out and minced
- 1 tbsp all purpose flour*
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 lb white American cheese chopped
- 4 oz Monterrey Jack cheese grated off the block or chopped
- 1/4 tsp ground cumin
- Salt
Instructions
Chorizo:
- Take the sausage out of the skin and break it apart as much as possible.
- Heat a little bit of oil in a medium pan, over medium heat.
- Add diced onion, minced jalapeno, and sausage to the pan. Saute everything mixing and breaking up the clumps of chorizo as much as possible.
- Season with cumin and salt, mix well, cook until chorizo is done. Take off heat.
Queso:
- In a bottom-heavy sauce pot, heat up a little bit of oil over medium heat.
- Saute diced onions, jalapeno, and chili pepper until softened. Sprinkle flour over the vegetables and stir well.
- Slowly pour in heavy whipping cream while stirring.
- When heavy whipping cream is heated through but not simmering, start adding cheeses one handful at a time. Keep stirring slowly until cheese is melted and smooth. Stir in salt and cumin and take off heat.
- Transfer queso blanco into a serving dish and top it off with cooked chorizo. (Make sure the bowl is big enough to fit both.)
Video
Notes
- *Gluten free note: to make this recipe gluten free, simply use gluten free all purpose flour. Double check the chorizo packaging but most of the time, it is gluten free.
- Meat note: If you can’t find chorizo, what you can do is use ground pork and season it with spices like ancho chili pepper powder, cumin, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, dried oregano and thyme, ground coriander, a little cinnamon, and a dash of vinegar (and salt of course). For smoky flavor, you can use chipotle pepper powder or add a little smoked paprika.
- Crock Pot: While this queso recipe should be cooked on the stove-top, you can transfer the finished dip into the Crockpot to keep warm. Make sure set it to the “warm” setting, not on a “low” or it will keep cooking the dip.
- Storing: Make sure to store leftover queso blanco dip in the refrigerator in an airtight food storage container. Properly stored, it should last up to 4 days.
- Reheating: I do not recommend reheating queso in the microwave! The best way to reheat it is on the stove-top or in the oven. On stove-top, reheat queso over medium-low heat just until heated through. Make sure to stir often. In the oven, reheat it in an oven-safe baking dish or a skillet at 325°F, just until heated through. Note that reheating in the oven will take longer.
Nutrition
Originally published on Will Cook For Smiles in April 2015.
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Categories:
30 Minute Meals, Appetizer Recipes, Cinco de Mayo Recipes, Gluten Free Recipes, Mexican and Tex-Mex Recipes, Mexican Appetizers, Super Bowl Recipes,All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe.
Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.
I have been to 2 different stores looking for white America blocks…nothing! Just velveeta slices. So I got a block of meunster, mont jack, gouda and all kinds of cheddar. What cheese would you use if you cant get white american?
Hi Renee! I’m sorry I’m just now seeing this next time, feel free to message me on Facebook or Instagram for a quicker response 😊 You can find the cheese at the deli counter of your grocery store. Just ask for ½ pound and request it unsliced, and they’ll be happy to do that for you. Hope this helps!
Sorry, and in case you can’t find white American cheese, just simple use yellow and your queso dip will just be more yellow. Not a big deal but a little color difference.
This is THE best! Even better than restaurant queso.
Ahh thank you so much! 😍 I’m so happy you loved it, that’s the best compliment ever! This totally made my day. ❤️
Hi can you use white velveta cheese?
Hi! Yes, you can use white Velveeta cheese if you’d like. I would recommend omitting the flour and maybe using a little less cream since Velveeta will melt differently than regular cheese. I’ll be honest, I’m not very familiar with cooking with Velveeta, but it should still work well in this recipe. Or simply use yellow American cheese.
You lost me at American cheese.
That’s to bad because it is really good!
Hi there! I’m excited to make this. I am just curious. In the recipe you call for heavy whipping cream, but then you mention just heavy cream. Does it make a difference, if so which one should I use 😌.
Thanks!
Hi Nikki,
Heavy whipping cream is what you use in this recipe. I hope you enjoy it!
Thanks! I ended up leaving it out the day I made the dip, but we’ll do it this way next time! Yummy!
I hope you enjoyed it still! 🙂
Hi! This looks great! We’re making it right now, in fact. 🙂 Husband is sauteeing the veggies as I write this. One question tho … Cumin is listed as an ingredient for both the chorizo part and the queso part. But in the instructions for the queso part, it doesn’t say what to do with that portion of cumin. I’m wondering if it’s listed as an ingredient by mistake, or if we should add it with the flour or something? Tia!
Hi Courtny,
Opps that was a typo that I will fix now, thanks for pointing that out. You will add the cumin to the queso before serving. Hope you enjoy it!
So u think xanthan gum (thinking agent
) would work instead of flour for a gluten free cheese dip
I’ve never tried xanthan gum but I have use a little cornstarch. If you wish, you can use cornstarch just stir it into the cold heavy whipping cream before adding to the pot! (Cornstarch has to be mixed into a cold liquid.) I’d so 1-2 teaspoons but no more.
What can I use instead of flour? Or can I omit the flour?
Jennifer, flour is a thickening agent. You can leave it out, if you wish, but the queso will be a little thin. If you don’t mind, you can definitely do it.
Hi, this looks amazing!
What brand of chorizo did you use?
I hope to be making this for Saturday’s
Football game.
Thanks!
Hi Veronica!
So sorry for the late response. I don’t have exact brand of chorizo that I use every time. I just pick one out of those available at my grocery store 🙂
I hope you got a chance to make it!