If I had to choose one type of food to live on for the rest of my life it would probably be Mexican food. I could hardly live without it. Lately I’ve been looking for a good Queso Blanco Dip recipe, just like what you get at a Mexican restaurant. Most of the recipes I found contained White American cheese in them. I’m not a big fan of processed cheese so I decided to go with one of my favorite cheeses that is commonly found in Mexican cuisine – Monterrey Jack cheese. It melts smoothly, it has a wonderful flavor and of course, it’s not processed.
I created my own recipe and decided to start the recipe out with a roux, not only to thicken the cheese sauce but to add a starch to the mixture to prevent it from separating and curdling. You can easily adjust this recipe to suite your taste. For example if you like a little heat you could saute some diced fresh jalapenos along with the onion or add pickled jalapenos at the end of cooking. If you don’t like jalapenos you could just use cayenne pepper for a little heat. You could even replace the optional ingredients with a bit of chunky salsa (just strain of some of the liquids). And as noted below you can leave out all the chunky ingredients if you just want a simple and velvety smooth cheese sauce.
This dip is unbelievably good and it’s surprisingly so simple to make. I’m pretty sure it would be hard to find someone who didn’t love this dip at the next party you’re hosting. Cheesy, carb heavy, Mexican food goodness. Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 1/4 cup finely chopped onion*
- 1/4 tsp crushed garlic*
- 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 cups whole milk (for thicker sauce use lesser portion)
- 8 oz. finely shredded Monterey Jack cheese
- 1 Roma tomato, seeds removed then diced
- 2 Tbsp canned, diced green chilis
- 1 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
Directions
- Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and saute until soft about 4 minutes, adding garlic during the last 30 seconds of sauteing. Whisk in flour, and cook stirring constantly, about 30 seconds. Slowly pour milk into mixture, while whisking vigorously. Bring mixture just to a gentle bubble stirring constantly, then reduce heat to low. Allow to rest over low heat 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add in finely shredded Monterrey Jack cheese and cook over low heat, stirring constantly until cheese melts (it will take the cheese a minute to melt, at first it may look curdled but that just means the cheese hasn't fully melted yet so continue to cook until completely melted). Stir in optional ingredients. Serve warm with tortilla chips (or serve over tacos etc. Note that it will thicken as it rests so reheat to thin if desired).
- *For a smooth cheese sauce without the chunky ingredients, omit the chopped onion and crushed garlic. Replace it with 1/2 tsp onion powder and a generous pinch of garlic powder. Since you won't need to saute simply melt the butter then add the flour, garlic powder and onion powder and continue as directed and omit the optional ingredients.
Chloe West: I agree with you completely, Mexican food and queso dip are HEAVEN. Although sometimes you really just CAN NOT go without some Oriental food, either. :) Pinning this recipe!! November 21, 2012 at 9:26pm
são33: Simplesmente delicioso, gostei.
bjs November 22, 2012 at 5:30am
Jaclyn: Muito Obrigada!!! (Meu irmao traduziu pra mim. Ele fala portugues :) November 24, 2012 at 12:28am
Suzanne: Could I cook it over the stove and then pour it into a crock pot set to ‘Warm’ for a party? December 8, 2012 at 1:54pm
Jaclyn: Suzanne – I haven’t tried it before so I looked into it, I would recommend checking out this link:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081230094904AAVNlSO
according to the answers of several people – yes, just stir occasionally and make sure it doesn’t get to hot or it may curdle and separate. I hope you enjoy! December 8, 2012 at 9:51pm
Christina: This is the second queso recipe I have tried that hasn’t come out smooth and creamy. It turns out watery and separated. Not sure what I’m doing wrong. I didn’t even add anything to it used onion powder and pepper jack cheese. December 30, 2012 at 9:19pm
Jaclyn: Sorry to hear that it didn’t turn out for you, what I would recommend is making sure that the milk mixture thickens allowing the fats to bond with the starches of the flour so it should reduce the separation problem, then add the cheese when the sauce is warm not too hot. Hope that helps! January 1, 2013 at 12:36am
Julia: I am going to feature your Blanco Queso Dip on my Case of the Mondays favorites today..hope that is ok. It looks so good! December 31, 2012 at 11:58am
Jaclyn: Julia – that’s great, thanks! December 31, 2012 at 2:52pm
Case of the Mondays? | A Cedar Spoon | A Cedar Spoon: [...] Day: Queso Blanco Dip I am addicted to queso dip–if you haven’t figured it out yet-I am addicted to salsa, [...] December 31, 2012 at 12:29pm
Queso Blanco Dip Recipe | The Bungalow Boutique: [...] recipe is from Cooking Classy. I followed the recipe almost exactly. The only thing I did differently was added about half a [...] February 12, 2013 at 11:30am
Sheree: turned out a little grainy for me, followed to to a tee. So I added some milk and it helped a bit… next time I may put it in a blender not sure if that would help. February 23, 2013 at 5:41pm
Jaclyn: Sheree – Sorry, I’m not sure why that happened. I would recommend that you just make sure the roux and milk mixture has properly thickened then I’d try taking the saucepan off of the heat to add the cheese. March 1, 2013 at 9:27pm
Rachel: This was fantastic! I made it for my kids and omitted the onion and garlic, added the onion and garlic powder as you suggested. We devoured it.
Thanks for sharing the recipe. June 11, 2013 at 2:41pm
Jaclyn: I’m so glad you liked it, thanks for your comment Rachel! June 11, 2013 at 9:25pm