Sauce and cheese cooked on the stove top in minutes! Easy to make, lots of flavor, and a nice snack for the everyone!
This recipe is for a restaurant style queso with the addition of salsa. It’s easy to make, done on the stove top in minutes, and it serves 8 adults. Nutrition Facts also includes a whole bag of Tostitos Tortilla Chips.
Now by restaurant style I mean cheese and milk melted down in a pot at a low simmer, then served with tortilla chips. In the restaurants that I have worked at which served Queso as an appetizer, it was either Monterey or White American cheese cut into small cubes then melted down with whole milk in a large pot. It’s really that simple.
Some restaurants may add some seasonings (cumin, salt, pepper, etc.), or diced jalapeños and Roma tomatoes. But one of my all time favorites is Salsa con Queso, which simply means “sauce with cheese.” The sauce of course is in association with it’s origin of Mexico or greater Latin America, meaning a chunky tomato based sauce bolstered by the bold and vibrant flavors of thick cut peppers, onions, and Latin spices.
My favorite salsa here in the United States is Herdez brand salsa, and I like all of their products but I usually just go with Medium heat for cooking purposes. That’s what I’m going to use in this recipe, the homemade Latin sauce of Herdez Medium Salsa Casera.
Now for the cheese I’m choosing two different kinds. One is Ole brand Queso Dip 12 ounce block in combination with Kraft American Sharp Cheddar cheese. I’ll cube the Ole Queso so it can slowly melt in the beginning stages then grate the Kraft Cheddar so I can just add it in at the end before I remove the pot from heat and let it rest so the cheese can thicken.
Aside from the milk, that’s pretty much all there is to this. Now the package of Ole Queso Dip 12 ounce block says to simply add 6 ounces of milk when cooking, but that’s a lot of dairy and your cheese dip will be too thin.
If that’s your preference then stick to the directions which there’s nothing wrong with that, but for me I like my cheese dip a little bit thicker so I went with 4 ounces instead, or 1/2 cup.
The best part about making a stove top cheese dip is that you can add cheese or milk to reach desired consistency. The only thing you have to keep in mind is that the cheese will thicken some as it cools once removed from the burner. So while you’re cooking it, you might think it’s too soupy but after it cools some it will thicken.
Ok so without further ado we’re going to just dive in, because it’s only like 4 ingredients anyway and it’s supposed to be easy! But don’t feel like you can’t leave me a comment I’d love to hear your feedback. Did you change anything, or would you change anything about this? What do you think? Let me know!
Serves 8, Nutrition Facts also include a whole bag of tortilla chips.
Ingredients:
- 12oz Ole Brand Queso Dip Block Cheese
- 4oz Block of Kraft Sharp Cheddar Cheese
- 4oz Whole Milk (1/2 Cup)
- 8oz Salsa (usually half a jar)
- 1 Bag of Tostitos Tortilla Chips
Nutrition Facts:
- Calories: 315
- Total Fat: 16.8g
- Cholesterol: 19.3mg
- Sodium: 549.5mg
- Total Carbohydrates: 30.1g
- Dietary Fiber: 1.5g
- Sugar: 1.7g
- Protein: 7.4g
- Vitamin D: 0%
- Calcium: 107%
- Iron: 3%
- Potassium: 10.8mg
- Vitamin A: 48.4%
- Vitamin C: 0%
Directions:
- Cube queso cheese block and shred cheddar cheese and set aside.
- Add 1/2 Cup of whole milk to an anodized pot at low to medium-low heat. I HIGHLY recommend anodized anytime you make queso dip.
- Incrementally add in Ole Queso blocks to pot. As they begin to melt over low to medium-low heat, stir regularly to create a mixture.
- As temperature rises and cheese blocks melt down some, add in half a jar of your favorite salsa (8 ounces). I love Herdez, the flavor is so hard to beat for a mass produced brand. Medium heat is fine, but if you like yours spicy feel free to go for Hot if that’s what you have access to.
- Continuing to stir in ingredients, as your salsa has now combined with cheese sauce it’s time to add in a couple of hand fulls of your grated Cheddar Cheese (4oz in block form). This will turn the cheese yellow as opposed to pink, and thicken it up as it cools.
- Remove from pot and let queso cool for about 15 minutes before transferring to a serving dish. I like to use a small bowl inside of a large bowl, filling the small bowl in the center with the queso then lining the large bowl around the queso with chips for easy dipping.
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