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This homemade Queso Dip recipe is easy to make and comes out creamy and smooth every time! Now you can make your favorite restaurant queso at home!
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Getting an order of chips and queso whenever I go to a Mexican restaurant is an absolute must. What’s not to love about melted cheese paired with fresh tortilla chips? And a margarita on the side, of course. I just can’t help myself – it’s one of my favorite things in the world!
Growing up, I used to make the classic Velveeta cheese dip. You know the kind I’m talking about. A block of Velveeta, a jar of chunky salsa and a splash of milk. I used to love that stuff. In fact, I still do! But today I want to use the real stuff. 100% real cheese.
I’ve made it my mission to come up with the best queso dip recipe I can possibly make. And I’m proud to say that I finally did it.
The Creamiest Queso Recipe
After experimenting and making 3 different test batches of homemade queso dip, I’ve finally perfected this recipe so that it comes out luxuriously creamy every time. The secret ingredient?
Cream cheese.
The cream cheese holds all the melted shredded cheeses together and keeps the queso silky smooth for a longer period of time compared to using no cream cheese at all. Which means you can sit back and enjoy your queso without having to worry about it getting chunky or hard once you take it off the heat.
How to Make Queso Dip
- Heat a large saute pan over low to medium heat. Add butter and melt.
- Add onions, garlic, jalapeno and salt. Saute for 5 minutes, until vegetables soften and become fragrant.
- Add 3/4 cups of milk and cream cheese. Stir continuously until cream cheese has melted and is mostly smooth, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low.
- Add shredded cheeses in small increments, stirring each increment into the mixture until it has completely melted before adding the next.
- Stir in the remaining 3/4 cups of milk until fully combined. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the red salsa. Serve immediately.
Tips for making The Best queso
- Buy block cheese instead of the pre-shredded kind. The pre-shredded cheese at the grocery store is often covered with additives that are meant to reduce clumping, which doesn’t always produce the best texture when melted.
- For the creamiest results, use whole milk.
- If the queso dip is too thick, stir in a splash of milk until it reaches your desired consistency.
More Recipes
Easy Queso Dip Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ½ medium onion, minced (yellow or white)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 jalapeño pepper minced (seeds removed if you don’t want it spicy)
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 ½ cups milk, divided
- 8 ounces cream cheese, cut into cubes
- 6 ounces mild cheddar cheese, shredded (about 1 ½ cups)
- 6 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, shredded (about 1 ½ cups)
- 2 tablespoons red salsa*, plus more to taste
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a large sauté pan or deep skillet over medium heat.
- Add in the onion, garlic, jalapeño and salt and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables soften and become very fragrant.
- Add in ¾ cups of milk and cream cheese. Stir continuously until the cream cheese has melted and is mostly smooth, about 5 minutes.
- Reduce the heat to low and add in the shredded cheeses in batches, stirring each batch into the mixture until it has completely melted before adding the next.
- Stir in the remaining ¾ cups of milk until fully combined.
- Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the salsa. Taste and add more if desired. Serve immediately with tortilla chips.
Notes
- Red salsa: You can use your favorite smooth or chunky red salsa. For a smoky flavor, use 2 tablespoons of minced chipotle peppers in adobo sauce instead.
- If the queso dip is too thick, stir in a splash of milk until it reaches your desired consistency.
- For the creamiest results, use whole milk.
- I recommend buying block cheese and shredding it yourself instead of buying pre-shredded cheese. The pre-shredded cheese at the grocery store is often covered with additives that are meant to reduce clumping, which doesn’t always produce the best texture when melted.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Excellent! Very creamy (no graininess at all) and thick enough but not too thick. I used half jack and half pepper jack cheese (Shredded from blocks) and a can of original Rotel with tomatoes and green chilies. I added a little pinch of cayenne pepper to bump up the heat a little bit as I did not have any jalapeños. The whole family enjoyed the queso…definitely a keeper! Thanks Isabel! This recipe made for a tasty Friday night at my house 🙂
So yummy!! Being a New Mexican, I’m very picky about my queso! This was super easy to make. I substituted jalepenos for a couple roasted green chiles and used Munster cheese. So good!! I will be making this again for get togethers. Thank you!
How do I search for recipes in your website. These are the recipes that pop up while looking at other recipes. I’m looking for “chipotle turkey zucchini boats”
Thank you
Hi! Once you exit out of the other recipes or popups, you can type in “zucchini boats” into the search bar in the upper right corner.
Always love trying new recipes. And I’m a big reader of reviews. Have to admit I wasn’t a fan along with my football company today. I followed recipe as written. I tasted the cream cheese way to much
Actually – I totally take my last comment back altogether. Sorry – I am in a bad mood. No reason for me to be ride, but I did, and I am sorry.
Unfortunetly this recipe fell a little flat for us! Followed the recipe as directed and felt it lacked a little flavor / spice. We all still ate it, but will try a different recipe next time!
Not smooth and creamy like I expected. Shredded my own cheese but still was grainy. Seemed to be too much cheddar for our taste. Should have left the seeds in the jalapeño for a little zip.
Excellent! Definitely will wait till cream cheese melts more smoothly. No big deal, just small bits of the cream cheese. I was a sissy and removed all the seeds and only used 3/4 of the jalapeño. Will chop whole thing and maybe add a few seeds🥵.
I may cut back just a bit on all the cheeses – just to see the difference! Thanks
Made this and other than the jalapeño peppers which I did not add I followed this recipe to the “T” and it was very watery. What can I do to fix this?
Hi Charla! Next time you may try less milk, or you may also try using block cheese and then shredding it yourself. Pre-shredded cheese can sometimes mess with the texture. Let us know how it goes!
Ray and I just finished this Queso with our Margarita’s. It was delicious as every one of your recipes that I have made have been,
Keep up the good work Isabel….
Hugs,
Sandy
Thank you so much, Sandy! I hope you’re doing well and staying safe!