Smoked queso dip is a version of chile con queso that highlights the spiced cheesy goodness with savory smoky notes. It is very simple to prepare and can easily be placed next to other foods you are already smoking.
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Read on for useful tips and for the background of Queso Dip.
About This Smoked Queso Recipe
The popular Texan dip gets a delicious infusion of savory smoke as the cheese is melted by the gentle heat of the smoker. Because we use heavy cream as the medium to bind all the dip ingredients the result is a stable cheese sauce imbibed by the flavors of chorizo, tomatoes, chiles, onions and spices.
Once you assemble the queso components you will not have to worry about it too much. For the most part you will be tending the main smoked food you are working on and the dip will come together with ease as a satisfying side project.
Who Invented Queso Dip?
Queso is short for chile con queso (also spelled chili con queso) or chile with cheese. Chile con queso is commonly regarded as the unofficial official dish of Texas and its melting-pot food culture. Every household seems to have its own preferred recipe and few social gatherings are considered complete without a bowl of queso.
But how did it come about?
The history of queso is inseparable from the evolution of Tex-Mex food and restaurants that serve it. As far as the precise origin of the dip goes there are more stories than can effectively be summarized in a post like this one. Links have been made to the British dish Welsh rarebit, Mexican stewed green chiles with cheese (Chiles Verdes con Queso) and more. The most comprehensive historical account we have come across is this Brief History of Chile con Queso.
Smoked Queso Ingredients
Queso. You need an excellent melting cheese and a great option (used by numerous restaurants with outstanding queso on their menus) is good quality processed cheese such as white American cheese or cheddar cheese.
NOTE: Velveeta cheese can be used in combination with rotel and pepper jack cheese in this smoked queso dip recipe. Simply match the quantity of white American cheese specified.
Rotel and green chiles. RO-TEL canned tomatoes and diced green chilies do not contain nearly enough chiles to imply a chile con queso mixture which is why we recommend that you supplement with a four ounce can of diced green chiles. (You can also use chopped up chiles toreados – either made specifically for this recipe, or leftovers, or ones you have intentionally made and frozen for just such uses in the future.)
Chorizo. Fresh ground Mexican chorizo – pork only or a blend of pork and beef. It is already spiced with paprika and other savory spices, you need not add heat to it unless you want to. You can substitute with pork sausage, breakfast sausage or ground beef of a combination. Be sure to season generously with paprika, garlic and onion powder, salt and pepper.
Onion. Yellow onion packs the most flavor, but white, sweet or red onion will do.
Cooking oil. Sunflower oil or corn oil or vegetable oil. Olive oil (second pressing) will work nicely too. Needed to saute the onion.
Spices. Ground cumin to accentuate the spiced ground pork and dried Mexican oregano. Both infuse the queso dip with savory notes.
Heavy cream. The perfect diary product to bind cheese and company together into one cohesive, suave dip.
Green onions. The green parts only, sliced thin to use as a garnish. If you’d rather employ cilantro – it will taste superb.
What Wood Chips Are Best for Smoking Queso?
Queso dip has a sweet and savory richness to it owing to the chorizo and dairy ingredients it combines. To that end hickory wood and apple wood (or a combination of both) are excellent for smoking it as they impart suitable meaty (bacon-like) yet sweet notes that enhance the core flavors.
Oak wood is also really good for smoker queso – if you are using it to smoke your main act protein feel confident that it will infuse the cheese dip with delicious smoky flavor. We advise against mesquite wood as the smoke it produces is too pungent and will overpoewer the base flavors of the queso.
Smoker Queso Instructions: Step-by-Step
The workflow for this recipe is straight-forward.
You will prepare the actual queso mixture on the stove after which you will transfer it to a smoker appropriate dish or simply a disposable aluminum pan. You will place the vessel directly inside the chamber of a smoker or onto the grates of a pellet smoker, dome charcoal grill, a Big Green Egg or an offset smoker.
You can also use a cast iron skillet if you prefer a one-pot start-t0-finish process. We prefer the convenience of non-stick inside surface simply for the convenience of the easier clean-up. The pictures below illustrate this.
In a nutshell follow the steps below (printable detailed summary can be found in the Recipe Card below):
- Over medium-high heat brown the chorizo, then remove from the pan/skillet and discard any excess fat. Add the cooking oil and saute the diced onion until soft.
- In the vessel you will use for smoking place the cubed cheese, the rotel tomatoes, the green chiles, chorizo, onion and drizzle it all with heavy cream. Stir to combine all the ingredients.
- Smoke the queso, stirring occasionally to make sure a homogenous sauce develops. You want to see it bubble up and become smooth. See the notes below specific to smoker temperature and time you should smoke the queso dip.
- Either serve the smoker queso in the vessel you used to smoke it or transfer it to a warm bowl. Garnish with green onions. Be sure to offer plenty of tortilla chips!
At What Temperature to Smoke Queso Dip?
You can relax knowing that you can smoke queso in the wide range of 225 F to 275 -300 F (we like the lower end 225- 250F).
The presence of heavy cream in the mixture and use of deli white American cheese practically quarantee that the dip remains stable whether you go very low and slow or a bit more confident and fast paced towards the upper temperature range.
Simply use the smoker temperature for your main event protein you are smoking.
TIP: You can play with the distance from the heat and smoke source. If you want to smoke the queso a bit longer at a lower temperature you can position it farther away from the charcoals and wood chips or smoking wood you are burning. And vice versa.
How Long to Smoke Queso?
At a minimum smoke queso dip until all the cheese has melted and the rest of the ingredients have been nicely incorporated (see picture #9 in the sequence above).
This cook time can take anywhere from fifty minutes to well over one hour and a half, depending on the actual smoking temeperature you maintain and the distance of the queso dip from the heat and smoke source.
TIP: For stronger smoke flavor leave the dip in the smoking chamber a bit longer but away from the heat source. You want it to continue absorbing smoke while just staying warm, not bubbling. Do stir it nicely before you leave it for extra twenty minutes to a full hour. Stirring brings more of the dip to the surface of your pan/skillet and more of it is exposed to smoke.
Serve Smoked Queso
By far the most popular dippable are tortilla chips so make sure you have plenty available!
You can also top burgers or nachos with the smoker queso or ladle some over rice and beans for a scrumptuous, impromptu cheese entree.
How Do You Keep Smoked Queso From Hardening?
The best way to keep your smoker queso soft and gooey is to make sure it stays warm while you and your guests are enjoying it. If you have a fondue set (with a burner or electic) use it to serve the dip. Alternatively you can transfer it to a small crock pot and maintain it on the warm setting.
If you notice that it is thickening even after you have made an effort to keep it warm then simply stir in about a tablespoon of heavy cream to adjust to the desired consistency.
Drink Ideas to Enjoy with Smoker Queso Dip Appetizer
We heartily recommend the two most popular Mexican beer drinks, namely the Chelada and the Michelada as wonderful accompaniments to smoked queso. If you are not familiar with them – check out both of our authetnic recipes and learn about their backgrounds.
Chilled Mexican lagers or course, light or dark, would be our second choice and a standard shot (or two or three) of good sipping tequila reposado flanked by cold club soda are also quite delightful.
For reheated smoked queso leftovers drizzled over morning fried eggs a Clamato beer never dissapoints.
Storage and Reheating
Handling leftover queso dip is easy and because it is so rich it is very likely that you end up with a certain quantity you want to save for later.
To store smoked queso properly transfer it to an airtight container. Keep the lid off until the queso has cooled down completely, then close the container and place it in the refrigerator. Smoked queso dip will keep well refrigerated for up to 2 weeks.
To reheat smoked queso after you can use your microwave or stove top burner. The combination of processed cheese and heavy cream ensures your success – it should be just as smooth once reheated as on the day you made it.
- Microwave – place in a bowl and reheat in 20 second intervals, stirring in between, until it is warm to your liking.
- Stove top – transfer to a small sauce pan and allow to warm through over low heat, stir as needed.
Smoker Queso Tweaks and Variations
Vegetarian. You can either leave out the chorizo sausage and begin by sauteing the diced onion or substitute with soy chorizo which packs a ton of flavor (great for these Chorizo tacos). If you choose to do so simply add it to the sauteed onion (no fat in it that needs to be rendered in advance).
Steak, pork or chicken queso. If you have leftover steak, pulled pork or pulled chicken cook it up along with the onions instead of the chorizo sausage. Don’t forget to add some extra seasonings like garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika.
Vary the chiles. You can always add some heat by working in fresh diced jalapenos or other chile of your choice. As you introduce spice in this manner be mindful of the quantity you use.
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Smoked Queso with Chorizo Sausage
This delectable smoked queso dip showcases the smooth richness of queso and picante flavor of chorizo sausage while permeated by appetizing smoky notes from hickory wood. Other suitable wood chips for smoker queso are apple wood and oak wood.
Ingredients
- 1/2 fresh Mexican chorizo sausage
- 1/2 tbsp cooking oil (sunflower, vegetable, olive)
- 1/4 large onion, diced (yellow preferred)
- 1 tsp ground cumin (or to taste)
- 1 tsp dried Mexican oregano (or to taste)
- 1 lbs white American cheese, deli style, cubed*
- 1 can Ro-tel tomatoes and green chilies (10 oz)
- 1 can diced green chilies (4 oz)
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 2-3 green onions, green parts only, for garnish
Instructions
- Set up your smoker per the manufacturer's instructions and add the charcoal, wood chips or smoking wood chunks also per the manufacturer's instructions. If only smoking queso 225-250 F is a good range. If piggybacking another food you are smoking use the temperature for it (not to exceed 300 F).
- Over a medium-high heat stove ring in a pan or skillet brown the chorizo. Discard any excess fat rendered and set the cooked chorizo aside.
- Lower the heat to medium. To the same pan add the cooking oil and saute the onion until soft (3-4 minutes). Towards the last minute stir in the cumin and oregano.
- In the vessel where you will be smoking the queso dip (can be the same skillet you used up to this point) add the diced white American cheese, Rotel, green chilies, chorizo, onion and finally pour the heavy cream all over all the ingredients. Stir to mix well.
- Place the vessel with the queso dip in the smoker. Stir occasionally to aid a homogenous sauce to develop. Smoke until the dip is bubbly and creamy. This may take from 45 minutes to 1 hour and a half depending on the temperature of your smoker and how far the dip is positioned from the heat source.
- Transfer to a warm serving bowl, garnish with green onions and serve with a lot of tortilla chips.
Notes
Consider reading the post above for useful tips not contained in this card.
*Do not use sliced American cheese. Use qood quality deli style, buy a block and cut it into cubes yourself. Susbstitute with cheddar, Velveeta, Pepper Jack or a combination.
In addition to hickory wood chips apple wood and oak wood are good choices.
The smoking temperature range for queso dip is very forgiving. You can accomplish your goal with 225 F all the way up to 300 F (but position it away from the heat source at the high end). The lower you go, the longer it will take and the smokier the flavor. The faster (higher temp) it cooks the less smoky flavor will be imparted.
Frequent stiring brings more of the dip to the surface of your pan/skillet and more of it is exposed to smoke.
To thin out queso dip that has thickened past your desired consistency heat up gently and stir in heavy cream, one tablespoon at a time.
To keep smoked queso dip warm consider serving it in a fondue pot or a mini crock pot.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 256Total Fat: 20gSaturated Fat: 11gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 63mgSodium: 771mgCarbohydrates: 8gFiber: 1gSugar: 5gProtein: 11g
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