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.
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Servings: 8 servings
Calories: 256kcal
Ingredients
- ½ fresh Mexican chorizo sausage
- ½ tablespoon cooking oil sunflower, vegetable, olive
- ¼ large onion diced (yellow preferred)
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin or to taste
- 1 teaspoon 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
- ½ 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.
Nutrition
Serving: 1g | Calories: 256kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 11g | Fat: 20g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 63mg | Sodium: 771mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 5g
