We love this homemade queso recipe with diced green chiles. It’s creamy, incredibly delicious, and perfect for dipping!
I get so excited about this easy queso dip. It’s super creamy and perfectly cheesy, and I love the tangy pop of heat from pickled jalapeños (so good!).
I love serving this with homemade tortilla chips, and if you want to get fancy, set out a couple more homemade dips like guacamole or this easy salsa! For an Italian-inspired dip, see our cheese dip with tomatoes and basil.
Key Ingredients
- Cheese: For the smoothest queso dip that resembles store-bought, use half cheddar cheese or Monterey Jack cheese and half American cheese (the slices or ask the deli counter to give you a slab from the block of the unsliced cheese, and then grate it yourself). If you don’t want to use American cheese, you can add a bit of cream cheese (which also has stabilizers). For a white queso dip, use white cheddar cheese, Monterey Jack, or white American cheese.
- Milk: I use whole milk. It’s creamy and delicious. If you want a dairy-free dip, I highly recommend our vegan queso made with cashews. It’s surprisingly delicious!
- Onion, Garlic, and Cumin: These make the dip taste incredible. The onion becomes sweet after cooking it in a bit of butter, and the cumin adds a hint of smoky spice.
- Cornstarch: This helps to thicken the dip. I whisk it with cold milk and add it to my cheese sauce. As the sauce comes to a simmer, it thickens nicely.
- Chiles: I use the chopped green chilies sold in small cans. You can usually find hot or mild. I also add chopped pickled jalapeños, which add a nice pop of flavor and spice. For a sweet heat, you can swap the pickled jalapeños for candied jalapeños, aka cowboy candy.
Find the full recipe with measurements below.
How to Make Queso
Tip 1: Start with a flavorful base. To bump up the flavor and beat the store-bought jars, start with a flavorful base of sweet sauteed onions, garlic, and cumin.
Tip 2: Add cornstarch for the perfect consistency. Pour in most of the milk and bring it to a gentle simmer. Then, whisk in a bit more milk mixed with cornstarch. As the cornstarch heats up, it thickens the milk in the saucepan, helping you achieve the perfect consistency.
Tip 3: For the meltiest, creamiest queso, use American cheese. The individually wrapped slices or the block cheese from the deli are perfect for this recipe. They have stabilizers added, which keeps your dip super smooth and creamy. If you don’t have American cheese, you can use something else (like cheddar or Monterey Jack) and then swirl in a bit of cream cheese, which, like the American cheese, also has stabilizers added.
Serving Suggestions
I love serving this incredibly delicious creamy dip with corn chips or homemade tortilla chips, but it’s also amazing drizzled over chicken nachos, veggie burritos, and served next to roasted veggies like roasted broccoli!
More Dip Recipes
Easy Queso
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
I love this queso dip made with cheese, milk, chiles, and pickled jalapeños. For the smoothest queso, use some American cheese. Or skip the American cheese and swirl in a bit of cream cheese instead. Read why in the article above. If you don’t like the idea of cream cheese or American cheese, you can still make this! Use any melty cheese, but keep in mind that the dip won’t be as smooth and is best eaten immediately.
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
1 tablespoon butter
½ small onion, finely chopped
1 small garlic clove, finely minced or grated, optional
½ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more to taste
1 cup whole milk (236ml)
1 ½ teaspoons cornstarch
1 ½ cups Monterey Jack, cheddar, American cheese, or a combination, shredded or torn if using slices, 6 ounces (170g)
2 ounces cream cheese, optional, see notes (56g)
1 (4-ounce) can chopped green chilies, mild or hot
2 tablespoons chopped pickled jalapeño, plus ½ tablespoon pickle brine, optional
Homemade tortilla chips, for serving
Directions
1Cook onions: Heat butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions, garlic, cumin, and a pinch of salt, then cook until the onions are soft and smell sweet, about 5 minutes.
2Warm milk: Pour in ¾ cup of the milk. Bring the milk to a very low simmer.
3Thicken milk: Whisk the remaining ¼ cup of milk and cornstarch together. When the milk is barely simmering, whisk in the cornstarch mixture. Continue to whisk until the milk comes to a low simmer, then simmer for 1 minute. During this time, the milk should thicken enough to coat the back of a spoon.
4Add cheese: Turn the heat to low, and then stir in the cream cheese and the torn or shredded cheese, handful by handful, so that they slowly melt into the sauce.
5Add chiles: When the cheese is completely melted and smooth, remove the saucepan from the heat and add the green chilies, jalapeño (optional), and jalapeño pickle juice (optional). We added all the green chilies, but you can add less; add a tablespoon until you are happy.
6To finish: Taste the dip, and then, if the flavor does not pop, adjust with a bit more salt. Serve warm with tortilla chips.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Cheese: We love the flavor combination of sharp cheddar and a mild, melty cheese like Monterey or Pepper Jack, but it is a bit thicker and slightly less smooth than what comes out of a jar or what you are served at restaurants. For a silky smooth, practically unbreakable queso, swap at least half of the cheese for American cheese (tear the slices into small pieces). Note, I prefer sliced or block American cheese sold at the deli counter over Velveeta.
- Cream cheese: If you are against American cheese, consider adding the cream cheese suggested in the above recipe. It smooths the sauce out and makes reheating a bit easier. If you do use American cheese, you should not need the cream cheese (unless you want to add even more creamy cheese flavor).
- Storing: This lasts in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
- Reheating: Warm slowly in a saucepan over low heat on the stove. Reheating too quickly can cause the dip to break on you (which means some of the fat separates). Using American cheese or cream cheese is a good fail-safe against it separating.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.
This was perfection….I’ll admit I added an extra clove of garlic and a couple dashes of smoked paprika, but other than that, followed your recipe to the letter, right down to tasting it and adding a touch more salt to make the flavor pop LOL. Thank you for this recipe. Will be my go to for quest from now on!
Delicious! We didn’t have a jar of jalapenos but did add the full 4oz can of diced green chilies and a slosh of the juice from a jar of spicy garlic pickles to make up for the lack of jalapeno pickle juice. Tasted great!!
I love the simplicity of your recipes and how they are presented in such a orderly way and always think – Wow, these guys are so fab! For the queso dip, I can share a tip that I discovered when I got grainy/separated sauces myself. Add the cheese 2 minutes after the taking the pot off the flame. To reheat, make sure it doesn’t reach past 85°C. The cheese remains creamy and well incorporated
Ingredients call for a small clove of garlic. No where in the recipe does it say to add the garlic…MCP
This sounds exactly what I want to make for a dinner party, but I would need to make it early and warm it up. Would this work, and if so, how would I warm it up?
Warm the queso slowly in a saucepan on the stove. Reheating too quickly can cause the dip to break on you (which will mean some of the fat separates). Using American cheese or the cream cheese (tip shared in the recipe) is a good fail-safe against the queso breaking.