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Guys, I think I’m going to make your entire summer with this smoked queso recipe!
My mom, dad and brother came over to our house for a little Father’s Day gathering at our house.
I told my mom I didn’t have the energy to make a whole meal (sorry pops), but I could make some little bites that we could eat while we spread out.
Being the summer, I’ve been firing up my grill like crazy lately, and learning how to use it well.
I’ve always loved practicing my grill skills, but I wanted to make it easy on myself.
My family loves queso and guac, and I figured I could make us little apps to snack on.
I wanted to take my queso to another level, and that’s where it hit me – I could smoke my queso in the kettle grill.
I didn’t know if this would work out, but oh boy – did it work out well!
How to make smoked queso
You’ll need the following tools to make my version of smoked queso. These are all things we have around our house in the summertime.
- A cast iron skillet (you can get a cool Texas pan here if you’re into it)
- A kettle grill or a smoker
- A smoker box
- Charcoal (for your grill)
- Starter cubes
- A lighter
- Smoker chips (wood chips. I love applewood, and anything from whiskey barrels!)
- Velveeta
- Cream cheese
- Chorizo ( I went for spicy chorizo for my dip)
- Tomatoes with green chiles
- Jalapeno (or habanero if you’re daring and love spicy!)
- Tortilla chips or pork rinds (for eating!)
- Optional: Lime juice
Helpful tools for making smoked queso
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Buy Now → I love this recipe so much, it’s creamy and cheesy, and it takes that odd texture of velveeta and makes it pretty incredible!
I also love that it’s easy. It’s something that the family can gather around and enjoy together.
Although my family is Jamaican, we’ve been in Texas for a long time. We LOVE Tex-Mex and Mexican cuisines.
This is one of those dishes that just reminds me of home.
Check out the smoked queso recipe below, and make sure to save it for later if you can’t make it today.
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Smoked Queso
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 1 skillet of queso 1x
- Diet: Diabetic
Description
Smoked queso is easy and delicious! It’s a nice crowd favorite and you can set it and forget it.
Ingredients
Instructions
Prep your grill:
- Before you begin – soak your wood chips for 30 minutes. You want them to smolder to create smoke, not burn!
- Open your grill, and light your charcoal.
- When the charcoal builds ash move it around to create an even heat in your grill (15-ish minutes).
- Fill your smoker box with the dampened wood chips, and stick it on the grill.
- Cover the grill, and leave the vents open, to keep the grill heated.
While you’re inside:
- Cook your chorizo in your cast iron pan. Season with salt (the rest of the ingredients are SO salty, so I didn’t think it needed much extra).
- Cube your Velveeta and cream cheese and add it to the cooked chorizo.
- Drain the liquid from your tomatoes and green chiles. Then, add that to the pan.
- Lastly, add your garlic.
- Take your pan to the grill, and place it on top of your grill grates.
- You’ll watch your grill for this time period. The wood chips will begin to smoke. Leave the vents open, with the grill completely covered.
- Let the mixture all cook together until the grill no longer produces any smoke.
- With heat-safe gloves, remove the queso from the grill. Bring it inside to enjoy!
Notes
- For me, the canned tomatoes and Velveeta had enough salt, so I only added a half teaspoon of salt to my chorizo. Feel free to add salt to taste. I didn’t think it needed a whole lot extra.
- You can reheat this on the stove since you’re using cast iron! Just give it a good mix and heat it on medium-high heat to incorporate it. I use my favorite wooden spoons to stir it up!
- Refrigerate in an air-tight container for up to a week if you can’t eat it all.
- If you don’t want to use processed cheese like Velveeta you can hand shred cheese and add milk to make your queso in a slower cooker. The consistency will be a little thinner!
- You can add lime to the queso, or the chips once you’re done. We found that it was delicious on the chips.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Appetizers
- Method: Grilling
- Cuisine: Tex-Mex
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 4 tablespoons
- Calories: 154
- Sugar: 1.8 g
- Sodium: 516.1 mg
- Fat: 12.5 g
- Carbohydrates: 2.6 g
- Fiber: 0.1 g
- Protein: 7.6 g
- Cholesterol: 34.9 mg
9 Responses
This smoked queso is amazing, we used it for smothered nachos! The smoky flavor is my favorite, yum!
This quest was the perfect app for a family game night we had. It was simple to prepare, but absolutely delicious!! Thanks for the recipe!
I didn’t know it was possible to grill queso and you have changed my life with this one. It’s so easy but SO good!
I’m so in love with this smoked queso! I scooped it with tortilla chips, but then I thought, “Why not fill tortillas with it and make quesadillas?!?!” Your praises were sung loudly, Mila!
I love queso and the smoked flavor was a perfect updgrade!
Oh my! This dip is sooo good! I used soyrizo to make it and YUMMM! It was solo delicious! My family and I gobbled up last bit!
I was looking for a snack my husband could munch on throughout the week so I made this. Let’s just say it disappeared by Tuesday. I made it on Monday. LOL
This was the best queso I’ve had in a while! We loved it and couldn’t stop eating it!! We squeezed a little lime on it like you mentioned and it was amazing!
Of course being ” Texan” I love all queso but your smoked queso is over the top. It was perfect add to Taco Tuesday.