This mild queso sauce brings the flavor without any heat! Its usage of basic ingredients and spices you probably already have in your pantry make it perfect for when you want queso, but you don’t want to have to go get ingredients you might not usually have. Even the pickiest of eaters won’t have any problems with this queso. Top our Chickpea Taquitos with it for a meal-time winner. 

THE INGREDIENTS: 

Butter: Butter is one of our two ingredients that form a roux, which allows our queso to be thickened. A roux is an equal combination of butter and flour. We personally use unsalted butter to have full control over how much salt goes into a recipe. 

Flour: Our second roux ingredient! Flour is the key to a thickened queso sauce. Even if you don’t want very thick queso sauce, we still recommend adding it. There are other methods that we use when we want to thin it down instead of reducing the flour. Read on (please)! 

Milk: Milk is what turns our cheese into a cheese sauce. We do not recommend reducing the amount of milk in this recipe, as 1 cup already makes it fairly thick. You can use any kind of milk in this recipe, just know that the more fat there is, the quicker your queso will thicken. If you prefer a thinner queso, you can add more milk while making it the first time or add more milk at the end/when reheating to get it back to the consistency you want. 

Shredded Mexican Four Cheese: Mexican four cheese is fairly easy to find at the grocery store. According to the brand that we use, it comprises cheddar cheese, monterey jack cheese, queso quesadilla cheese, and asadero cheese. (Note: Not an affiliate of this brand, just like it a lot!) So, if you don’t have Mexican four cheese, go for any of these four cheeses to substitute into your queso sauce. Try to prioritize adding at least ½ a cup of cheddar, if possible, for best flavor. We have not tested this recipe with prepared cheese products, so cannot recommend how to alter this recipe to account for that. 

Salt: Salt adds some savory flavor to our queso! Feel free to adjust it as needed, but we would not consider this queso to taste “salty” to most palates. 

Garlic Powder: A mild, yet flavorful spice! Garlic powder is just one way to introduce flavor when you’re cooking for those that don’t prefer heat. If you replace the garlic powder with fresh garlic, cook it in the butter first until fragrant before continuing with the recipe. We’d use 2 nicely sized cloves of garlic. By just having powdered spices, we’re trying to get this dip from the kitchen to your table as fast and as easily as possible. 

Onion Powder: Another amazing spice to use when you have picky eaters! Onion powder is well-liked by many and, obviously, doesn’t bring any heat while still bringing a nice flavor. If you replace the onion powder with fresh onion, we’d dice about ¼ of a cup of white or yellow onion and cook it entirely in the butter first before continuing with the recipe. You may have to add another tablespoon of butter to this recipe to account for this change. 

Smoked Paprika: Smoked paprika helps us to turn this recipe from “cheese sauce” to “queso”. Combining smoked paprika, mild chili powder, and cumin really brings the flavor you’re actually looking for in queso without needing to have canned green chiles or other ingredients on hand-sometimes we’re mostly down to just the spices in our pantry, and that’s ok. If you don’t have smoked paprika on hand, consider replacing it with regular paprika and a touch of liquid smoke (¼ tsp). Otherwise, add more mild chili powder to make up for the missing smoked paprika. If you actually are fine with some heat, you could even throw in a pinch of cayenne powder. 

Mild Chili Powder: Chili powder pairs very well with smoked paprika. Thanks to all the dairy in this recipe, the queso does not get hot at all. You can adjust this to what you have: chipotle powder, cayenne powder, even hot chili powder. Just keep in mind that if you switch it out for a hotter seasoning it may not be as mild as you hoped for. 

Ground Cumin: Cumin is one of those spices that you either love or hate. Luckily for us, the amount in this recipe is able to impart some flavor without being overly present. This means your cumin-hating people can still enjoy this queso since the cumin blends in instead of standing out. Ground cumin distributes flavor much more easily and gives a better appearance than cumin seeds. However, we throw cumin seeds in when we are in a pinch. You can even toast them in the butter before continuing with the rest of the recipe to maximize their flavor. 

KEY INFORMATION

What does this Mild Queso Go With? Queso, as a snack, pairs best with chips, fries, or tots-anything you’d want to dip. If you’re looking for something more substantial, pair it with our Chickpea Taquitos, have a loaded baked potato night, make some nachos, put it between some bread for an interesting grilled cheese or as a sauce for a loaded burger. 

Does This Taste Like Restaurant Queso? Unfortunately or fortunately (depending on what you’re looking for), it does not. This queso recipe is primarily for those that want queso, but want it more mild and closer to an American cheese sauce. Don’t assume that means this queso is not as good, however, as you’ll find that the spices you already have can make quite a tasty dip with little effort. 

My Queso is Too Thick/My Queso is Too Thin: If your queso is too thick, the remedy is adding more milk. To prevent your queso from getting thick in the first place, we recommend keeping it off of the heat after you have melted your butter and added the flour. The longer your queso is on the heat, the thicker it will get. At the very least, make sure it is off the heat by the time you are adding your cheese. If your queso is too thin, we recommend patience: keep it on the heat, stirring occasionally, and it will thicken up. 

I Want to Make Queso with What I Have: So do we! That’s why this recipe is simple: just spices, flour, butter, milk, and cheese. As good as queso with jalapenos, canned tomatoes, or other ingredients can be, sometimes that’s just not on hand. We’re here to show that queso can be just as good without those additions. However, if you do have them on hand, feel free to add them as desired. Adjust a recipe for what you have in the pantry, don’t adjust your pantry for a recipe! (Assuming you’ve got a sufficient amount of food in your pantry, of course). By using what you have, you’re making sure it does not go to waste.