What do you use besides Velveeta and Rotel? I've heard of milk, cream soups, etc. I would like to try some new things to get as close to restaurant quality as possible! I do put it in one of those little tiny crockpots, but it still ends up "gloppy" after a while. Thanks!
A., since you are from Austin, I'll let you in on a secret that you can probably appreciate. I learned this tip from a guy who works at Matt's El Rancho. They only use American cheese fresh from the deli. No Velveeta. IMHO, that change alone makes all the difference. Hope this helps you!
I put in a small jar of salsa, fry up 1lb of mild/spicy sauage and throw in there. also some sour cream and a litttle cream cheese and milk along with the velveeta to the consistency that you like it. serve it warm with tostitoes scoops. its awesome.
i like to make a real cheese sauce. brown butter and flour, add heavy cream and cheese. a like to do a few differant cheeses. I like a smokey flavor in the queso, so i might add a bag of shredded cheese - mexican flavor, and I know this sounds wierd, but half a bag of pizza cheese. the mexican has a few differant cheeses and a little chili powder. The pizza cheese has provolone, mozzarella, parm. It adds smokey and salty flavors. if I have any pico de gallo inthe fridge, I add that in there. I like a chunky vegetable queso. I do also really like the hot Mexican flavor of Rotel. It adds a huge kick of flavor. If i have a lot of meat eaters coming over, I will add seasoned taco meat.
I have a different dip I make. This is for a crew...party bring along...
Sausage (Jimmy Dean or similar...2 regular, 1 HOT) Brown and drain.
Cream Cheese....3--8 oz bricks (I think thats the normal brick size?)
Rotel.....used to be 3 cans but they are smaller now and this is to preference for how "tomato-y" you want it. I do about 5- 6 small cans..and I drain all but one can.
Then add a Jalapeno or 2 depending on your spicy-hot preference. I do "Minnesota-spicy"..not too spicy, in other words..and add one jalpeno and its plenty hot for us!
Its so nummy-licious! We call it "Fire in the hole" dip (feel the burn! LOL)..but remember..you can reduce the heat by not adding the jalapenos at all...or even doing plain sausage and not the one tube of HOT...use those ingredients to control the heat.
Its not the same cheesy smooth consistency as a queso, but longed for and asked for around here. I will make it for my small family of 3...just reduce the ingredients...and use for taco/nacho night.
Orig recipe (before they made the Rotel cans smaller) was a 3/3/3.
3 cans Rotel/3 bricks cream cheese/3 tubes sausage. You can still do that, but I prefer more of the veggie part. Personal preference. Play with it!
We eat with the plain round small Tostito's. But hubby likes the Lime flavored ones too!
not sure about consistency, but add some good Jimmy Dean spicy breakfast sausage (brown it in a skillet before adding to crock-pot). Make sure you add the juice from the Rotel too.
Yes, I am Hispanic and we only use real American cheese and homemade salsa (leave the salt out)..
FYI, I have you tried the fresh Totatadas at HEB? They are the real thing and make the biggest difference. The one on Red River @ Hancock Center sells bags of them next to where they make the fresh tortillas!
Pound of burger, onion, cream cheese, stewed tomatoes (do not drain), velveeta. Brown burger, put stewed tomatoes in the pan after you place the burger in the crockpot bring to a boil and add the cream cheese and let it begin to melt, put in the crockpot add the velveeta and onion let it all melt serve with totilla chips of course. I make mine with 2 pounds of burger 2-3 8 ounce cream cheese, a couple of large onions 1/2 - 2/3 box of velveeta and 3-4 cans of stewed tomoatoes it just depends on how many people are eating this is the amounts is use for parties. Enjoy!
My version has Velveeta, Rotel, a block of cream cheese, a can of cream of mushroom soup, and a mixture of ground beef and sausage. You can use ground turkey. The meat mixture is seasoned with taco seasoning before being incorporated.
I use ground beef, pork sausage and cream of mushroom soup along with the rotel and STORE BRAND light velveeta. I think it works better.
Depending on how much you need, we started using the Tostios brand cheese dip/queso (in the glass jar on the chip isle) & I put a little salsa in it too (maybe a serving spoon size amt) to add moisture & a bit of flavor & microwave it in a microwave safe bowl for about 3 minutes. It seems to stay melty a lot longer & plus IMO it tastes SO much better & also tastes more like restaurant quality IMO. Now we did try the walmart brand of the queso but I think the Tostitos tastes better but the store brand would 'do' if I wanted to get it. If you need a lot more than the jar will provide & hafta go w/Velveeta, I normally get the 'light' Velveeta which I think does better for some reason. Also, you may wanna experiment using salsa rather than Ro-tel & I swear I thought that one day I heard someone say that they put cream cheese in their queso & it was REALLY good. Some put ground beef in it but I really don't like it that way for me. Hope this helps, good luck.
i do mine in trhe microwave in one minute increments .. there are SO MANY things to add! I like to add ground turkey (less fat LOL ) or I add cream of celery and always add milk a little at a time, you can also add taco seasoning and it's REALLY tasty :)
Great question!!! I have been wondering the same thing on how to prevent it from getting "gloppy" after a while.. I think sometimes those crock pots get too hot and make the cheese like that.. I will definitely try adding some American cheese to mine for my daughter's Birthday party this Saturday! =)
