This is a recipe I’ve been refining over the last 20 years. Inspired by Uncle Julio’s, Chef Andrew Gruel and others with a unique twist of my own....

  • 1 lb Boars Head American
  • 6 oz lb Boars Head mozzarella
  • 4 oz Boars Head sharp chedder
  • 4 oz cream cheese
  • 2 ounces fresh jalapeños
  • 2 oz diced onion
  • 2 oz diced carrot
  • 2 oz diced fennel
  • 2 tablespoons chopped garlic
  • 10 ounces Rotel diced tomato’s (hot, medium or mild). Careful as hot Rotel is pretty hot.
  • 2 ounces chipotle peppers
  • 2 ounces diced hatch green chilies – or if not available green chiles
  • 3/4 cup evaporated milk
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1/2 pack frozen Stoufers spinach soufflé (frozen entree section at store)
  • 2-4 tablespoon honey
  1. Place the American cheese, mozzarella and sharp cheddar (grate or pulverize in blender) and Rotel into a double broiler.
  2. In a sauce pan add diced onions, diced carrot, fennel, and slow sauté with butter on medium heat for about 5-8 minutes or until slightly caramelized.
  3. Reduce heat to low/medium and add diced garlic to the sauce pan for 1 minute or so careful not to burn and then set aside.
  4. Use blender to mix heavy cream and cornstarch to ensure no clumping.
  5. Add evaporated milk/cornstarch mixture to a new sauce pan.
  6. Add cream cheese to heavy cream and corn starch. Simmer making sure cream cheese is melted fully.
  7. Dice jalapeños, green chillies and chipotle chilies.
  8. Microwave 1 minute / defrost Stoffers spinach.
  9. Important – Now its time to assemble the queso. It is easy to “over ingredient” the queso by adding to much non-cheese into the mix. Think of it almost like mixing paint to get a desired color, it is hard to recover from adding too much but if you go slow you can always add more.
  10. Begin by adding the chilies and peppers and spinach to the queso.
  11. Now add the onions/carrot/fennel/garlic/cream sauce pan mix, spinach and honey slowly to cheese into the double broiler. You may need as little as 1/2 of what has been prepared. Be careful not to over-add. Add slowly being sure to stir thoroughly between adds/tastings and sample (my favorite part) often to reach desired taste. Note that a bag of chips is helpful during to “tuning” process.
  12. The final add is the honey. Start with 1 tablespoon and work in 1/2 table spoon increments.
  13. Once you have a desired and balanced queso, you can add small amounts of any specific item above to fine tune. Again work in small amounts as you tune as it is easy to bring the queso out of balance.
  14. You can increase thickness with added American cheese.
  15. You can thin the dip with Rotel, heavy cream or salsa.
  16. Tweak and “heat” to taste.

Do not leave the queso on heat for long periods of time as it will begin to thicken and get bitter. Better to microwave or double boil smaller batches as needed to protect the flavor and consistency. Reheat slowly.

Revised – October 31, 2023