Chili Con Queso
Tex-Mex melted cheese dip with spiced beef, green chiles, and tomatoes — rich, meaty, and built for sharing. Part Mexican tradition, part Texas invention, and the dish that launched a thousand chip bowls.
- 8 ozground beef
- 16 ozVelveeta cheese(cubed)
- 1 cupsharp cheddar(shredded)
- 10 ozdiced tomatoes with green chiles(one can, undrained)
- 1/4 cupwhole milk
- 1/2 tspground cumin
- 1/4 tspgarlic powder
- 2 tbspfresh cilantro(for garnish)
Best served immediately. Can be gently reheated but may need additional milk to restore consistency.
- 1Brown ground beef in a large saucepan over medium heat, breaking into small crumbles
- 2Drain excess fat
- 3Add diced tomatoes with chiles, cumin, and garlic powder, stir to combine
- 4Reduce heat to low and add Velveeta cubes
- 5Stir frequently until Velveeta is melted
- 6Add cheddar and milk, continue stirring until smooth
- 7Adjust consistency with more milk if needed
- 8Transfer to serving bowl, garnish with cilantro, serve immediately with warm chips
Velveeta creates the smoothest texture, but a mix with real cheddar adds better flavor. Keep heat low to prevent the cheese from breaking.
Chile con queso sits at the crossroads of Mexican and Texan culinary traditions, with a documented history stretching back to the late 19th century. The earliest known published recipe appeared in 1896, in the American magazine The Land of Sunshine, which described a dish called Chiles Verdes con Queso — long green chiles, tomatoes, and cheese, still served as a side dish rather than a dip. Wikipedia notes the dish is probably a derivative of queso flameado from the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua, where melted white cheese with chiles has long been a regional tradition. By 1908 American newspapers were publishing recipes for "Mexican rarebit" — a fusion of Welsh rarebit and Mexican chiles — and in 1911 a cookbook by William Gebhardt, a German immigrant in Texas who had been marketing Eagle Brand chili powder since 1896, included a similar preparation. Velveeta, invented in 1918, did not appear in a queso recipe until 1939. The Fritos corn chip, invented in 1932, gave the dip its modern vehicle. The defining moment came in 1943, when Carl Roetelle opened a canning plant in Elsa, Texas, and began marketing Ro-Tel — a blend of tomatoes and green chiles in a can. By 1949, a Ro-Tel advertisement promoted a recipe of simply heating a can of Ro-Tel with processed cheese until melted and serving it as a dip with tortillas or Fritos. As food writer Lisa Fain writes in Queso!, "a Tex-Mex classic was born." In 1964, First Lady Lady Bird Johnson shared her own chile con queso recipe in the Washington Post, bringing the dish national attention. Chain restaurants carried it across the country through the 1980s.