Skip to main content

Skip the Jar: Here’s the Perfect At-Home Chorizo Queso Recipe

The big day is here …  the Super Bowl! A day that unites sports fans and non through beer, commercials, and oodles upon oodles of food. Of those foods, a good portion are most likely going to be things meant for big crowds, such as dips. When it comes to party dips, few are as savory, as gooey, as utterly delicious as queso. Not only is it good covering the tip of a chip and adding just the right amount of salt and spice, but you can use the dip in any number of other ways. A queso-slathered cheeseburger, for example, or as the sauce in a spicy pizza. There’s nothing wrong, either, with having a straight spoonful of it — think of it as getting one of your daily servings of dairy. (Just, maybe, wait until everyone else has had their fill … or no one is looking).

chorizo queso recipe porter
Porter Road

The thing about queso, though, is that so many store-bought versions just plain suck. There’s not enough cheese flavor or there’s not enough spice or there’s enough sodium and sugar in them to necessitate that checkup you’ve been putting off. It’s a cheese product, after all, and for a cheese to be shelf stable, well, we don’t have to tell you about all of the ingredients that “cheese” has in it to make it so.

This is why we think being able to make your own queso is a necessary skill for men. You don’t want your March Madness party, or any other party, to suffer because you bought the jar that sits on the rack in front of the tortilla chips.

Once you learn to make queso, there’s only one more thing you’ll need to do to really shine in the eyes of your partygoers: add meat! In this case, by meat, we mean the spicy delight known as chorizo. The two together are as iconic as peanut butter and jelly. 

The recipe below comes to us from Porter Road, which is more than happy to fulfill all of your chorizo needs. If you don’t want a meat-filled queso, you could ignore the chorizo, but what fun would that be?

Finally, we recommend having some hot sauce on hand. You never know who is looking to spice up their night.

Chorizo Queso Dip Recipe

chorizo queso recipe porter road
Porter Road

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb loose chorizo
  • 1 lb cheddar, grated
  • 1 tbsp grapeseed oil, or other neutral high-heat oil
  • 4 tbsp butter
  • 4 tbsp all-purpose flour
  • 3 cups whole milk
  • Scallion, chopped
  • Optional: lime, lime zest, fresh or pickled jalapeño, chilis, cilantro

Method:

  1. Heat oil in a large cast iron pan, then add chorizo and cook until dark brown. Remove sausage from pan, leaving oil.
  2. Melt butter in the pan. Add flour and stir continuously until brown. About 5 minutes.
  3. Slowly whisk in milk. Cook over low heat for 20 minutes, stirring regularly and scraping the bottom of the pan to prevent sticking. It should thicken and reduce.
  4. Remove from heat, then add cheese and whisk. Once the cheese is fully melted, mix in your browned chorizo.
  5. Incorporate additional milk, or a splash of beer, as needed to reach your desired thickness.
  6. Top with chopped scallion and serve with tortilla chips.

Editors' Recommendations

Sam Slaughter
Sam Slaughter was the Food and Drink Editor for The Manual. Born and raised in New Jersey, he’s called the South home for…
Pro tips from Chef Eduardo Garcia for cooking outdoors like a true mountain man
Here's how to really cook like a mountain man
Chef Eduardo Garcia.

When we think of mountain men, we tend to think of rugged and self-sufficient folks who live off of the land. And while that's mostly accurate, it's also 2024, and the definition has evolved. Today's mountain man is personified by chef Eduardo Garcia, who combines culinary expertise and the right cooking tools with an adventurous attitude and focus on the environment.

Garcia has put in some shifts. He's done everything from cooking on yachts to delivering motivational speeches. He's also the host of Big Sky Kitchen, now two seasons deep. The show focuses on outdoor cooking and the many joys of preparing and eating food in the context of nature.

Read more
When lunchtime (or anytime) hunger strikes, these are 13 best sandwich recipes to make
Try your hand at these gourmet sandwiches and never think of bologna and cheese again
A Banh Mi sandwich

There's a reason why everyone loves sandwiches. You can stack them, slice them, stuff them, toast them, dip them, grill them, fry them, or fill them. Sandwiches are perfect for a quick meal, easy to handle, require minimal cleanup and the creative options are endless.

With so many meats, veggies, spreads, and popular cheeses that you can stuff between two slices of bread, sometimes it's good to go back to the basics and remember why we fell in love with sandwiches in the first place. Here's a list of the ultimate best sandwich recipes for your adult lunch box.
Classic Italian sub sandwich

Read more
Here’s how to crawfish boil the right way (and everything else there is to know about crawfish)
Crawfish is a Southern staple and in season right now. Here's how to properly prepare this seafood
A southern Crawfish plate

Crawfish, crayfish, crawdads, freshwater lobsters, mountain lobsters, yabbies, or mudbugs -- whatever you call them, one thing remains the same: They're delicious. That is; when they're prepared correctly. If you live above the Mason-Dixon line, you may not have heard of any of these cousins to the lobster, and that's totally normal. Crawfish are everywhere, but the vast majority of the world's eating crayfish come from Louisiana (around 95%).

The end of March to early June is prime crayfish season (when they grow to be the largest). That's why crawfish boils are common around the middle of spring to early summer. Despite being at their largest around this time, they're still pretty small. A jumbo crayfish will provide about as much meat as an average-sized shrimp. So, after you learn how to eat crawfish, you're going to need to eat a lot -- we suggest around 3 to 5 pounds per person. This seems like a ton, but you have to remember that these little buggers are mostly shell. And the secret of a good crawfish boil is to not overcook them, or the meat becomes tough.

Read more