This cheesy and delicious Smoked Queso dip is the best appetizer to serve on Super Bowl Sunday! Fresh ingredients, melty cheese, and flavorful chorizo collide in this amazing smoked cheese dip that will definitely impress a crowd at your next backyard party!
The Best Smoked Queso Dip Recipe
Here at The Wooden Skillet we are big football fans and we love nothing more that making some fun Game Day snacks to enjoy while cheering on our favorite team! In this delicious dip we have used a combination of the best shredded cheese for a nice depth of flavor. They go really well with the little bit of spice coming from the chorizo and chopped jalapeño to make the ultimate party dip. Time to fire-up your electric smoker and make this Traeger pellet smoker cheese dip for your next party! Everyone is going to love that delicious smoky flavor!
Looking for more dip recipes? You have to try our BBQ Chicken Dip!
What You Will Need
- chorizo – we love the added flavor that this ground sausage brings, but feel free to use ground beef instead.
- yellow onion & garlic – simple ingredients that sauté in the pan to add tons of flavor.
- jalapeño – a fresh ingredient that bring a little kick of heat!
- taco seasoning – pick-up your favorite store-bought taco seasoning at the local grocery store or simply make your own homemade taco seasoning.
- diced tomatoes with green chiles – just one can is all you need, Rotel tomatoes are also a popular choice!
- oaxaca cheese, monterey jack cheese, & quesadilla cheese – we love this combination but feel free to mix them up with other cheese options.
- garnish: chopped green onions
- chips for dipping – we love using our favorite tortilla chips, but any type of chips will work!
How To Make Smoked Queso
The first steps to making this perfect cheese dip are to gather all the queso ingredients and shred the variety of cheeses.
Now bring a small cast-iron skillet to a medium heat and brown the chorizo sausage. Drain off any excess grease and remove a 1/4 cup of the cooked ground meat to reserve for later. Add the garlic, onion, and jalapeño to the pan and cook until fragrant and soft. Next, add 1/2 the can of tomatoes to the hot pan, along with the taco seasoning.
Layer half of the shredded cheeses on top of the meat mixture, then a 1/4 can of the tomatoes, and finally the rest of the cheese.
Place the skillet directly on the preheated smoker and let it cook for 60-90 minutes or until all the cheese is melted during the cooking process.
Option to place the skillet under the oven broiler to turn the top of the cheese golden brown and then garnish with the cooked chorizo, remaining tomatoes, and green onions.
Best Ways To Serve Smoked Queso
Once it is garnished with the cooked chorizo, tomatoes, and green onions, we love to serve it with our favorite tortilla chips. And an ice cold beer, of course! Because nothing says game day, like beer and cheese dip. Any chips, crostini, or other favorite dippers would work for scooping up this smokey dip, just make sure they are pretty sturdy to get all that cheesy goodness!
Recipe FAQ
Absolutely! We love this combination of white cheese, but feel free to use your favorites. Some other good options might be cheddar cheese or pepper jack cheese. Velveeta cheese is a common choice, but we just don’t agree.
We recommend using mesquite, oak, hickory, or other strong wood chips or wood pellets to add the best flavor to this smoked cheese dip.
No problem, after you have fully cooked the meat mixture and are ready to layer the cheese, move the cooked meat to a disposable foil pan, then layer the cheese, tomatoes, and rest of the cheese. After you are done enjoying the dip recipe you can just throw away the disposable aluminum pan!
Made this delicious recipe and loved it?! We would love it if you would take a minute and leave a star rating and review – it is also helpful if you made any substitutions or changes to the recipe to share that as well. THANK YOU!
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Other Easy Recipes You Might Like
Smoked Queso
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
- Yield: 12 servings 1x
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: Smoker
- Cuisine: American
Description
An easy and flavorful Smoked Queso recipe that is perfect for Game Day or your next cookout! So delicious and simple to make!
Ingredients
- 8oz chorizo
- 1/4 cup sweet yellow onion, diced
- 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
- 1 small jalapeño, diced (remove seeds and membrane)
- 1/2 tablespoon taco seasoning
- 10oz can diced tomatoes with green chiles, drained
- 6oz oaxaca cheese, shredded
- 6oz monterey jack cheese, shredded
- 3oz quesadilla cheese, shredded
- garnish: sliced green onion, reserved chorizo, reserved tomatoes
- your choice of chips for serving
Instructions
- Preheat smoker to 225 degrees F.
- Bring a 10 inch cast iron skillet to medium-high heat. Add chorizo and move around pan until cooked through. Drain excess grease and reserve 1/4 cup of the chorizo for garnish later. Add garlic, onion, and jalapeno to the hot pan. Move around pan until garlic is fragrant and onion starts to soften, approx. 2 minutes. Again, drain any excess grease that has gathered. Add 1/2 the can of tomatoes to the remaining chorizo in the bottom of the pan along with the taco seasoning, stir to combine.
- Layer 1/2 of the oaxaca cheese, 1/2 of the monterey jack cheese, and then 1/2 of the quesadilla cheese. Add approx. 1/4 of the can of tomatoes (reserve the final 1/4 can for garnish) and then layer the remaining cheese again.
- Place skillet directly on the grill grates and close the smoker. Let cook 60-90 minutes, but start checking on it occasionally after 60 minutes.
- Remove from smoker and place under the broiler for about a minute or until the top layer starts to brown, but watch carefully (I left the oven cracked open so I could see it the whole time).
- Garnish with remaining chorizo, tomatoes, and some sliced green onions. Serve with your choice of chips and an ice cold beer!
Notes
- Keeping warm: feel free to transfer to a small slow cooker and keep on low/warm to keep the queso warm for longer periods (just keep an eye on it).
- Make it Spicy: if you want it spicy feel free to keep those jalapeno seeds + membrane in tact when dicing.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 oz
- Calories: 229
- Sugar: 1 g
- Sodium: 636.3 mg
- Fat: 17.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 3.7 g
- Protein: 14.7 g
- Cholesterol: 43.2 mg
Molly Sundstrom says
This dip was easy to make and has an amazing flavor! It just worked out that we were smoking ribs and threw this on. The smoked flavor is so yummy. I couldn’t find one of the cheeses (Oaxaca) at any of my grocery stores so I subbed it out for mozzarella, worked great.
Erin says
So glad you enjoyed this one, Molly! Thanks for taking the time to come back and leave a review – I really appreciate it!