This weekend, my husband had a small crisis.
We were eating leftover Mexican food from our lunch. He pulled out the queso that we bought for a party earlier in the summer, planning to finish it off. He gleefully opened the queso, and then his glee died abruptly when the remaining queso was highly suspicious in appearance.
(I may be embellishing this story for effect).
Anyway, we found ourselves with a minor crisis. The queso! It could kill us! So we threw it away and mournfully prepared to heat up our dinner. The grocery store may only be a short walk away from our home, and we considered making the trek but decided that it was just too far away.
But wait. We have the Internet. And we have an overabundance of cheese from when the cheese was buy 2 get 3 free and we had to buy 2 bags anyway! I turned to the Internet and asked if there was a way we could make our own queso.
This is really a story of laziness, and what follows may enable you to take the same lazy shortcut when your queso hopes are dashed by expiration dates, or it may make you decide to just make the walk to the store.
Here we go.
The answer to that question of whether or not we could make queso from only ingredients we had was yes, according to the internet, so we pulled out a saucepan, half and half (whole milk will also work), butter, chili powder, and some of that massive stockpile of cheddar.
Let's take a moment for a full disclaimer. This was an impromptu experiment. There was no planning here. The pictures are rough(er than usual), the plan hastily made and executed, and...these are really going to be ugly pictures.
Stir in the 3/4 cup of cheese. We used cheddar, because that's what we had. Throw in a bit of chili powder, too. As much as you like, really. Keep stirring it in until it all melts and makes a sauce. Then let it cool a few minutes so that you don't burn yourself.
The answer depends on what your goals are.
This did not taste like queso. I didn't really think that it would, but I hoped it might be tasty anyway. It was okay. This was definitely the compromise cheese dip of someone who grabbed whatever was in the fridge because he or she (read: my husband and I) didn't want to go to the store at that point. I love cheese, and this was cheese, but I would like to try this with better ingredients.
Do not make this if your only goal is to make queso. Make this if you can't get to the store (or really don't want to) and have the ingredients on hand, and just really want some cheese sauce. If you are like me, and occasionally like to make nachos by microwaving tortilla chips with cheese and salsa, this shortcut would be for you.
Here's the recipe we worked off of: Queso Dip
16 oz jar of store brand queso dip: 3.99
15 oz jar Pace Queso Blanco dip: 4.19
15 oz jar Tostitos Salsa con Queso: 4.29
15 oz Queso Fresco: 5.99
32 oz Velveeta queso blanco: 7.99
The price of our homemade attempt:
1 bag Shredded Cheddar, store brand: 3.39, or 1.27 for 3/4 of a cup
16 oz carton of half and half: 2.69, or 0.67 for 1/2 cup
1 Tbsp butter, store brand: 0.11
Chili powder: Uncertain, but it was not much. Husband added this in, and did it to taste, so he did not measure. I have this on hand at all times though for chili.
Total Cost: 2.05 for about 8 ounces (half of what you can buy)
Time investment: less than 10 minutes
I don't think I'll do this again. Instead I'll try some other recipes and get the ingredients in advance.
If you can convince yourself that a trip to the store is possible, and if you don't mind the stuff in a jar, you can get it for the same price or a lower price than what this cost, and whatever you buy will probably taste a lot more like queso. Or you could buy better ingredients and make a better version yourself, which is what I will be doing next time I try.
If you have a great way to make queso at home, whatever the price and ingredients, share it with me. I'd love to try it out.
We were eating leftover Mexican food from our lunch. He pulled out the queso that we bought for a party earlier in the summer, planning to finish it off. He gleefully opened the queso, and then his glee died abruptly when the remaining queso was highly suspicious in appearance.
(I may be embellishing this story for effect).
Anyway, we found ourselves with a minor crisis. The queso! It could kill us! So we threw it away and mournfully prepared to heat up our dinner. The grocery store may only be a short walk away from our home, and we considered making the trek but decided that it was just too far away.
But wait. We have the Internet. And we have an overabundance of cheese from when the cheese was buy 2 get 3 free and we had to buy 2 bags anyway! I turned to the Internet and asked if there was a way we could make our own queso.
This is really a story of laziness, and what follows may enable you to take the same lazy shortcut when your queso hopes are dashed by expiration dates, or it may make you decide to just make the walk to the store.
Here we go.
The answer to that question of whether or not we could make queso from only ingredients we had was yes, according to the internet, so we pulled out a saucepan, half and half (whole milk will also work), butter, chili powder, and some of that massive stockpile of cheddar.
Let's take a moment for a full disclaimer. This was an impromptu experiment. There was no planning here. The pictures are rough(er than usual), the plan hastily made and executed, and...these are really going to be ugly pictures.
Step One:
We had to melt a tablespoon of butter over medium heat, then whisk in the 1/2 cup of half and half (or whole milk, but we had half and half, and the whole point of this endeavor was to not go to the store). Whisk those constantly together until the mixture thickens. This does not take long. |
| We do not have a whisk. A fork had to do. |
Step Two:
Stir in the 3/4 cup of cheese. We used cheddar, because that's what we had. Throw in a bit of chili powder, too. As much as you like, really. Keep stirring it in until it all melts and makes a sauce. Then let it cool a few minutes so that you don't burn yourself. |
| I told you. Ugly pictures. It is a cheese dip. |
Step Three:
Get out tortilla chips and eat your homemade cheese dip (queso imitation?). This whole process takes less than ten minutes. |
| Cheese dip, photo taken far away on purpose |
So was it worth it?
The answer depends on what your goals are.This did not taste like queso. I didn't really think that it would, but I hoped it might be tasty anyway. It was okay. This was definitely the compromise cheese dip of someone who grabbed whatever was in the fridge because he or she (read: my husband and I) didn't want to go to the store at that point. I love cheese, and this was cheese, but I would like to try this with better ingredients.
Do not make this if your only goal is to make queso. Make this if you can't get to the store (or really don't want to) and have the ingredients on hand, and just really want some cheese sauce. If you are like me, and occasionally like to make nachos by microwaving tortilla chips with cheese and salsa, this shortcut would be for you.
Here's the recipe we worked off of: Queso Dip
Here's the financial break down of making your own vs. buying
The competition:16 oz jar of store brand queso dip: 3.99
15 oz jar Pace Queso Blanco dip: 4.19
15 oz jar Tostitos Salsa con Queso: 4.29
15 oz Queso Fresco: 5.99
32 oz Velveeta queso blanco: 7.99
The price of our homemade attempt:
1 bag Shredded Cheddar, store brand: 3.39, or 1.27 for 3/4 of a cup
16 oz carton of half and half: 2.69, or 0.67 for 1/2 cup
1 Tbsp butter, store brand: 0.11
Chili powder: Uncertain, but it was not much. Husband added this in, and did it to taste, so he did not measure. I have this on hand at all times though for chili.
Total Cost: 2.05 for about 8 ounces (half of what you can buy)
Time investment: less than 10 minutes
Final Decision:
Well...in this case, what made making this cheese sauce worthwhile was avoiding the trip to the store.I don't think I'll do this again. Instead I'll try some other recipes and get the ingredients in advance.
If you can convince yourself that a trip to the store is possible, and if you don't mind the stuff in a jar, you can get it for the same price or a lower price than what this cost, and whatever you buy will probably taste a lot more like queso. Or you could buy better ingredients and make a better version yourself, which is what I will be doing next time I try.
If you have a great way to make queso at home, whatever the price and ingredients, share it with me. I'd love to try it out.
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