Smoked Queso Recipe (Or Baked Queso)

The only thing I like better than queso is smoked queso. This smoked queso recipe is one of the best queso dishes I’ve ever had, and it’s received loads of compliments from friends and family.

What sets this queso dish apart from other queso dishes I’ve had, is the combination of ingredients, and the hint of smoke. What if you don’t have a smoker? Who cares, throw it in the oven. The only thing you’ll be missing out on is that hint of smokiness, but I know that’s not for everyone. If smoked dishes aren’t your thing, don’t shy away from trying this queso recipe in the oven for a nice Baked Queso recipe.

Smoked Queso Ingredients

This smoked queso recipe relies on 7 simple ingredients:

• Cheese
• Pork Sausage
• Diced Tomato (canned)
• Roma Tomato (chopped)
• Green Chili’s
• Cream of Chicken Soup
• Seasoning

Original Valveeta is the cheese of choice. I’ve tried the White Queso Valveeta and it just doesn’t work. Stick with the original.

You don’t need a fancy pork sausage, you’re just looking to add some meat to the queso. I use any mild pork sausage and add a few red chili flakes to the sausage to give it a bit more spice. You can also use a spicy pork sausage.

The diced tomato’s are important, and you have some options here. My preference is using Rotel Diced Tomato, and there’s a few different varieties to pick from. I like to use their Diced Tomatoes & Fire Roasted Hatch Chilies in this recipe. If you prefer more spice, they also have diced tomato with habaneros or ghost peppers. If you want to keep it plain, just go with normal diced tomatoes. The key here is draining the majority of the liquid from the can. Nobody likes a runny queso.

While the canned diced tomato is an important ingredient, so are the fresh diced Roma Tomatoes. Dicing a few Roma Tomatoes will give this dish some added color, texture, and taste. Don’t leave out the Roma Tomatoes.

I also add a small can of diced green chili’s. I like the taste of different chili’s, and these green chili’s don’t add a lot of spice, but they do provide some added flavor. Feel free to leave this out, or dice up some fresh jalapeños if you’re looking for added flavor and spice.

Notice a theme here? You can customize this recipe to your liking.

The chicken soup is the secret ingredient of this recipe. It helps with keeping the processed cheese from getting too thick as it sets, at least to an extent. As we say in our household, you don’t want the queso to coagulate.

Seasoning is the final ingredient. Since this is a Smoked Queso recipe, logic dictates that you need to use a BBQ Rub. Meat Church seasoning is my go to rub, and their Holy Voodoo Rub is the perfect compliment for this recipe.

More Appetizer Recipes

Here’s some other appetizer recipes that we’ve recently posted that you may want to check out.