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I have now shared this recipe with everyone I know. I made this for dinner tonight and I had to take the bowl off the table before my husband and I ate the entire batch. Absolutely delicious!
Julie Maanum
Here, take a chip, because it’s elote queso o’clock which happens to be my FAVORITE o’clock of the summer.
This queso, man. This queso is a grill favorite (elotes) and an app favorite (queso) all bubbled up together in one skillet:
- a creamy, classic, smooth-melting queso base
- fresh jalapeños and garlic
- roasted corn (here’s how to grill that corn to perfection!)
- cilantro
- chili powder
- queso fresco cheese*
*no such thing as too much cheese.
Grab a handful of lime-drenched chips and YOU ARE IN BUSINESS.
A very important element in any queso is, obviously, the cheese.
You guys have used this quesadilla cheese before, right? I occasionally stock up on the essentials at Costco, so there is a 100% chance that at any given time, you will find the world’s largest bag of this cheese in my refrigerator.
This stuff is just THE BEST. And being that it is actual, real, delicious cheese that melts smoothly and perfect for Mexican recipes? It wins over processed cheese every time. No further discussion necessary.
(You don’t have to shop at Costco to buy it – although purchasing a hugely huge bag of it is very advisable. Use this handy finder to see where you can pick it up.)
So melty cheese, roasted corn, fresh cilantro, jalapeños and garlic, queso fresco and limey chips – here it all is.
Your summer plans (and mine, totally mine) summed up in one glorious photo:
Add a drink and a pair of sunglasses and go ahead living your best elote queso life. Because that’s what it’s all about.
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Elote Queso
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 6–8 people could easily share this 1x
Description
Elote Queso! A grill + app favorite all bubbled up in one skillet. Creamy melty queso, charred roasted corn, fresh jalapeño and garlic, and some cilantro and chili powder. YUM.
Ingredients
Elotes Queso:
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 jalapeño, minced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1 1/2 cups milk (we recommend evaporated milk – see notes)
- 1 cup shredded V&V Supremo® Chihuahua® Brand Quesadilla Cheese
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2–3 ears of corn, roasted (2 cups)
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- 1/4 cup V&V Supremo® Queso Fresco
- chili powder
Extras:
- limes to squeeze over chips
- CHIPS duh
Instructions
- Garlic and Jalapeño: Heat the butter and olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the jalapeños and garlic and sauté for 5-10 minutes, until very soft and fragrant (but don’t burn or brown the garlic).
- Flour, Milk, and Cheese: Add flour and stir until everything is coated – about one minute. Add the milk slowly and whisk until a smooth bubbly mixture comes together. Remove from heat and stir in the Chihuahua® Brand Quesadilla Cheese until smooth and melty. Low and slow!
- Topping and serving: Season with salt and stir in most of the corn. Arrange a little “elotes pile” on top: remaining corn, cilantro, queso fresco, and chili powder. Best served warm with tortilla chips for dipping! YUUUUUM.
Notes
Milk: Evaporated milk, 2% milk, or whole milk work best here.
Making Ahead / Reheating: It will thicken as it stands. Pop it in the oven or put it back on the skillet if you need to sauce-it-up again! Sometimes a little extra milk or liquid helps, too. It works really well to make this ahead of time and just wait to top it with the elote stuff until right before serving.
Corn: Lots of options here. You can pan roast it to get the browned crispy bits. You can grill it. You can also buy frozen pre-charred or pre-roasted corn from several mainstream grocery stores! Easy.
Sour cream: Also a delicious addition! You can stir a little bit into the queso or drizzle some over the top.
Lime: I prefer NOT to put the lime juice directly into the queso. I like to just squeeze the lime over the chips and then you’ll have really puckery chips to go with the smooth, creamy queso.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Dip
- Cuisine: Mexican
Keywords: elote queso, queso dip, queso recipe
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our easy Mexican-inspired recipes page. Check it out!
I found this to be quite bland. I added red onions, cumin, extra chili powder and some hot sauce which helped.
This Elote Queso recipe looks amazing! I love how it combines the flavors of classic elote with cheesy goodness. Can’t wait to try it at my next get-together! Thank you for sharing!
I like it! I will try it!
Wanted to love this, but we were both really underwhelmed by it. Not nearly cheesy enough. I thought the corn improved the blahness, he thought it made it too sweet.
This was delish! We were going to a fajita dinner and everyone raved about the queso!! Very easy and amazing flavor.
I just made this for our annual queso Cook-off . it was a hit and got first place!
I’ve made this dip three times now and can’t get enough of it! Everyone loves it at parties and I have so many people asking for the recipe. Living in the corn capital of my province, this dip is a WINNER and making it with fresh fire-grilled corn is a must! We don’t have the cheese specified here in Canada, so I substitute with a good Monterey Jack. Other than that, I wouldn’t change anything about this recipe!
This queso is delicious! Really great flavor. I highly recommend keeping the queso on some type of heat source once it’s made, like a crockpot, as it congealed quite quickly if I left it at room temperature. Overall very yummy and I’d definitely make it again!
From the day I found out about this dish, I gained 3kg because it was so delicious. The dish is so easy to make that anyone can do it.
It looks so delicious. I have to try it now
So good! Local corn in my co-op grocery delivery this week and this recipe was calling my name. Thanks for a great recipe!
No flavor. Too much flour. Bland. After adding more jalapeños, still bland. The only thing I could taste was a slight jalapeño flavor. Sorry. I really wanted to like this. I let it sit for a few hours thinking the flavors would blend. Still no luck.
Sorry to hear that, Cathy. We appreciate the feedback!
How long can you keep this in the fridge?
We’d guess 3-5 days!
where do you get the chihuahua cheese? I can’t find it anywhere except on Amazon!!!!!
This looks AMAZING! I want to make it for the super bowl but what subs can I use if I can’t find the brands of cheese that the recipe calls for?
You can use cheddar if you can’t find the Chihuahua cheese. Feta or cotija cheese would be great substitutes for queso fresco. Enjoy!
Can I make this gluten free by omitting the flour? Will it not thicken though?
We haven’t tested this without the flour, but another commenter had great results using 4 ounces of cream cheese in place of the flour!
This queso is absolutely amazing! I roasted the corn wrapped in foil on the gas stove, cut it off and seasoned it with salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder and added it to the top as directed. Yum!
Glad you enjoyed this, Patty!
Oh my☹️ The recommended cheese is no where by me. Any suggestions of a substitute I can use? Thank you
You could try Oaxaca cheese as a sub. Enjoy!
Hi, I was wondering if I’m able to make this in a crockpot and how would I do it. Thank you.
You could probably keep it warm in the crockpot, but with the short cook time, we’d suggest doing it on the stove. Enjoy!
Can I make this is a cast iron pan?
Hi, Mary! We haven’t tried making this in a cast iron skillet yet, so we aren’t sure how it’ll turn out. The cheese might end up taking on flavors from the pan and might stick to the bottom. We’d recommend a large non-stick skillet instead.
Hi there, I would love to make this but in the UK we don’t have this cheese V&V Supremo® Chihuahua® Brand Quesadilla Cheese, would you have any idea what I can use instead please? Thank you
Any smooth melting cheese you can find will work!
you listed “Milk: Evaporated milk, 2% milk, or whole milk work best here.”, which one did you use?
Evaporated milk!
I made this for a little gathering for the Big Little Lies finale and everyone loved it. I made a double batch and 3 of us ate most of it. (Yea, I’ll say it…that’s a lot of queso per person!)
The V&V Supremo Chihuahua cheese was a little pricey & I had to go to a grocery store off my beaten path–but it was soooo good. I am sure you could make it with another cheese but I’ll stick with the V&V if I can. I cheated and used the roasted Mexican corn at Trader Joe’s (frozen food aisle). Also, the dip doesn’t have much kick so I may add more jalapenos or a bit of cayenne in the future. Although the heat level was perfect as written for my crew.
Glad to hear it, Sue!
This was delicious! I needed to make it gluten-free for a cookout, so I skipped the flour and added 4 oz of cream cheese instead. It turned out great!
Awesome!
yummy!