15 Ingredients That Will Level Up Your Queso

Ah, queso. It may not fall into the category of authentic or traditional Mexican food – queso is said to have originated in the United States back in 1896 when a recipe appeared in "The Land of Sunshine" magazine – but authenticity aside, a rich, creamy, aromatic cheese dip is tough to resist. Today, queso commonly appears on Mexican and Tex-Mex restaurant menus. It's a dreamy pairing for chips, smothered burritos, and nachos. Let's be honest; everything tastes better when drizzled in warm, melty cheese.

Queso also happens to be quite easy to whip up at home, which is fantastic for picky eaters and experiment-oriented home cooks alike, as you can add and subtract ingredients from your queso recipe of choice according to your tastes. Not a fan of Velveeta? Try out different types of cheese. Want to amp up the spice level? Throw some hot peppers in there. Looking for a way to make the cheesiest, smoothest, most melty cheese dip the world has ever seen? Consider adding cottage cheese or sodium citrate to the mix. From different types of cheese to mix-ins and toppings, here are our suggestions for the absolute best ingredients to take your queso to the next level.

Cottage cheese is having a moment, and we're here for it. This creamy, almost soupy-textured cheese has a mild flavor and packs about 14 grams of protein per ½ cup, making it a tasty snack. A scoop of cottage cheese alone or with crackers or crudités is great, but it also makes an excellent base for creamy dips, including queso. The cottage cheese queso trend combines cottage cheese with shredded cheese of your choice as well as any desired mix-ins or toppings for a smooth, creamy, cheesy dip that's sure to be a hit at your next neighborhood BBQ or friends' potluck.

It's actually easier than a "traditional" queso recipe — far fewer ingredients are involved, and you'll just need to mix everything together in a blender. The dip can be served hot or cold and benefits greatly from mix-ins like the aforementioned canned fire-roasted tomatoes, green chiles, dried chile powders, onions, garlic, and the like. Top it all off with some cooked chorizo, cilantro, green onions, or whatever else floats your boat.

Here's a weird one for you. While sweet potato may be an unexpected ingredient for queso, adding these root veggies to your cheese dip is a foolproof way to thicken up the cheese and give your queso a subtly sweet bite. Sweet potatoes are nutritional powerhouses, bringing plenty of fiber, minerals, antibodies, and other important vitamins to the table. Whether you're eating them whole, chopped and roasted, or in fry form, their health benefits are undeniable.

Sweet potatoes may have the word "sweet" in their name, but theirs is an earthy sweetness that pairs well with many types of cheese, including those used in queso. Cooking the sweet potatoes prior to adding them to queso is essential as nobody wants chunks of raw sweet potato in their cheese dip (plus, those suckers are hard). Roasting them whole, with skins on, is a great way to bring out the optimal flavor and a bit of a caramelization effect, just scoop the soft flesh out after cooking. Adding cooked sweet potato to queso is a fantastic way to sneak some extra veggie goodness into a dish that, let's be honest, isn't the healthiest appetizer.

There's a lot of debate about the best cheeses to use in queso. While technically, queso can be made from any type of cheese, the general consensus is that processed cheeses (think Velveeta) are the ultimate choice for melting and achieving a smooth texture throughout the dip without risking clumping, oil pooling, and similar perils associated with homemade queso. However, you don't have to use processed cheese for your dip. If the thought of melted American cheese makes you gag, there are plenty of other options available.

Whatever cheese floats your boat, your queso will benefit greatly from the addition of cream cheese to the mix. When heated over a low temperature, cream cheese's thick and smooth consistency helps facilitate the binding of the additional elements of queso, melting into the cheese dip of your dreams. Its taste works well with any other cheese and tends to complement traditional queso add-ins as well — Rotel, garlic, onions, cilantro, cooked meat, and so on. As is the case with any type of queso, just be sure to keep an eye on your dip as it all heats up together, turning the heat down or adjusting as needed to prevent curdling, clumping, and worst of all, burning.

There's no disputing it: Pumpkin is the reigning champ when it comes to fall foods. From lattes to ravioli to pie, people have been using this funky orange gourd to dress up their recipes for as long as anyone can remember. While traditionally associated with sweet dishes, pumpkin has increasingly been used in savory creations in recent years. Its sweet, earthy flavor is a great way to balance smoky, spicy, and other zesty flavors without an overwhelming amount of sweetness, and this is exactly what happens when pumpkin meets queso.

Most of us don't have the time or energy to can our own pumpkin — or access to jack-o-lanterns outside the month of October — and canned pumpkin offers a fantastic backup if you can remember to stock up before the shelves are emptied leading up to Thanksgiving. By combining canned pumpkin puree with Velveeta and whatever other mix-ins you like in your cheese dip, you'll balance out the cheesiness with a hint of squashy, slightly herbaceous flavor. Serve your pumpkin queso with chips, or use it in this pumpkin queso and black bean nachos recipe. It's the perfect appetizer for a fall football game.

Many Mexican and Tex-Mex restaurants that serve queso offer customers the opportunity to dress things up a bit by adding avocado, fresh herbs, or ground meat to the mix. Adding ground meats, like spicy taco-seasoned ground beef, turkey, chicken, or chorizo to queso is both tasty and functional. Not only will you add some extra protein to your dip, but you'll also reap the benefits of the seasonings in whatever ground meat is used.

Texturally, ground meats are ideal for pairing with queso because they're easy to scoop up with a chip and allow for easy drizzling over nachos or burritos when compared to the logistical challenges associated with things like steak, al pastor pork, or chicken. You can just as easily throw some plant-based meat substitutes into the mix — soyrizo is a soy-based version of chorizo, and many brands now carry meatless crumbles that bear a striking resemblance to ground meats and can be seasoned any way you like.

As more and more people contemplate and adapt to plant-based or vegan diets, the market for plant-based, vegan foods has absolutely exploded. It seems there's a plant-based version for absolutely everything — you'll find juicy, meaty-looking vegan burgers at many burger joints, melty, vegan cheese-topping pies at lots of pizzerias, and a slew of meatless recipes on the web. While plant-based substitutes don't always taste exactly like the real thing and come with health and environmental concerns of their own, it's a great time to be a vegan in America.

Cheese is one of the hardest dairy products to replicate in a plant-based way. It's extremely challenging to find vegan cheeses that truly mimic the taste and texture of their dairy counterparts, but one can always try. Cashews are brilliant for replicating some varieties of cheese, and water-soaked cashews offer a simple hack for creating vegan queso. The softened cashews are combined with nutritional yeast, spices, and one's desired add-ins for a creamy, funky dip. It doesn't taste quite like the melty, cheesy queso most of us are used to, but it's a heck of a good start.

If Ree Drummond suggests it, you know it's going to be good. Drummond, also known as the Pioneer Woman, is famous for hearty, homey, yet elevated dishes that are easy for the average person, with standard kitchen equipment and no formal culinary training, to follow. She's been cooking up delicacies for so long that it feels like she's got a recipe for everything, so of course, she has an incredible queso recipe.

You won't find expensive cheeses and organic veggies in this recipe. Hers is a simple, affordable concoction drawing on classic queso ingredients like Velveeta, Rotel, canned chiles, and fire-roasted tomatoes, but there is a twist. The Pioneer Woman's signature queso ingredient is (drumroll, please)... hot breakfast sausage. Spicy pork adds flavor and protein the same way chorizo or ground beef does. It's zesty, unexpected, and a fabulous way to take your cheese dip from a side dish to a full-blown meal.