Smoked Queso Dip

Packed with flavor, our smoked queso dip is a cheesy appetizer with a smokey flavor and spicy kick your whole family will love.

It’s the perfect appetizer for your next family get and the ultimate party dip for game day tailgating.

Made with a blend of cheeses and Mexican chorizo, this indulgent dip is creamy, cheesy, spicy, and oh-so delicious! The delicious smoky flavor permeates through the queso ingredients during the cooking process, creating a smoked cheese dip like no other.

This flavorful smoked queso dip, made with simple ingredients from your local grocery store, is guaranteed to rival those of your favorite Mexican restaurant. It’s one of my favorite dip recipes, and I know it will be one of yours, too.

If you love delicious hot dips, make sure to try our slow-cooker buffalo chicken dip and Maryland hot crab dip recipes.

Ingredients to make Smoked Queso Dip

Let’s start by gathering the ingredients we need to make our easy smoked queso dip recipe. In Chef Speak, this is called the Mise en Place, which translates into Everything in its Place.

Not only does setting your ingredients up ahead of time speed the cooking process, but it also helps ensure you have everything you need to make the dish.

What other ingredients can I use to make Smoked Queso?

We absolutely love using Mexican chorizo in this dish, but you can also use sweet or hot Italian sausage or ground beef.

Canned Rotel tomatoes are my go-to for the queso dip, but you can substitute chopped fresh tomatoes and chopped green chilies.

You can substitute pepper jack, cheddar, Colby, or Monterey jack for the shredded gouda cheese.

If you’re not a fan of Velveeta,  substitute 8 ounces of softened cream cheese and ½ of heavy cream in its place. 

You can substitute fresh jalapenos, poblano peppers, green chilies, or hatch chili peppers for the pickled jalapenos.

For a spicier flavor, chili powder, taco seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder, and cumin can be added,

How to make Smoked Queso Dip

• Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees F.
• Add your favorite wood chips to your smoke tube. For this recipe, we used hickory wood chips.

• Add one tablespoon of olive oil to a large frying pan over medium-high heat.
• Add the ground chorizo to the hot pan.
• Brown the chorizo, breaking apart any large clumps (about 5-7 minutes). Use a slotted spoon to remove the chorizo from the saute pan, placing them in a disposable aluminum pan or cast-iron skillet pan, leaving the drippings in the pan.
• Add the diced onions to the pan with the chorizo drippings.
• Saute the onions for 1-2 minutes until fragrant.
• Add the chopped garlic, sweet paprika, and red pepper flakes to the pan, stirring to combine.
• Reduce to medium heat and continue to cook the onions for 2-3 minutes, then remove the pan from the heat.
  Remove the onions from the pan using a slotted spoon, placing them in the foil pan.

*Keep the ingredients separate to allow the smoke flavor to penetrate them individually.

• Add the chorizo, Velveeta cubes, shredded Gouda, queso fresca, Rotel tomatoes, and pickled jalapeño peppers to the pan.
• Add the pan to the smoker and allow it to smoke for 1 hour.
• Remove the pan from the smoker.
• Stir to combine all of the ingredients thoroughly. Then, place the pan back in the smoker and cook for an additional 45 minutes.
  *For a hearty smoke flavor, add more wood chips to the smoker tube.
• Remove the pan from the smoker.
• Stir the smoked chorizo dip while hot to mix the smoky layer from the top of the pan throughout the queso dip.

I like to think of smoked queso dip as a cheese sauce on steroids. I’ll let you in on a little secret. I like to serve it over nachos with sour cream and homemade guacamole.

Store any leftovers in an airtight container refrigerated for up to 5 days.

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