Classic Smoked Queso

This recipe is where it all began. Smoked queso became a trending recipe early in the pandemic back in 2020, and most of the recipes you saw for it back then were probably pretty close to ours. But we couldn’t leave well enough alone and kept tweaking it and making other versions.

We recently published our Smoked Queso 5 Ways video. Be sure to check out that post for more variations of this beloved smoked queso recipe and see how all our guest judges ranked the competition.

Print Recipe

4.41 from 67 votes

Classic Smoked Queso

We make smoked queso for parties and gatherings, and we hardly ever make it the same way twice. That's the fun of smoked queso. It's a recipe that you can play with, substitute out things, add things, and it's going to taste amazing.

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time45 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr

Course: Appetizer

Cuisine: Mexican

Keyword: nachos, queso

Servings: 16 people

Calories: 217kcal

Equipment

• Smoker
• Aluminum foil pan

Ingredients

• 1 lb velveeta cubed
• 8 oz cream cheese cubed
• 10 oz Rotel
• 10 oz cream of mushroom soup
• 1 lb sausage browned and drained
• 1 onion diced
• 1 red bell pepper diced
• ½ tsp cumin
• ½ tsp adobo seasoning
• 1/4 cup scallions chopped, for garnish

Instructions

• Brown the sausage, onion, and red bell pepper in a saute pan on the stove. Drain grease if necessary.
• Cube the block of Velveeta and cream cheese and place them in the aluminum foil pan.
• Add the cooked sausage and vegetable blend and all remaining ingredients into the pan. You don't even need to stir.
  
• Place on the smoker running around 350° for about 15 minutes.
  
• Stir the queso up and leave for another 15 minutes.
• Stir one more time and leave for an additional 10-15 minutes. The heat may be reduced to 275° if necessary to avoid burning cheese on the bottom of the pan.
• Stir the queso up and confirm that all the cheese is in fact melted. Then enjoy!
  

Video

Notes

The above recipe has been created kid-friendly (not-spicy). If you prefer your queso to be hot and spicy, by all means go ahead and add jalapenos to the pan as well!

Nutrition

Calories: 217kcal | Carbohydrates: 7g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 49mg | Sodium: 804mg | Potassium: 269mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 744IU | Vitamin C: 12mg | Calcium: 187mg | Iron: 1mg