Queso Blanco

Ingredients

• One 12 oz can evaporated milk
• 3 Tbsp evaporated milk (for corn starch slurry, taken from can)
• 2 tsp corn starch
• 8 oz white American cheese
• 1 ½ cups white cheddar cheese, shredded
• ¼ tsp cumin
• ⅛ tsp cayenne
• 3 medium to large jalapeños (optional)

Instructions

1. In a small bowl, whisk together 3 tablespoon evaporated milk and cornstarch to make a slurry. Make sure you do not have any clumps. Set aside.
2. In a pot or frying pan, heat evaporated milk until hot but not boiling.
3. Whisk in the slurry, American cheese, cheddar cheese, cumin, cayenne. Stir until the spices are spread throughout and the cheese is melted. Be careful as the bottom might scorch and ruin the sauce if you do not stir regularly enough.
4. Optionally, stir in sliced jalapeños until you think the flavor has spread throughout.
5. Serve and keep warm.

Notes

Sources: Modified from https://www.momables.com/momveeta-i-cant-believe-its-not-block-cheese/ and https://www.chocolatemoosey.com/2015/04/23/nacho-cheese-dip-and-sauce/.

I found 2 cups cheese to make the sauce too thick. I also found that without the American cheese, the sauce was not as creamy as it needed to be. After a mistake, I’ve found reducing the cheddar cheese from 1.75 cups to 1.5 cups really helps with the consistency and reheating. Going 1.25 cups results in the cheese being a tad runny. I have not tried a yellow American. I’ve updated the recipe to reflect this.

Other online recipes suggest using milk and butter but I wasn’t able to make it work. Evaporated milk is milk with 50%/60% of its water removed. Perhaps if the milk could itself be cooked down somehow

I once used habaneros with this but most found it too spicy.

Can be stored and reheated in a microwave. I’ve reheated it without adding anything but it may be necessary to add as some recipes suggest a bit of milk to rehydrate it.

The queso in the image used a can of spicy Rotel, too, but it didn’t sit as well as without the extra liquid.

Yellow cheddar and American cheeses also work.