Mexican food recipes tend to lean on spice and cheese, given their local pepper cultivation and dairy farming. One of the many cheese recipes in the land is queso fundido, which is an easy Mexican appetiser whose name translates to ‘melted cheese’, and while that description is accurate, it barely scratches the surface of the depth of this dish. Unlike the basic queso dip, a queso fundido features crumbled chorizo sausage, two kinds of cheeses and a freshly made pico de gallo.
These ingredients are layered in an oven-safe dish and baked until melted and bubbly. The right choice of cheese is central to a great queso fundido recipe, and most use Chihuahua and Oaxaca cheeses. They are prized for their melting properties and mild and creamy flavour. In case these two cheeses are hard to find, substitute with cheeses with similar melting and stretching properties. The recipe itself takes minimal effort and comes together in just 30 minutes.
This Mexican queso fundido recipe is bound to be a guaranteed hit at any party, gathering, hosting or casual spreads you add it to. You can build up a Mexican charcuterie board and serve it straight from the oven with corn tortilla chips, flour tortillas, or fresh vegetables. Like most melted cheese dishes, it is best eaten immediately while the cheese is still warm and stretchy, though it can be kept at a low oven temperature for up to an hour before serving.
Ingredients
UNITSIngredients
4Tomatoes (seeded and medium diced) For the pico de gallo
Preheat the oven to 180°C, and prepare the ingredients for the queso fundido.
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Step 2: Make the pico de gallo
Add the diced tomatoes, serrano peppers, yellow onion, cilantro, lime juice, salt, and pepper to a medium-sized bowl and mix. Set aside. Reserve a small portion of the pico de gallo for the garnish.
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Step 3: Cook the chorizo
Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the chorizo sausage and cook, breaking it apart as it cooks, until browned. Drain any excess fat if needed. Reserve a small portion of the cooked chorizo for garnishing.
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Step 4: Assemble the layers
Transfer the chorizo into an oven-safe soufflé dish or small casserole dish. Start layering with first a portion of cooked chorizo, a spoonful of pico de gallo, and a generous layer of shredded cheese. Repeat the layers one more time.
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Step 5: Bake and serve
Place the dish in the preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes. The cheese will be fully melted, and the edges golden and browned. Remove from the oven, top with the reserved chorizo and pico de gallo, and garnish with sliced green onions.
Chihuahua is a mild and semi-soft melting cheese, while Oaxaca is a soft, stretchy cheese. To substitute these two cheeses, go for mozzarella for the stretch and mild cheddar for flavour.
Use jalapeños. They're the closest substitute for serranos in flavour, texture, and how they turn out after cooking, though slightly milder. Use twice as much to compensate for the heat and flavour of a single serrano.
Queso is a smooth cheese dip typically served with tortilla chips. Queso fundido is melted cheese served hot in a skillet, often topped with chorizo, peppers, or onions and eaten with tortillas.
Not necessarily. The usual queso fundido recipe turns out to be cheesy and savoury. It becomes spicy only when ingredients such as chorizo, serrano peppers, jalapeños, or chile-based toppings are added.