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junk food

    Nachos with Homemade Queso

    Nachos with Homemade Queso

    If I could pick one food to eat for the rest of my life — chips and queso would be among my top two. I’m going to share an easy recipe you can make with ingredients you probably already have on hand, so you can have it any time!

    It really only takes a few simple ingredients: butter, flour, milk, cheese, and kosher salt to make the creamy queso dip we all know and love. You can make it fancy by adding jalapeños, or green chilies, or enjoy just as it is.

    Top tortilla chips with seasoned ground beef, or turkey (see recipe below), black beans, creamy queso, salsa, and of course, fresh cilantro. No need to run to your favorite Mexican restaurant to pick up a bowl of queso when you can easily make it at home in about 10 minutes.

    Tonight, we’re watching the NCAA Final Four games, and enjoying our delicious nachos. Because any sports event is a great excuse (at least to me) to enjoy a little “cheat-day” food, right?

    Nachos with Homemade Queso

    Print Recipe
    Serves: 4-6 Cooking Time: 20 minutes

    Ingredients

    • 1 tbsp. olive oil
    • 1 lb. lean ground beef or ground turkey
    • 1 tbsp. dried onion
    • 1 tbsp. mild chili powder
    • 1 tsp. ground cumin
    • 1 tsp. garlic powder
    • 1 tsp. kosher salt
    • ---
    • 2 tbsp. butter
    • 2 tbsp. flour
    • 2 cups of milk ( I use 2%)
    • 8 ounces of soft cheese of choice, cut into cubes (mozzarella, colby, etc..)
    • 1 tsp. kosher salt
    • ---
    • 1 bag tortilla chips
    • 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
    • Your favorite salsa
    • Fresh cilantro

    Instructions

    1

    Pour oil in a Dutch oven or large saute pan. Heat on medium high; add turkey or beef and cook until meat is nicely browned. Add next 5 ingredients, mix to combine well, and set aside.

    2

    Place butter in medium saucepan, and melt on low heat. Add flour and mix well, with a whisk, until all lumps are gone. Slowly pour milk in pan, continuing to whisk. Bring to simmer, and quickly turn heat back to low. (You need to get it to a slight "boil" in order to maximize the flour's thickening quality.)

    3

    Slice cheese into cubes, about 1/2" in size.* Slowly whisk cheese into the sauce, and allow each cube to melt before you add the next. Add salt, and remove from heat.

    4

    Top tortilla chips with seasoned meat, black beans, queso, salsa, and cilantro. Serve and enjoy immediately!

    Notes

    *Queso hack -- you can swap cheese cubes with shredded cheese or even sliced deli cheese. Each cheese slice represents about 1 ounce, so you would need 8 slices. (Tear into smaller pieces before adding to sauce.) If using shredded cheese, 2 cups equals approximately 8 ounces.