Queso Fundido translates to “melted cheese” or “melted cheese” and this wonderful pot of cheese is definitely redundant It’s a classic Mexican snack that you can customize to your heart’s content.
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
In a large pan, cook and crumble the sausage until brown. Remove from pan and pat dry with paper towels. Pour off any excess fat. Add the onion and bell pepper to the pan and cook over medium-high heat until the vegetables are tender and golden brown, about 7 to 8 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
To make the pan, place 1/3 of the cheese in a medium-sized ovenproof pan. Add half of the sausage. Add another third of the cheese, then as much of the vegetable mixture as you want (you may have a little left over). Add almost all of the remaining cheese, the rest of the sausage, and then the rest of your cheese. Sprinkle the paprika very lightly on top.
Note: Depending on the size of your pan or baking dish, you may have some leftover ingredients. Just let the ingredients reach roughly to the top of the pan; once the cheese melts, they will shrink a lot.
Place in the oven and start watching after about 4 to 5 minutes. You want to bake until the cheese is completely melted, hot, and slightly bubbly …… but before the cheese starts to harden. (In other words, you still want the cheese to be extra gooey).
Remove from the oven, top with diced tomatoes, sprinkle with tomatoes, and serve immediately with tortilla chips!
Note: Be sure to have everything ready so you can serve the cheese right out of the oven. It’s best when it’s steaming hot.
Important: Wrap a cloth around the handle of the pan so guests don’t burn themselves.
Queso Fundido is everywhere. It is taking over the world. It is sweeping the country! My friend Gabby made it a few days ago, and my friend Adrienne made it last year, each with their own little take on this delicious Mexican snack. The common denominator, of course, is queso, or cheese, which is what makes me want to get out of bed in the morning, and as soon as you melt a bunch of cheese with one or two other ingredients and serve it with tortillas or chips (or both), you’re on the right track.
When I first learned about Queso Fundido, I realized that I had been making it unknowingly my whole life. When I was growing up, I would sometimes put a small slice (okay, a big slice) of cheese on a plate and microwave it until it got gooey. Then I’d stand there and eat it. With a fork. No shame or regret at all. Even though I was missing the meat component of Queso Fundido, I definitely had the cheese part.
“Queso Fundido” translates to “melted cheese” (or “melted cheese”), and this pot of fabulousness definitely had a lot of it. It’s a classic Mexican appetizer (actually, the original Mexican version was flambéed …… with wine!) ), and you can customize it to your heart’s content. It’s absolutely perfect for the Super Bowl. Keep it simple, just cheese and sausage …… Or dress it up a bit like I did in this post.
It’s definitely a cheese lover’s paradise.
Chop up an onion…
Then dice a yellow bell pepper…
And a green bell pepper.
And really, you can use any color bell pepper: red, yellow, orange, green. Just let your conscience be your guide.
But here’s my idea. When it’s done, I put the diced tomatoes in the whole delicious mess. That takes care of the red.
It took me entirely too much time to think about the color.
Next, cook some sausage! I used good breakfast sausage (aka the J.C. Potter stuff), but if you really want to go crazy, you can use pepperoni. (Pepperoni is nice and spicy!) .
When the sausage is fully cooked, transfer it to a paper towel to drain. Because it will be with all the melted cheese for a while, you want to remove as much grease as possible.
If there is excess grease in the pan, pour it out and, if necessary, wipe it off with a paper towel. Then add the onions and peppers to the pan and cook over medium-high heat.
You want to cook them for about 5 minutes, until they’re soft and golden brown! Then remove the pan from the heat. Then remove the pan from the heat and set it aside.
(Note: I wouldn’t use all of these veggies because I used a smaller pan).
Dice up some tomatoes. You’ll need them later!
Next step. Cheese. This is obviously a very important part of Queso Fundido. You can really use any cheese you want, but you want it to be the kind of cheese that gets “stretchy” when it melts. Therefore, Monterey Jack or mozzarella is perfect.
Grate it, because it is the most important part of the whole dish.
I also grated some Mexican “Queso Quesadilla” cheese, which I found to be basically the same as Monterey Jack cheese
Now, the size of the pan is another variable. I like to use a smaller pan for Queso Fundido – which is about 6-7 inches, I think – because Queso disappears faster …… This is what you want because otherwise, in a large pan, it might not get eaten fast enough and the cheese might start to harden, which is always an epic tragedy.
You could also use a regular glass or ceramic baking dish, it doesn’t have to be a pan! You can also divide these among others.
You could also divide it up among a few smaller containers.
Or, of course, you can use a large pan for this. Just make sure you have enough guests to wolf it down.
Please start with a layer of cheese.
Then add another layer of sausage, please.
And then add a layer of cheese…
Another layer of veggies.
Note: If you have leftover veggies, save them in the fridge and make an omelet!
Another note: If you don’t care about representing all the colors of the rainbow, you can use just an onion and a bell pepper. This recipe is very flexible.
Adding a final layer of cheese…
Some more sausage…
Some more cheese to cover the sausage.
And finally, to give it all a nice kick, give it a light sprinkle of paprika! You can also do a very light sprinkle of paprika. You can also sprinkle a little cumin on it if you’d like. A little extra flavor never hurt anyone.
Put it in a 400 degree oven and start watching it after about 4 to 5 minutes. You want to make sure the cheese is really hot and bubbly, but not so hot that it starts to harden. So start peeking at about 4 minutes …… But honestly, it may need to be in there for about 8 minutes. Probably more, depending on how big or small your container is.
Now, this is good and delicious and you can go ahead and eat it now.
But for me, it’s not rich enough in color.
Topped with diced tomatoes the moment it comes out of the oven!
Oh, boy.
But I have one more thing to do.
Cut up cilantro!
Just what I needed.
Before I dive into this hub and totally embarrass myself …… Let’s take a final moment to look at this frying pan full of perfection. I mean …… Melted cheese. Sausage. Peppers. Onions. Cool, fresh tomatoes. Fresh, tasty cilantro.
The world is a beautiful place.
Did I mention that I love cheese? I’m not sure I’ve made that clear in the 8 years I’ve been blogging.
Oh, and remember what I mentioned a few seconds ago about diving in? Hmmm …… That’s exactly what I did.
Have a fork nearby. If it’s hard to scoop out the chips without breaking them, a fork can help hold the cheese in place some
If you need something fabulous to serve your Super Bowl guests ……
If chicken wings, brownies, chili and sliders aren’t enough, then…
This is absolutely a perfect solution!
Real quick, just a few tips/reminders.
- The pan will be hot, so be sure to wrap a cloth around the handle and tell your guests that it’s a hot item.
- Be sure to watch it in the oven to make sure the cheese doesn’t “overcook”.
- I cannot stress enough the importance of serving it hot right out of the oven! It changes quickly when it starts to cool and you want to experience maximum melt.
You’re going to love this, folks!
Yields : 12 serving(s) Prep Time : 10 mins Cook Time : 20 mins Total Time : 30 mins
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb. Hot Breakfast Sausage (such As Jimmy Dean Or J.C. Potter) Or Chorizo
- 1 whole Medium Onion, Finely Diced
- 2 whole SMALL Bell Peppers (any Color Combination), Seeded And Finely Diced
- 1 lb. Monterey Jack, Grated (OR Mozzarella, Or Other Stringy Melting Cheese), Grated
- Sprinkle Of Chili Powder
- 3 whole Roma Tomatoes, Diced
- 1/4 c. Cilantro, Chopped
- Tortilla Chips For Serving
