Queso is a side dish and also an appetizer inspired by Mexican cuisine. It comes with a thick and creamy melted cheesy texture. However, there’s a Mexican restaurant name Costa Vida located in Texas, USA. This restaurant is reputed for serving different traditional dishes. And one of the best dishes of the Costa Vida is its queso.
If you want to try this delicious item at home, here’s the detail about the Costa Vida queso recipe. The Costa Vida queso is a flexible dish served as a dessert or a side dish.
This versatile dish can also be used as a topping and spread. You can use queso inside of tacos, with cooked beans, on top of enchiladas, and as many more options. Pretty Incredible!
Costa Vida Queso Ingredients
Ingredients that the copycat queso recipe requires are-
Cooking Oil (2 Tbsp)
Take 2 tbsp of cooking oil.
Tomato (½ Cup)
Take 1 or 2 tomatoes and dice them. Take ½ cup of these diced tomatoes for your recipe.
Cilantro Leaves (½ Cup)
Take ½ cup of fresh cilantro leaves.
Whole Milk (2 Cups)
To make the mixture thicker and creamy, you’ll require 2 cups of whole milk.
Garlic (3 Cloves)
For Costa Vide queso, you need little garlic for an added flavor. Take 3 cloves of garlic and chop them.
Yellow Onion (1 Cup)
Take 1 or 2 medium yellow onions and chop them into small pieces. Take 1 cup of chopped onion.
Jalapenos (2)
To add heat to the recipe, take 2 jalapenos and finely dice them.
Cheddar Cheese (3 Cups)
You’ll also require a whole American cheese giant piece and grate it finely. Take 3 cups of grated cheese.
Pepper Jeck Cheese (2 Cups)
Take your pepper jack cheese and grate it the same way you did the cheddar cheese.
Salt (1 Tsp)
1 tsp of salt is perfect for making this simple dish.
How to Make Costa Vida Queso Dip?
You can simply make this dish as instructed below-
Step-1
Put a saucepan on the stove and put oil in it. Let the oil warm over medium heat. Once the oil is heated, add chopped onion, garlic cloves, diced jalapenos, and salt. Keep sauteing for 5 minutes.
Step-2
Once the spices are softened and sauteed well, add diced tomatoes. Keep stirring for 5 minutes.
Step-3
When the tomatoes become softened, add cheddar cheese and pepper jack cheese. Also, you have to add whole milk to the mixture. And keep stirring the cheese, milk, tomatoes, and other spices. Continue heating over medium heat for 5 minutes.
Step-4
If you see the mixture looking silky and smooth, add salt to season the mixture, and also add chopped cilantro pop leaves. Stir the mixture for 5 minutes.
Step-5
Your dish is ready. Top the dish with chopped tomatoes and cilantro leaves.
Best Dishes to Serve With
- Tortilla Chips
- Crackers
- Baked Potatoes
- Crostini
- Pretzels
- Raw Vegetables
- Grains
- French Fries
- Nachos
- Baked Eggplant
- Baked Dill Fries
The Easiest Costa Vida Queso Recipe || Have Costa Vida Flavor At Home
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp Cooking Oil
- ½ Cup Tomato
- ½ Cup Cilantro Leaves
- 2 Cups Whole Milk
- 3 Cloves Garlic
- 1 Cup Yellow Onion
- 2 Jalapenos
- 3 Cups Cheddar Cheese
- 2 Cups Pepper Jeck Cheese
- 1 Tsp Salt
Instructions
- Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat.
- Add chopped onion, garlic cloves, diced jalapenos, and salt. Keep sauteing for 5 minutes.
- Once the spices are sauteed well, add diced tomatoes and stir for 5 more minutes.
- Now, add cheddar cheese and pepper jack cheese, and milk to the mixture.
- Keep stirring and continue heating over medium heat for 5 minutes.
- Season the mixture with salt.
- Now, add chopped cilantro pop leaves and stir for 5 minutes.
- Your dish is ready.
Tips
- Queso is exceptionally high in calories. Thus, avoid eating more than 1 cup at a time.
- The ingredients that are used in queso are already the soft types of ingredients. And they become soft easily. Still, if you find your queso isn’t smooth as you want, blend them and again heat with low heat.
- Adding 1 tbsp of lemon juice will break the heat if you don’t like spiciness.
- You can add flour to your queso to make it thick.
- Don’t add milk after removing the mixture from the stove. This practice will make your queso chumpy.
- To remove the clumpiness, add beer to the mixture.
Nutrition
Conclusion
The reason why Costa Vida queso recipe is so popular is its velvety, heat, and sweet flavor. Also, it’s one of the simplest and easiest recipes to cook within a few minutes.
You don’t have to be free for hours to prepare and make this queso recipe. This queso dip will allow you to serve it with various dishes.
Also, it acts as a quick appetizer. Having the queso dip will help you improve your bone health. Also, it’s a good food item for heart disease.