Canned Evaporated Milk Is The Secret Ingredient For The Ultimate Queso

Snacking on a bowl of queso and chips, accompanied by a refreshing cocktail, is one of the many fine pleasures of life. While the offering is widely available at restaurants around the country, it's always fun to try and whip up something yourself at home. If you're embarking on a homemade queso journey, enjoy the ride, but we have a small tip for you to help you take this dip even further.

Most traditional queso recipes will call for something like milk or cream. Well, if you're a fan of extra thick and creamy queso (who isn't?), try adding some evaporated milk to the dish instead the next time you make it. Evaporated milk helps to keep this dip extra creamy as it's thicker than other dairy products thanks to its lower water content.

Another incentive to use evaporated milk is that it helps prevent the dip from congealing– especially when combined with cornstarch. These combinations help keep the dish thick and the cheese from taking on an odd clumpy texture, which is far from ideal.

To understand why evaporated milk is a perfect ingredient for queso, let's dig into exactly what it is first. Evaporated milk is simply regular milk that has been put through a heating process to get rid of over half of its water content. This makes the milk take on a creamier taste and texture than other kinds of milk, including cream or half-and-half. This also makes it super versatile as it can be used to help thicken up anything from a cup of coffee to a bowl of soup. Keep in mind that evaporated milk is also different from condensed milk as it doesn't come with any added sweeteners, so make sure not to mix these two up.

Evaporated milk works best in queso because it doesn't have that excess of water and it can help your dip reach a delicate balance between super thick and too thin. (As in you're not constantly having to alternate between adding more milk and then more cheese.) If the thought of avoiding that is a relief, let's dig into how you can make this perfect queso happen.

If we have you convinced, then it might be time to make some queso so you can try it for yourself. There are many different ways to make this classic dish, so we'll just lay out a solid blueprint for the main ingredients so you have a jumping-off point. 

To start, you'll need to get your cheese of choice. Mozzarella and white American are some common options for queso, but lovers of spice might want to give pepperjack a try. White cheddar is also an option. Next, you'll need to get a can of evaporated milk, of course, and some cornstarch to aid in that thickening process. Then gather your spices of choice. Salt and pepper are the classics, and many people opt to add jalapeño to make the mixture more flavorful. Cilantro, tomato, and chiles are some other common additions, but again, it all depends on what queso you want to make for yourself. 

Once you've gathered your ingredients, you can get to cooking. From queso blanco to chili con queso, consider giving evaporated milk a chance and let us know what you think.