History

Chile con queso, the white-cheese-and-green-chilli original, runs back to early-20th-century San Antonio. The Houston yellow-Velveeta-and-Rotel version emerged after Rotel canned diced tomatoes hit shelves in 1943. Through the 1970s the Original Ninfa's and Felix Mexican Restaurant standardised the Houston restaurant queso: an orange-yellow pool, bubbling, with a side of taco meat or chorizo to fold in. Today every Tex-Mex room has a queso, and elevated rooms (Hugo's, Cuchara) build white versions with poblano or chorizo verde. The bubbling skillet, queso on the table before the menu hits, is canonical.

Common allergens: Dairy

Make it at home

Yield Serves 6 as appetiserHands-on 15 minTotal 20 minDifficulty Easy

Ingredients

  • 450g American cheese or Velveeta, cubed
  • 1 x 280g tin Rotel diced tomatoes with green chillies, drained
  • 120ml whole milk
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1/2 small onion, diced fine
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 jalapeño, deseeded and diced
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 200g cooked Mexican chorizo, optional
  • Warm flour tortillas or tortilla chips, to serve

Method

  1. Melt the butter in a wide saucepan. Sweat the onion, garlic and jalapeño 4 minutes until soft.
  2. Add the cubed cheese and milk. Stir over low heat, constant motion, until the cheese melts into a smooth pool, 6 to 8 minutes.
  3. Stir in the drained Rotel, cumin and paprika. Simmer 2 minutes more.
  4. Transfer to a small cast-iron skillet over a tea light or hot stone. Top with the cooked chorizo, if using. Serve immediately with warm tortillas; the queso firms up fast off the heat.

Tip from the editors. Real Tex-Mex queso uses American cheese (or Velveeta) for the melt. Aged cheddar or Monterey Jack will separate. Don't fight the orange.

This is the TableJourney editorial recipe, modelled on the canonical bistro / counter version. The first place to try the dish in its city of origin is below.

Where to eat tex-mex queso

Tex-Mex queso in Houston

The Original Ninfa's on Navigation ★ 4.7

Tex-Mex$$east-end

The Original Ninfa's on Navigation in Houston is Ninfa Laurenzo's 1973 Tex-Mex room, the birthplace of the restaurant fajita, still serving skirt steak tacos al carbon and Ninfaritas.

Signature: Fajitas (tacos al carbon), Ninfaritas

Order: Fajitas (tacos al carbon) for two, a Ninfarita on the rocks, queso and chips.

Tip: Back patio under the strings of lights beats the front room. The bar opens 90 minutes before the dining room.

2704 Navigation Blvd, Houston, TX 77003 Book →

Hugo's ★ 4.6

Mexican buffet brunch$55 per personSun 10:00-14:30Reservation strongly advised

Hugo's Sunday brunch in Houston is Hugo Ortega's Mexican buffet on Westheimer Road, with chilaquiles, three moles, sopes, churros and the regional Mexican menu compressed into one buffet.

Order: The buffet itself: chilaquiles, mole, sopes, churros

Tip: 12pm seating sells out two weeks ahead; 10am seating is easier. Tableside hot chocolate is the closing course.

1600 Westheimer Rd, Houston, TX 77006 Book →

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