History
Queso relleno is a popular dish of the Yucatán Peninsula. A ball of Edam, the queso de bola sold across the region, is hollowed out and filled with a picadillo of minced meat, usually pork, with capers, raisins, olives, almonds and egg, then served in kol, a white sauce thickened with wheat flour, and a tomato sauce. It is less famous than cochinita pibil or panuchos, but Yucatecans count it among their most popular plates. In Cancún the Infatuation recommends the version at Lonchería El Pocito, served in a thick tomato broth with capers and chile xcatic.
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Common allergens: Milk, Pork, Gluten, Egg
Make it at home
Ingredients
- 1 Edam cheese ball, about 1.8 kg
- 500 g minced pork
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 green pepper, chopped
- 2 tomatoes, chopped
- 2 tbsp capers
- 2 tbsp raisins
- 50 g green olives, chopped
- 30 g flaked almonds
- 2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
- 1 tsp oregano
- Salt and pepper
- For the kol: 500 ml chicken stock, 3 tbsp flour, 2 tbsp butter
- For the tomato sauce: 4 tomatoes, 1/2 onion, 1 chile xcatic or güero
Method
- Peel the red wax from the cheese, cut a 2 cm lid from the top and scoop out the inside, leaving a 1.5 cm wall; keep the scooped cheese for another use.
- Fry the onion and pepper in a little oil, add the pork and brown it, then add the tomatoes, capers, raisins, olives, almonds, oregano, salt and pepper and cook for 15 minutes; stir in the chopped egg.
- Pack the picadillo into the cheese shell, replace the lid, wrap in a clean cloth and steam over simmering water for 20 minutes until the cheese softens.
- For the kol, melt the butter, stir in the flour for 1 minute, then whisk in the hot stock and simmer until it coats a spoon.
- For the tomato sauce, blend the tomatoes and onion and simmer for 10 minutes with the whole chile.
- Cut the cheese into wedges and serve in a pool of kol with tomato sauce spooned over.
Tip from the editors. Steam the cheese only until it softens; left too long the shell collapses into the sauce.
Where to eat queso relleno
Queso relleno in Cancún
Lonchería El Pocito ★ 4.4
Lonchería El Pocito on Calle 31 Norte in Cancún is a chalkboard-menu lunch counter for Yucatecan queso relleno, papadzules, poc chuc and panuchos.
OrderQueso relleno in tomato broth, papadzules, and the black-bean and pork tamal.
Why locals goA lunch counter on Calle 31 Norte, off the hotel strip, where locals on their break read the chalkboard menu to see what is left.
TipClosed Tuesdays, and lunch crowds clear the chalkboard, so arrive early; it opened in 1988 as La Cabañita.
Queso relleno in Mérida
Manjar Blanco ★ 4.4
Manjar Blanco on Mérida's Calle 47 corridor near Paseo de Montejo runs cochinita pibil and queso relleno (Netflix Taco Chronicles featured) lunch only.
SignatureCochinita pibil tacos, Queso relleno negro, Pavo en escabeche
La Tradición ★ 4.3
La Tradición on Calle 60 in Mérida runs chef David Cetina's Yucatecan recados, poc chuc and queso relleno from a family kitchen of two decades.
SignaturePoc chuc, Queso relleno, Sopa de lima
Los Almendros ★ 4.0
Los Almendros on Parque de la Mejorada in Mérida runs the Yucatecan canon since 1972, claiming credit for putting poc chuc on the city's restaurant maps.
SignaturePoc chuc, Papadzules, Queso relleno, Sopa de lima
La Chaya Maya ★ 4.4
La Chaya Maya on Santa Lucía in Mérida pours tortillas on a clay comal in the dining room and runs sopa de lima, poc chuc and panuchos seven days a week.
SignatureSopa de lima, Poc chuc, Papadzules, Cochinita pibil
More cities are in research. Want queso relleno covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.