Sauces & dressings · Creamy sauces & dips

Queso dip

Name: Queso dip
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 15 min
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients: 1 cup evaporated milk; 1 tbsp cornstarch; 2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded; 1 cup Monterey jack cheese, shredded; 1 jalapeño, minced; 1 Roma tomatoes, diced; 1 tsp ground cumin; 1/4 tsp salt; a handful fresh cilantro, chopped

Real melted-cheese queso, no processed loaf: evaporated milk and a little cornstarch keep sharp cheddar smooth. Ten minutes and it stays dippable on the table.

Time: 15 min (5 prep + 10 cook)
Servings: 8
Per serving: 200 kcal
Protein: 11 g

Both directions are legitimate — the score measures fullness per calorie, not virtue. Every version is the same dish, rebalanced.

Ingredients

1 cup evaporated milk240 g
1 tbsp cornstarch10 g
2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded200 g
1 cup Monterey jack cheese, shredded100 g
1 jalapeño, minced30 g
1 Roma tomatoes, diced80 g
1 tsp ground cumin2 g
1/4 tsp salt2 g
a handful fresh cilantro, chopped8 g

Every ingredient links to its food page — same data, same score, same formula.

Steps

Whisk the cornstarch into the cold evaporated milk, then warm it gently.
Add the cheeses a handful at a time off the boil, stirring until each melts. The starch plus evaporated milk is the emulsifier — this is how you skip processed cheese and still avoid a greasy split.
Stir in the jalapeño, cumin and salt; fold the tomato through.
Cilantro on top. If it thickens as it cools, a splash more milk brings it back.

Alternative

Cottage cheese quesothe cottage cheese rebuild53

Why this score

easy to overeat

Dense calories with little protein, volume or fiber to fill you up.

Three routes to fullness — one is enough

22% of kcal

57% water

1 g/Mcal

What pulls it down

How scores work

Computed on the finished dish, not an average of the parts: 1602 kcal goes into the pot, 672 g of ingredients comes out as ~600 g of food → 267 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water, and energy density is the score's biggest lever — so we show the math. Full formula here.

Per

Calories: 267
Protein: (22%); 14 g
Fat: (67%); 20 g
Carbohydrates: (11%); 8 g
of which sugar: 4 g
Fiber: <1 g
Sodium: 501 mg

Percentages are the share of calories from each macronutrient.

Computed from the ingredients' USDA data — nothing typed by hand. Every number is traceable, every score recomputable.

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Photo: AI-generated. Nutrition and score are computed from the ingredients with the published formula — this recipe hasn't been kitchen-tested by us yet.