There’s no Rotel in this dip, but you are welcome to add it if you choose (one 8 oz can, but add a little more Velveeta or some shredded Cheddar to keep it from getting too liquidy). I suggest trying this first without the canned tomatoes and chiles, though, because once you taste queso with Sriracha, you may never go back.
Ingredients
2 Tablespoons Butter
3/4 Cup Diced Sweet Onions
18 oz Velveeta Cheese, Cubed
2 Tablespoons Sriracha or Chili Garlic Sauce
Touch of Honey
Directions
Melt the butter in a sauté pan. Add the diced onions and cook for about five to seven minutes, stirring frequently. You may want to add a little water during the cooking so that the onions do not brown too much. A little bit of browning is fine, but you mainly want them to cook until they are tender and translucent.
At this point, you can add the rest of the ingredients to the pan and continue cooking, but you need to keep a close eye on it to make sure the cheese does not burn. I prefer to put the cheese, Sriracha, and honey into a glass bowl, add the cooked onions, and then finish it in the microwave. Heat at one to two-minute intervals on 70% power, stirring in between until you have a smooth consistency.
As for the honey, I took a cooking class from a spa chef years ago (sadly I have since forgotten his name) and he had this to say about adding that ingredient to dishes: “Honey is the thinking person’s MSG”. You don’t want to add too much, just enough to help bring out the flavor of the other ingredients. I usually start with a drop or two, and then maybe add a bit more if needed.
As for the Sriracha sauce, it adds just the right amount of pop to the queso and pairs perfectly well with the cheese. You can add more if you want to amp up the heat level, but don’t go overboard. You want the Sriracha to compliment the other ingredients, not overpower them. I will typically go as much as four tablespoons, depending on who I am making it for. If you use the chili garlic sauce, that has a bit more heat so start with less.
This is a very simple queso, and you can feel free to add different cheeses in case you feel guilty about using that “pasteurized cheese product” stuff (but don’t feel guilty, God invented Velveeta for queso). I will often add some shredded Cheddar or Monterey Jack, or the white Mexican melting cheese pairs very well with the Velveeta as well. You can go half and half with that, though you might want to add a touch of milk or other liquid so that the queso is not too thick (hate it when that chip breaks off in dip). The key is to go with a milder cheese because that pairs best with the Sriracha. A tablespoon or so of pickled jalapeno can add a nice perk as well (more on that at this link).