Tex Mex | beach house kitchen

Treat your nachos/ tortilla/ enchilladas (anything you fancy really) to this creamy, smoky queso! This is a classic tex mex style dip gone vegan, it has a lovely thick texture that clings to your nachos and it’s a load healthier too.

Chilli con Queso (basically cheese plus chillies) is the national dish of Texas (Texas is a nation isn’t it?!) That’s what I’ve been told….. Either way, the lone star state is pretty obsessed with this creamy, dippy, lovely stuff.

We love it poured over spicy sweet potato fries, now your nibblin’. I’ve also found it makes an interesting twist on Welsh Rarebit…Texas Titbit? Serve with your favourite Mexican style bean dish, this queso takes yum wherever it goes.

There are loads of ways of making a comforting vegan queso, but I like this one because it’s simple and uses easy to find ingredients. You can add to it what you like, I’ve heard people are making kimhci queso! But let’s face it, Kimchi goes well in most things.

There’s nothing flashy here, but it tastes goooooodd! In the realm of dips, this is way up there for me. Like a Texan hummus, a sunshine guac, but calling these dishes ‘dips’ seems to belittle them. What do you think?

Nachos have always been a thing with me, I think there just perfect party food, they’re fun (Jane disagrees) and a mountain of nachos is perfect for sharing and enjoying with drinks and a giggle. Why is that? I think it’s the sharing aspect. Communal nibbles. I’ve always preferred sharing food, when we go to restaurants, I’m that guy who wants to taste everyone else’s food. Hah! You have been warned…..

Thing about ‘normal’ queso is that its made with processed, ultra orange, cheese. Bahhh! This queso recipe has cashews which are creamy and lovely and packed with healthy stuff, also tapioca flour, gluten-free and a good source of carbs, chillies (super high in vitamin C), turmeric (outrageously good for us), paprika (see chillies), garlic…..you get the idea, this is a super healthy dip. But, it tastes creamy and delicious too.

I have limited queso experience but I have fortunately been to Mexico, from North to South, totally awesome country and such a diverse food culture. I travelled up along the border with the US, which can be a pretty dicey and spicy place in some towns and for a clueless wanderer, it was an eye opener. But the nachos were always sensational.

I’d only known nachos from the UK, as say Doritos, but never with all the add ons and embellishments. Making this queso really got my tex mex hat twitching, I’m going to do my fully loaded nachos for you, watch this little ol’ space. They’re coming…..

I use tapioca starch here, many use corn starch, but tapioca gives it a really nice stringy, thick texture. I’ve made mozzarella style cheese with tapioca starch, Moxarella recipe here, it really is a genius ingredient. You’ll find it in health food shops across the land for sure. Of course, you can order it online, we get ours from Suma but they do a minimum order. Check out the website here, get some friends together and put an order in. Suma will also sort you out with all those tricky to get vegan products that you may be struggling with. We’re not sponsored in anyway by Suma, we just think they’re great. We’re not sponsored by anyone actually! The BHK is free!!

If you like what you see here, let us know in the comments below. Are you in Texas? Are you in Mexico? Are you in Wales?

Recipe Notes

If you have a really good blender, you don’t even need to soak the cashews, although soaking nuts is good for your health. See what we wrote about that here.

If you’re not a chilli/smoky fan, leave out the chipotle, it’s still really tasty.

This queso is quite thick, just stir in more milk or water when you’re cooking to make it thinner, like a pourable, double cream consistency is nice drizzled over nachos (Fully Loaded Nachos coming soon).

We want a nice kick of chilli here, go for it!

Chipotle chilli paste, you’ll find in most supermarkets. Stir it into stews and soups for lovely smokiness with chilli-ish benefits.

Not into mountains of nachos, toast or grill some corn or wheat tortillas and cut them up into little triangles. Or go for veggies, chop up some of your favs and dip away.

Chipotle & Cashew Queso

The Bits – For one large bowlful

375ml soya milk

125g cashews (soaked in water for 2 hours)

2/3 teas turmeric

1 teas paprika/ cayenne pepper (if you like it really hot!)

4 tbs nooch (nutritional yeast flakes)

2 tbs tapioca starch/ flour

1 small garlic clove (crushed)

1/2 – 1 teas salt

2 – 4+ teas chipotle paste (as you like your fiery-ness)

Topping

2 tbs jalapeno chillies

Fresh coriander

Do It

Add all the bits to a blender, except the chipotle paste. Blend until smooth.

In a saucepan on medium heat, add the queso and simmer for 8-10 minutes, stirring. Tastes the queso, if it tastes a little chalky due to the starch/ flour, keep stirring and cooking. Taste again, add chipotle paste and more salt as needed.

You may like to top with jalapeno chillies, a light dusting of paprika/ cayenne pepper and fresh coriander.

Very nice when served warm with nachos/ tortillas. I also like to serve the nachos warm, pop them in a low oven for 5-10 minutes.

You can also serve this dip alongside Mexican/ Tex mex style bean dishes, burritos, tacos, quesadillas etc. All very tasty. I love it especially served with a tangy salsa.

Foodie Fact

Cashews are low in fat for a nut and are a good source of protein and iron.