Traeger Smoked Queso
A slightly lower calorie spin on smoked queso con carne pairing extra lean ground beef and reduced fat cream cheese with a blend of Colby and Monterey Jack cheese, fire roasted tomatoes and green chiles, and cowboy caviar. It's the perfect Tex-Mex queso for your next hootenanny, regardless of calorie count.
Servings 16 Servings
Calories 175kcal
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds Extra Lean Ground Beef*
- 2 packets Taco Seasoning
- 1 cup Water
- 8 oz Colby-Monterey Jack Cheese or 4 oz of each
- 8 oz Reduced Fat Cream Cheese
- 1 can (15oz) Fire Roasted Tomatoes
- 1 jar (13oz) Cowboy Caviar**
- 1 can (4oz) Diced Green Chiles***
- Optional: ½ to 1 cup Milk for a thinner queso
- Guacamole Pico de Gallo, Cotija Cheese or Queso Fresco, and Cilantro, for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat your Traeger to 250ºF with the lid closed.
- Brown and fully cook the ground beef with the taco seasoning and water.
- Add the cooked taco meat to a large disposable grill pan, cast iron skillet, or baking dish that's safe to go in your smoker. Cut the cheese into smaller pieces and add to the pan along with the remaining ingredients, keeping each ingredient separate.
- Add the pan to the smoker and cook for 30-40 minutes until the cheese begins to melt. Stir everything together and once evenly mixed, smoke for an additional 15-20 minutes until the queso begins to brown around the edges.
- Garnish with chopped cilantro, guacamole, pico de gallo, and cotija cheese, if desired. Serve immediately with tortilla chips.
Video
Notes
*You can swap the ground beef taco meat for other options like chorizo or the popular breakfast sausage. To keep things on the leaner side, consider using something like my low fat chicken chorizo or lean ground pork chorizo.
**I used Trader Joe's Cowboy Caviar, but a blend of black beans and corn or black bean salsa would work in a pinch. You can also use homemade cowboy caviar. Most use black-eyed peas, but I'd swap for pinto beans or go with black beans only for this smoked queso.
***You can swap these for diced pickled jalapeño peppers to give your queso an extra kick.
Pellet Grill Note: I used a Traeger Pro 575 with Traeger Signature pellets. You can increase the temperature to the 300ºF range to speed up the cook or cut the cheese into smaller pieces. A faster cook means less smoky flavor.
To make this queso in an oven, add everything to a baking dish and bake at 400ºF for 15-20 minutes, stirring halfway through.
Nutrition
Serving: 6ounces | Calories: 175kcal | Carbohydrates: 9g | Protein: 10g | Fat: 9g