Make a delicious queso cheese dip with Velveeta, Rotel, sausage all cooked in the slow cooker. This staple queso recipe is a crowd favorite!

A recent visit to the Texas Panhandle inspired me to share this easy queso recipe. This is how queso is made in many areas around that part of Texas. It’s a staple appetizer at everything from cookouts, gamedays, showers and the holidays. On a windy and cold West Texas day, this is the kind of thing you want to have to snack on.
Ingredients
Just a few notes on the ingredients, recipe card available at bottom of the page.
- Sausage: One pound of a ground pork original breakfast sausage such as Jimmy Dean. I like to use the HEB light breakfast sausage.
- Rotel: Two cans of diced tomatoes with green chiles, not drained.
- Velveeta: A 32 oz. block of Velveeta cheese. Cube the Velveeta cheese to help it melt faster.
- Milk: Just a little bit is used to thin out the queso to the desired consistency. I used 2 %.
How to make
Add to slow cooker
Brown sausage, discard any excess grease. In a slow cooker lined with a liner, place cooked sausage, Velveeta and rotel. Cook for 2 hours on LOW until cheese is melted.
Stir and serve
Remove lid and stir in milk until desired consistency is reached. Serve warm with tortilla chips.
Note: When queso is done, reduce heat on crock-pot to warm.
Variations
- Sub the sausage for another meat, such as beef taco meat or chopped brisket.
- Add a can of diced green chiles, sauteed jalapeno peppers or fresh roasted Hatch green chiles.
- Can mix in additional specialty cheeses such as pepper jack. If you do this, you may want to increase the milk a little bit.
Serving & Storage
Serve with tortilla chips. Other serving ideas include as a topping for baked potatoes, over burritos, enchiladas or nachos.
Store leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container. Best if eaten within 3-4 days. Warm leftovers up in intervals in the microwave or on the stovetop. You may want to add a splash of milk when reheating.
📖 Recipe
Crock-Pot Queso with Sausage
Ingredients
- 1 lb. premium pork sausage
- 32 oz. Velveeta Original cut into cubes
- 2 – 10 oz. cans diced tomatoes with green chiles
- ¼ c. milk
Instructions
- Brown sausage in skillet until no longer pink. Drain grease.
- Place sausage, Velveeta, diced tomatoes in slow cooker on LOW. Cook for 2 hours or until cheese is melted.
- Sitr in milk. Reduce heat to warm and serve with tortilla chips.
Notes
- Used a breakfast roll sausage, similar to Jimmy Dean Original Sausage.
- Rotel is not drained.
This queso with sausage is so hearty and delicious. It is easy to see why it is such a go-to recipe for many hardworking folks in the high plains of Texas. In other places, I think they call this Velveeta cheese dip with sausage.
I hope your family enjoys this recipe! If you want to make a dish that is guaranteed to be a hit, you can’t go wrong with the queso with sausage. Let me know what variations you try it with, if any.
Alaine
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KT
I also like to add an extra can of diced green chiles to the recipe sometimes. Yum!