Green Chile Queso Potatoes

Course Side Dish

Cuisine American, Mexican Inspired, Southern

Keyword green-chile-queso-potatoes, queso-potatoes

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 45

Total Time 1

Servings servings

Calories 352kcal

Author Melissa Sperka

2 1/2-3 lbs frozen cubed hash brown potatoes (One 32 oz package plus 1 lb or 2-3 cups from another package)
2 1/2 cup whole milk or half and half
1 lb deli White American Cheese cubed
4 oz chive and onion cream cheese softened
1 4 oz can fire roasted green chiles
2 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp onion powder
1 cup shredded monterey jack
1 Tbsp butter cubed

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 12-inch round or 13x9-inch oblong baking dish with cooking spray. Set aside.
Queso: In a heavy bottomed saucepan, melt together the half and half and cubed white American cheese. Simmer over medium heat until the cheese is completely melted then add the cream cheese.
Continue to cook stirring until fully combined. Add the fire roasted green chiles, garlic salt and onion powder. Mix well then remove from the heat.
Stir the thawed hash browns into the cheese sauce.
Pour the potato mixture into the prepared dish. Top with the remaining shredded cheese. Dot the top with cubed butter.
Bake 45-50 minutes until the potatoes are fork tender and the top is golden brown.
Let stand for5-10 minutes then scoop and serve. (The sauce will continue to thicken as it cools.)

American Cheese - I typically buy this from the deli at my local grocery store in a large chunk and then cube it myself for melting. You can use your favorite brand of white American cheese. You can use salsa con queso in a pinch.
Hash Browns - These queso potatoes are designed to be cheesy. That said, I recommend adding 1/2 of an additional package of hashbrowns to soak up all of the gooey queso. You can add up to one pound (or one half of a 32 ounce bag) of diced hash browns with no other adjustments needed. This will also give you extra servings.
Raw Potatoes vs Frozen Hash Browns - The purpose of using frozen diced or refrigerated hash browns in this dish is to keep the prep time needed to a minimum. You can use raw potatoes in the same amount. When doing so, you'll need to parboil them ever so slightly before mixing with the queso sauce.
Green Chiles - You can use fire roasted, mild, medium or hot green chiles for this recipe. You could also use chopped pickled jalapenos, instead.
Shredded Cheese - You can use pepper jack cheese in place of monterey jack for even more spice.
Garlic Salt - You can use granulated garlic or garlic powder and table salt in place of garlic salt.
Alternate Topping - You can top these potatoes with crushed potato chips for crunch.
Fresh Herbs - You can garnish with parsley or fresh cilantro after baking.