Classic Nacho Cheese Dip
This Classic Nacho Cheese Dip is a favorite come kickoff (or tipoff) in our house!
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I love going to football games. I love going to basketball games. Heck, I’ll even put up with going to baseball games. Hah…I kid. I enjoy a good baseball game, too. After all, baseball games are a great excuse to grab ballpark food! Although we do have a fun minor league baseball team, we don’t have a lot of other options in our immediate vicinity for live sports.
That’s ok, though. Truthfully, I kinda enjoy watching the games on tv more than going in person. The beer is cheaper, the seats are more comfortable, and you can rewind awesome plays to watch them again. Win-win-win-loss. Huh? Who put that loss in there? Oh, yeah, the lack of ballpark food. There’s just something so enticing about delicious ballpark food!
I’ve always enjoyed some good ballpark nachos. You know the ones I’m talking about. The round tortilla chips with the vibrant (almost radioactive) orange nacho cheese. The other day, I decided it might be fun to recreate some ballpark nachos here at home. I looked at several recipes, and I quickly decided that it would no longer be fun to recreate ballpark nachos.
Apparently the secret to ballpark nachos is a stack of sliced American cheese (the kind in the individual plastic wrappers), milk and a bit of butter. Uhhh. Yeah, I’ll pass on that idea. So I decided to fall back to my Classic Nacho Cheese Dip instead.
Everyone needs a go-to recipe for cheese dip, and this one will absolutely not disappoint. It’s not as easy as microwaving slices of American cheese, but it’s still a relatively easy recipe. The hardest part is making sure you don’t eat it all before the game starts!
What is your favorite ballpark/stadium snack? (It’s still ok to say nachos!)
Classic Nacho Cheese Dip
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
- ½ medium white onion diced
- 1 jalapeno seeded and diced
- 2 cloves of garlic diced
- 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp cumin
- ¾ cup milk
- 8 ounces Monterey Jack cheese cubed
- 12 ounces mild cheddar cheese cubed
- 10 oz. diced tomatoes and green chilies, drained
- 4.5 oz. diced green chilies, drained
- 2 Tbsp fresh cilantro chopped
- ½ cup sour cream
Instructions
- Using a deep frying pan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Once melted, add the diced onions and diced jalapenos. Cook over medium-high heat for 5-6 minutes, or until onions begin to turn soft. Add diced garlic and cook for 2 more minutes, stirring often.
- Whisk the flour and cumin into the pan and cook for about 45 seconds, stirring constantly.
- Add the milk and cubed cheeses. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until cheese has completely melted.
- Remove from heat and stir in the canned diced tomatoes, canned diced chilies, cilantro and sour cream; stir until well combined.
- Transfer mixture to a serving bowl; serve hot with tortilla chips.
I like garlic fries when it comes to ballpark snack, though they are not that great but I’m a fan of anything garlicky. Now that my nephew is part of baseball team, we often watch him play from time to time. This will be a fun snack to take with because you know…baseball can take hours to finish so we need something to keep us alert 🙂
Oh man, now you’ve got me craving garlic fries, Linda! The playoffs start this afternoon…that’s a good excuse to make a batch of garlic fries, right?? Please tell me it is! And yes, I’m with ya…baseball is just a long and boring sport. (Oops, did I say boring?) I much prefer football and basketball, although college baseball is still pretty exciting! Hope you have a great weekend out there! 🙂
Hi David! Now this is my idea of nachos!! That day glow orange stuff is nasty. I go straight for a hotdog with everything to go with a beer!
Loaded hotdogs is always a good choice, Dorothy! We occasionally grill hotdogs at home, but the ballpark hotdogs are always the best. And of course, they definitely taste better next to a good beer! 🙂
You´re like my husband, he loves sports too and always has a reason why he has to watch some or other match, then it´s a final, then a quarter final, then it´s this cup etc etc etc 🙂
THIS DIP DOES LOOK MIGHTY FINE THOUGH 🙂 HAPPY NEW YEAR DAVID!!
Haha! Your husband and I would get along great then. There’s always some reason to watch the game! My wife makes fun of me because I’ll watch random games and pull for random teams based on how the outcome will affect my own team’s standings. Either way, nacho dip is a must! Happy New Year, Johlene! 🙂
I’m with you I love getting nachos at games, in fact the food is one of the best parts! So I love that now I can make this amazing nacho cheese and watch the game from my couch, or not even watch it at all but just enjoy this dip! Yum!
Heck yeah! Nothing beats the couch when it comes to games, Aimee! I mean I enjoy going to games and all, but the hassle sometimes just isn’t worth it. Stay home and make a batch of delicious game food instead! 🙂
I love cheese dips! This one will surely be gone before the game starts 🙂
Heck yeah, Melanie! The hardest part about making this dip is making sure there is still some left once the game starts. Haha! Have a great weekend! 🙂
nothing like a cheese tip on game days! this looks fantastic David!
You’ve got that right, Manali! I love curling up on the couch with some comfort gameday food and watching a good game. I hope you guys have an awesome weekend out there! 🙂
I must live under a rock cos I’ve never had ballpark nachos and now that I know what goes into them, don’t think I will but this dip is something else! Lil Shashi and I went to a Gwinnet Braves game here and after walking round the food area we ended up with popcorn. Yes I know we are a tad bit weird but if this dip was on the menu, we’d have devoured it and forgotten how bored we were! Hope y’all are having a great weekend David.
Haha…ballpark nachos are tasty, Shashi…at least they were before I knew what went into ’em. I’ve also seen recipes that say “melt Velveeta cheese.” I’ll stick with this classic version instead! And yes, popcorn is a must whenever you go to a baseball game! It helps you focus on something besides how boring the game is. Haha! 🙂 Hope you and Lil Shashi have an amazing weekend!
I laughed – almost out loud, but I’m on the L and I don’t want anyone thinking I’m a lunatic – when I read your reaction to what’s really in those nachos. Lesson learned: never read junk food ingredients. Either that, or get comfortable with chemistry. I love your foodie version!
Good thing you didn’t laugh out loud, Jeff. I wouldn’t want you to be “that guy” on the L. You know the one I’m talking about. He sits in the corner laughing to himself. Hope you’re having a good weekend!
I don’t like watching any games, so won’t be able to support this topic. But at least I like cheese dips so you can be sure if you invite me to stop over during those seasons, I won’t be bored. Your dips won’t be safe either, though. Well done!
Oh c’mon, Ben…there has to be some game out there you like watching! Chess perhaps? Isn’t chess like the national sport of Russia? 🙂 Let’s make a deal. You teach me how to play chess, and I’ll keep an endless supply of this cheese dip coming your way!
Omg I love those ballpark nachos!! Even though I know how horrible they are, they taste so darn delicious!! But nothing beats homemade cheesy dip!!
I hear ya, Ami! Those classic ballpark nachos are pretty darned tasty. They’re just one of those foods that you can’t think about what’s in ’em. I can’t bring myself to make them at home, but I can definitely bring myself to make this dip instead. Delicious! Hope your weekend is going well!
Being a girl, I can’t say Im with you on the football game love – but I can say that I love nachos and cheese dips! This looks amazing and Im sure as hell going to be enjoying this on my next youtube binge 😉
Haha, that’s ok, Lucie! You can binge on YouTube while I hog the sports. As long as there’s plenty of cheese dip to go around, then no-one will get hurt! 🙂 Thanks, and I hope you are having an awesome weekend!
I have never made nacho cheese dip before, but I sure love to eat it. This dip looks so good!! I’m definitely making this and if I have time I may make it for the big Clemson game tomorrow!! 🙂
Oh man, you gotta be careful making your own batch of nacho cheese dip, Tamara. We seriously had to ration this one so that we didn’t eat it all at once. 🙂 I think it would definitely be a good dip for watching the game tomorrow! It doesn’t take all that long to make honestly. Enjoy!
For good or for bad (I personally attest to the former) we can’t get enough of this type of game-day food in our household of six sons. Admittedly, I have yet to make a cheese dip but this looks to be the right one to start with! Thanks so much for the great inspiration.
Oh my gosh…6 sons!?! That definitely requires a double batch of dip for every football game! 🙂 This is a really tasty cheese dip, too. Give it a shot…you won’t be disappointed! Thanks so much for stopping by and commenting, too.
Yum! Love that this doesn’t use “cheese product” 😉 I don’t really watch “sports games” unless it is the Olympics or cycling. But I know any gathering will enjoy this!
Tell me about it, Lauren! What exactly is “cheese product”? I think it goes into the radioactive colored nacho dip from ballparks! Ooo…cycling! I love me some cycling. Although that goes better with bread and French cheese than nacho cheese dip. Haha! I hope your year is off a great start! 🙂
There’s nothing better than a great nacho dip! I love that yours is all natural without any funky products! Yum!
I couldn’t agree more, Kathy! Everyone needs a go-to nacho dip, and this is most definitely our favorite. We make it more than I care to admit! 🙂 Hope you had an awesome weekend!
I am not a huge fan of sport (although Dave is), but I am a big fan of the food that goes along with it like this. Dips are totally my thing and even better when they involve cheese 🙂
For real, Dannii! Let Dave watch the soccer (er, football) games and you can totally sit in the corner with this nacho dip. I won’t judge you at all! 🙂 Hope you guys had a fabulous time in Iceland!
Dude, I didn’t even know nachos had variations..I thought it was just standard and…that’s it?
As for the game side…I went to a ball game purely to buy a hot dog so that shows how much of a fan I am :p Now if you pass these over, I might get into it abit more 😀
No way! There’s nacho fries, nacho tots, melted American cheese and then of course this classic nacho dip. The classic is the way to go! And preferably it would be poured over fries AND tots. Because that’s how I like to roll.