Mac and Cheese will always be the ultimate comfort food. My Mom had a simple recipe using Velveeta cheese because it melts so creamy and tastes so good. I recently found the new Queso Blanco Velveeta and wondered how it would taste if I made it into a cheese sauce for Mac and Cheese. Since it was a Queso cheese I added some green chile. It’s the perfect side dish to a to a big juicy burger or barbecue sandwich.
You’ll need pasta, (I had a box of shell pasta on hand), Velveeta Queso Blanco cheese, butter, half and half and green chile.
Velveeta has the ounces listed on the wrapping just like sticks of butter do. Slice a 12 ounce chunk of the Velveeta cheese and cut into 1 inch cubes. Slice the 1/4 cup butter into 1 inch pieces also. This cheese is about the same color as butter so you’ll have to look closely to find the butter at the back of the bowl.
Cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain well. Using the same pot you cooked the pasta in, place the hot pasta back into the pot, add the butter and cheese. Gently stir over low heat to slowly start melting the cheese and butter.
After just a few minutes it’s starting to turn creamy.
Add 1/2 cup diced green chile and mix in well with pasta and cheese.
Every bite of pasta is covered with creamy queso and green chile.
This is one of the easiest things to make but wait until you taste it!
Queso Shells and Cheese
16 ounces Pasta, cooked to package directions
4 tablespoons Butter, (cut into 1 inch pieces)
12 ounces Velveeta Queso Blanco Cheese (cut into 1 inch cubes)
1/3 cup Half and Half
1/2 cup Green Chile, roasted, stemmed, peeled and diced
Cook pasta according to package directions.
In a saucepan over low heat, melt the butter and Velveeta cheese cubes. Add the half and half and continue stirring until the sauce becomes creamy. When the pasta has cooked, drain and add to the cheese sauce. Add 1/2 cup of diced green chile and blend into the pasta and cheese.
Makes 8 servings
An Inspired Cook 
3 thoughts on “Queso Shells and Cheese”
City Girl
Thanks for the recipe! I had some queso blanco I needed to use, and found this! Delicious! For something slightly different I added 1 chipotle pepper instead of the green chilies, mostly because that’s what I needed to use up. It will make it a bit spicy (if your sensitive to spice) but adds a smoky flavor.
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NativeNM
What a great compliment, glad you enjoyed it! I would definitely love chipotle with the queso blanco flavor, thanks for the tip!
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City Girl
Reblogged this on City Girl Meets Country and commented:
So normally I’m not crazy about Velveeta…actually I’m still not crazy about Velveeta. It’s a little too thick and sweet and salty for my liking, but I had a recipe I wanted to try and I usually love stuff from the Pioneer Woman; specifically the Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches. They were quite tasty – however I did not buy the high quality beef that I should have so I don’t think it was as good as it should have been. I also had lots of veggies left overs, but they were delicious in between some tortillas with a little chicken and cheddar cheese.
Anyway, so I’ve had this Queso Blanco sitting in my fridge FOREVER – literally. But I don’t think Velveeta (much like Twinkies) ever goes bad and would probably survive the apocalypse (much like cockroaches, but lets not mix bugs and food – that’s just gross, and I am starting to feel a little queesy). And today I had such a hankerin’ for mac and cheese but didn’t have the boxed kind, and I didn’t want to go to the store b/c it’s snowing and -8F (woohoo we’re warming up! We’re suppose to get up to 3 today! which is better than yesterday – we got up to -1F) and the roads are pretty much frozen over. So I thought well maybe I can make some mac and cheese with the Queso Blanco. And Thanks to Google and An Inspired Cook, I found just the recipe: Queso Shells & Cheese.
*Side note: I followed as best as my ingredients allowed me since I had already used some of the shells in my bag of pasta, only had 10ish oz of blanco queso, and I substituted 1 chipotle pepper from a can I had opened earlier – also leftover from a PW recipe. Oh and because I love my arteries and heart the way they are I cut the butter in half – but I do that with the boxed stuff too. So butter to whatever you like.
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