What’s black and white and read all over? My recipe for Sonoran-style nachos with queso blanco sauce, black beans, and bright red chiltepin salsa. Creamy, mild white cheese, whole black beans, and a hot chiltepin salsa. The queso blanco salsa is a simple béchamel base with shredded white Mexican cheese melted in along with onion flakes and a splash of pickled jalapeño juice.
This recipe gives three options; Monterey Jack, pepper jack, or queso quesadilla. Monterey Jack melts most smoothly and has the mildest flavor. Pepper jack adds heat and flecks of chiles. Queso quesadilla is a mild, creamy Mexican melting cheese with a buttery flavor. It’s the preferred choice but not available everywhere.
The pickled jalapeño brine in the queso sauce adds brightness that cuts through the richness of the butter and cheese and adds a subtle heat that’s different from fresh chile heat. It also helps stabilize the emulsion slightly, reducing the chance of the sauce breaking and becoming grainy.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon flour any variety
- ½ cup milk any variety
- 1 tsp onion flakes
- 1 tsp juice from pickled jalapenos
- 2 cups tortilla chips any variety
- ½ cup finely shredded low-fat melty Mexican cheese Jack, pepper-jack, queso quesadilla etc.
- ½ cup black beans drained and rinsed
- Jackie's chiltepin salsa or other smooth red salsa
- jalapeno slices
- 1 oz Queso Anejo, cotija or other hard Mexican cheese for garnish
Instructions
- Melt butter in a nonstick skillet over low heat add milk. Slowly whisk in flour to thicken. Mix in cheese, onion flakes and jalapeno juice, stirring constantly for 3 or 4 minutes until the cheese melts into the milk mixture and forms a smooth sauce.
- Arrange chips on a large platter. Spoon a bit of sauce on each chip followed by the black beans, jalapeno slices and salsa. Crumble the queso Anejo on top. Serve immediately.
