Last year for Appetizer Night at duck camp, Mom was trying to figure out what to make when Derek piped up, “what about that cheesy, hamburger dip?” Because what good Appetizer Night, Tailgate Party, or Football afternoon is complete without a good cheese dip? Mom’s homestyle spicy sausage and Velveeta dip was the perfect addition to our App Night.
Now I know that some purists out there are going to turn their noses up at the use of Velveeta and say it’s not “real” cheese, but for a cheese dip like this it has some serious melting power. And it’s a family favorite. If it’s not broke… This cheese dip gets a little bit of spice from spicy ground pork sausage as well as a jar of salsa. Oh, and the Velveeta gets more melting power and creaminess from a can of cream of mushroom soup. Yep. That’s right. It surprised me too when I asked mom for the recipe the first time. It does something magical in how it keeps it smooth, creamy and dippable.
Here’s what you need:
Start by adding the sausage and hamburger to a larger skillet along with one small onion that’s been minced.
Brown the meat over medium heat, breaking it up with a spatula as it browns. The onion will soften, become translucent and almost melt away. Continue cooking and breaking it up until the meat is small – we don’t want meatballs in a cheese dip.
Drain the fat from the meat.
Now we finish it up in the microwave. You could do this on the stovetop too, but you’d want to stir almost constantly and I find the microwave easier. Start by cutting up a 2 lb block of Velveeta into chunks and put in a large bowl. Top with a can of cream of mushroom soup.
Top with the browned meat mixture.
Stir together. Microwave for 3-5 minutes until the Velveeta is pretty melted but not completely smooth. I stir once in the middle of this time.
Pour in a 16 oz jar of salsa.
Stir it all together.
Now you can see there are still some chunks of cheese left and streaks of red. Pop it back into the microwave for another 1-2 minutes. Stir together until it’s smooth.
This cheese dip stays pretty smooth for quite a while as it cools down, the cream of mushroom helps with that. But, I like mine warm so I poured it into a crockpot.
Serve with tortilla chips.
This dip freezes great. The batch I made is quite large and could fill my large crock pot. I make this much because the sausage, ground beef and Velveeta all come in the right proportions in the grocery store for a big batch. Just take any extra put it into Ziploc bags and freeze. Then you have some to thaw and eat whenever you’re in the mood.
- 1 lb ground spicy pork sausage (I like Jimmy Dean Hot)
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 small onion, finely minced
- 1 can cream of mushroom soup
- 2 lb block of Velveeta cut into 1 inch cubes
- 16 oz jar salsa
- In a large skillet over medium heat, brown hamburger and sausage along with the onion. Cook until brown and the meat is broken up into small pieces. Drain fat from meat.
- Add Velveeta and mushroom soup to a large bowl. Add meat.
- Microwave for 3-5 minutes, stirring once until almost melted.
- Stir in salsa.
- Microwave for an additional 1-2 minutes.
- Stir until smooth, microwave longer if needed.
- Keep warm in crockpot.
- Freeze leftovers.
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