Smoked Brisket Queso – Easy Leftover Brisket Recipe

Sharing is caring!

This smoked brisket queso features leftover chopped brisket, melty white American cheese, fresh pico de gallo, and smoky peppers. The perfect way to use your leftover brisket, and a great smoked queso dip that will have your friends coming back for more!

Here’s my beef (no pun intended!) with most queso recipes – They taste more like a bland cream sauce than a cheesy Mexican queso dip. But this version delivers on flavor with the addition of chopped smoked brisket, a fresh pico de gallo garnish, and just the right amount of smoky, spicy kick from smoked jalapeños and chipotle.

The recipe is similar to our favorite loaded cowboy queso dip, but it adds in leftover smoked brisket for even more smoky, meaty flavor. The brisket is definitely NOT an afterthought in this dip!

So if you need some ideas for using up that leftover brisket that you have vacuum-sealed in the freezer, or if you just want a fantastic smoked dip recipe to impress your friends, I got you.

Ingredients

White American Cheese – This is the most popular choice for making Mexican-American queso dip like you get at your local Mexican restaurant, especially in the South. Other parts of the country may have more of a Tex-Mex version with a yellow cheese, but the general consensus is to use white American or a combination of American and Monterrey Jack.

Jalapeños – We like to smoke ours for a bit while the grill is heating up and while we’re prepping the other dip ingredients.

Chipotle in Adobo – You’ll need one pepper from the can. This secret addition gives your queso dip extra smoke flavor, thanks to the smokiness of the adobo sauce.

Heavy Cream and Milk – I use a combination of both. You can also use half and half if you have that on hand. I find that using heavy cream only makes your dip a little bit too thick.

Roma Tomatoes – This is the preferred tomato variety for dips because they have a lower seed and moisture content. We also remove the seeds so the dip doesn’t get too watery.

Spices – Cumin, chili powder, and granulated garlic give your dip extra Mexican flavor.

Leftover Brisket – The star of this dip. We used about one pound of leftover brisket cut into cubes.

Pico de Gallo – This is the perfect garnish for your queso. It adds a nice bit of color, and great flavor to compliment the fattiness and richness of the brisket and cheese. We make our own using diced roma tomatoes, diced onion, fresh minced garlic, chopped cilantro, lime juice, and salt.

Reheating Your Leftover Brisket

While not necessary, I do prefer to reheat the leftover brisket before adding it to the dip. That way, it saves a little bit of time on the smoker, and it also makes it easier to remove the excess fat from the brisket before adding it to the cheese dip.

But caution – you don’t want to overcook your brisket during the reheating process, or it will just dry out and become tough. No bueno!

My favorite way to reheat brisket is via sous vide. After we’ve smoked the brisket, we vacuum seal the leftovers (still in large chunks) in a vacuum bag, and then freeze or refrigerate. When ready to reheat, just place the vacuum bag in a large pot of water and add the sous vide stick, set to about 160°F.

This allows you to perfectly reheat the brisket while retaining those delicious juices and flavors, and it prevents the brisket from drying out.

A Trick with Your Jalapeños

Whenever we’re making a smoked dip that includes fresh jalapeños, I like to smoke the peppers whole on the pellet grill or smoker first before dicing and adding them to the dip. Even if I just throw the jalapeños on the grill grates while the grill is heating up or while I’m prepping other ingredients.

This does a few things: 1) it softens the jalapeños (kind of like a par-cooking) so that you don’t have bites of raw, crunchy peppers in your dip, 2) it makes the peppers easier to cut and seed, and 3) it adds extra smoke flavor to your dip.

How to Make Brisket Queso on the Smoker

Set your pellet grill or smoker to 250°F with your choice of wood or pellets. Then follow these easy steps:

Step 1: Chop leftover brisket. Dice the leftover brisket into small cubes that are about 1/2″ square. If your brisket is super fatty, you probably want to remove the excess fat while you’re chopping and discard it. You don’t want excess liquid fat floating on top of your queso.

Step 2: Make the fresh pico de gallo. Combine diced tomatoes, diced onion, diced jalapeno, chopped cilantro, lime juice, and salt in a medium bowl. Mix well, and refrigerate until ready to use.

Step 3: Cube the white American cheese. Cut the American cheese into cubes that are about 3/4″ to 1″ square.

Step 4: Smoke the dip on the pellet grill or smoker. Add all of the brisket queso ingredients to a 12″ cast iron skillet, and smoke at 250°F for about 45-50 minutes.

Step 5: Stir well and continue to cook. After the initial smoking time, your queso should be quite a bit softer and easier to stir. Stir well to help melt the cheeses and incorporate the milk and cream, then put the dip back on the smoker for another 45 minutes.

Step 6: Garnish and serve. Add a few heaping spoonfuls of the fresh pico de gallo to the middle of the dip. Then serve with tortilla chips. Or if you’re feeling fancy, you can also fry your own corn tortillas while the dip is smoking for homemade chips.

Storage and Reheating

Store leftover queso dip in an airtight container in the fridge. Reheat slowly on the stovetop or in the microwave, adding a splash of milk to loosen if needed.

Sharing is caring!