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Rotel Cheese Dip is one of the easiest and most common appetizers you can make! We make it year-round in our house.
Anytime we need to take an appetizer to a party, this dip is one of the most requested ones by our friends. (The other top request is a batch of these Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Sweet Peppers – they’re DELICIOUS!)
What goes in Rotel Cheese Dip?
The basic ingredients in this list are what you’ll find in most other Rotel cheese dip recipes:
- Velveeta Cheese
- Rotel
- Ground Beef
How do we make this dip even better?
There are few extra ingredients we add to our Rotel cheese dip that REALLY kicks the flavor up a notch. When our friends ask us what we do differently, they’re often surprised by how simple the answer is. Here are the add-ins we put in our dip:
- Taco Seasoning
- Cream Cheese
- Heavy Whipping Cream
They seem like simple add-ins, but trust me – the flavor is so much better with them added!
Be sure to check out the recipe notes below the recipe for some tips on ingredients & preparing this dip.
The Best Rotel Cheese Dip
Equipment
- Crockpot
- Skillet / Frying Pan
- Crockpot Liner Optional
Ingredients
- 1 block Velveeta Cheese 32 oz. (cubed)
- 2 cans Rotel diced tomatoes with green chiles 10 oz. cans, undrained
- 1 lb Ground Beef
- 1 packet Taco Seasoning
- 4 oz Cream Cheese
- 2 tbsp Heavy Whipping Cream Optional
- Garlic Powder Optional
- Ground Black Pepper Optional
Instructions
- Put your pan on the stovetop over medium to high heat. Add in your ground beef, and brown it. NOTES: I usually sprinkle some garlic powder & pepper over the top of the meat, but that's entirely optional. Be sure to use your spatula or spoon to break it up into smaller pieces.
- Drain the grease from your ground beef, and then add in your taco seasoning packet & water. The amount of water will be on the instructions on the back of the taco seasoning packet- use about half the amount of water that the packet says, and allow the ground beef to cook about another 5 minutes with the seasoning.
- While your ground beef is cooking, add your cubed Velveeta cheese to your lightly greased (or lined) Crockpot. Set Crockpot to Low.
- When the taco seasoned ground beef is done, spoon out over the top of the Velveeta cheese in the Crockpot. This will help to start melting the cheese.
- Add the undrained cans of Rotel, cream cheese, and heavy whipping cream to the Crockpot, and stir well to mix together.
- Cover, and continue to cook on low stirring occasionally for the next 2-3 hours until the cheese is fully melted.
- Serve immediately, or leave on low or warm & continue to stir until served.
Recipe Notes
Here are some additional notes about this recipe:
Crockpot Size: I used my large crockpot for this, but it will fit in a smaller crockpot.
Crockpot Liner: You don’t HAVE to use one, but it will help immensely with clean-up. Especially with a cheesy recipe like this one!
Crockpot Temperature Setting: I recommend cooking it on low temp. However, you CAN cook this dip on high – just be sure you are stirring more frequently. Once the cheese starts getting nice and melted, you’ll want to lower the temp to low & continue to stir often. You don’t want to scorch your cheese dip.
The Velveeta Cheese: For this recipe, I recommend using the brand name cheese. I’ve tried other brand for this, and the taste just never comes out as good.
The Rotel: The brand name & generic versions of this are absolutely interchangeable. I almost always use generic.
- I use the Original of the Rotel / generic Rotel, but if you’d rather your dip be more spicy you can use the Hot. There are some other versions of Rotel too (I.e., Mexican Style, or Fire Roasted) that you can use if you’d like. I haven’t ever tried anything other than Original.
The Taco Seasoning: I often either use a generic store bought packet, or I make my own seasoning with spices in my spice cabinet. You can use any packet you’d like, or make your own as well.
The Cream Cheese: Again, I use generic for this as well. I have used anywhere fro 2-4 ounces, and you can use more or less depending on your preference. I like adding it because it does make the dip a little more creamy.
Optional Add-Ins
The Heavy Whipping Cream: This is optional – I know that it’s not something everyone commonly has in their fridge. I add a couple splashes of HWC to this dip – it makes it a little less thick, but still helps with keeping it creamy.
Garlic Powder & Black Pepper: These are also optional – I always sprinkle some garlic powder & pepper over the ground beef while it’s cooking, and before I add the taco seasoning. Be sure to skip the salt – there’s already enough salt in the taco seasoning & the other ingredients.
Does Rotel dip have carbs?
Yes, Rotel cheese dip does have carbs – there are a lot of hidden carbs in the Velveeta cheese, and we add some more with the other added ingredients as well.
The rough total of carbs for the entire batch of Rotel cheese dip using this recipe is about 130 carbs.
If we divide the 130 carbs by the estimated serving size of 12, we come to 10.83 carbs per serving. NOTE: The serving size of 12 is assuming larger portions.
To summarize, yes, there are carbs in Rotel cheese dip. But if you are having a smaller amount of the dip, and using something low carb to eat with it, you can keep the carb count lower.
What to eat with Rotel cheese dip
The most common answer to this is of course going to be chips. Here’s a short list of options:
- Tortilla Chips
- Crackers
- Pita bread
- French fries
- Pretzel sticks
- Pretzel Crisps / thins
- Soft pretzels
- Bagel crisps
- Toasted breads
- Potato chips
Low Carb options to eat with cheese dip
If you’re eating low carb, you’re going to want to stay away from the standard chips & breads. Here are some low carb options to pair with this cheese dip:
- Pork Rinds
- Low Carb Tortilla Chips (click link for recipe)
- Low Carb Crackers (homemade or store bought)
- Cauliflower
- Bell Peppers (Yellow, Orange, or Red)
- Sweet Peppers
- Carrots
- Celery
Truthfully, I most often use pork rinds – they pair so well with this dip. Even our friends who don’t follow the low carb diet enjoy pork rinds with this dip!
But if you’re not a pork rind fan, low carb tortilla chips or crackers are a great option. The veggies may be an acquired taste, but equally a great option for almost any dip.
PS: As you can see from the picture above, BBQ Lil Smokies pair AMAZINGLY with this dip! Something about the cheese with that sweet barbecue sauce just hits the spot!
If you made this recipe
Please rate it & drop a comment below – I’d love to hear how it turned out for you! Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram & Facebook for more recipes and recipe tips.
