Author: Jackie Alpers

Caldo de queso is an undersung regional Sonoran dish that’s deeply satisfying yet surprisingly light. The cheese soup features chunks of potato simmered in a broth with tomatoes, roasted green chiles, and evaporated milk until soft, with fresh Mexican cheese such as queso Quesadilla added to each bowl. The gooey, melty globs of the cheese at the bottom of each serving bowl are perhaps the soup's greatest treasure. The cheese mostly keeps its shape but softens and begins to break apart for a satisfying chew that’s characteristic of the dish. 

Caldo de queso is popular throughout the area straddling the northern border of Mexico and the southern border of Arizona. But what was once a highly localized recipe can now be enjoyed by the rest of the world, thanks to wider spread access to ingredients like Mexican oregano, varieties of cheeses, and green chiles. Here are a few tips for making it at home, no matter where you live.

Seven Tips for Cheesy, Bright Tasting Caldo de Queso

1. Don’t sauté the aromatics. I know, a lot of great soup and sauce recipes start with sautéing aromatics like onion and garlic to intensify their flavor, but this isn’t the case with caldo de queso. Here, adding the raw onions, tomatoes, and garlic and canned green chiles to the liquid to simmer adds a bright, acidic flavor to the soup, which helps the soup taste remarkably light, considering it’s also filled with hearty potatoes, cheese, and evaporated milk.
2. Stick with readily available canned chiles. There are thousands of varieties of fresh green chiles, but if you live outside of the Southwest, they likely aren’t available year round. So for this recipe, look for packaged, diced, roasted hot or mild Hatch, New Mexico, or Anaheim chiles that are often simply labeled “green chile peppers” or “green chili.” They’re available at most grocery stores, so they are convenient to use year-round. (Here's one example from Kroger.) 
3. Skip fresh dairy and use evaporated milk. Evaporated milk has been used for making caldo de queso since the late 1800s when new canning processes and railroad access meant that shelf-stable milk could be found in the Sonoran Desert—no refrigeration needed. The dairy adds creaminess and subtle sweetness to the soup. Do not to confuse evaporated milk with condensed milk, which is very sweet and used in desserts. 
4. Pick the right potato. I prefer to use Yukon Gold potatoes here. They have a creamy texture, medium starch content, and thinner skins that don’t need to be peeled. Leaving the skins on also helps the potatoes retain their shape while cooking.
5. Simmer the potatoes until tender, then add the dairy. The potatoes not only add substance to the soup, the starch from the potatoes ensures the soup won’t split or separate when the dairy is added. You see, while the fresh tomatoes and green chiles add bright, tart flavor to liven the soup up, they also lower the pH of the soup. The slightly acidic broth can cause a chemical reaction when the dairy is added, causing the proteins in the evaporated milk to separate. To avoid any risk of this happening, the potatoes are simmered until tender in the broth, so they release their starches into the soup. When the evaporated milk and starch from the potatoes simmer together, the starch molecules from the potatoes swell up and adhere to the milk proteins in the evaporated milk to retain a smooth and emulsified broth base.
6. Save the cheese for serving. Once the soup is prepared, the shredded cheese is added to the bottom of individual serving bowls to keep it from fully melting or separating. When the hot soup is ladled over the soup, the heat gives the cheese the signature pleasantly gummy, chewable texture that's essential for a proper caldo de queso. Using a Mexican cheese variety such as queso Quesadilla, Oaxaca, or even a packaged Mexican cheese blend that melts easily is key.
7. Finish it with a slightly spicy garnish. I recommend finishing the soup with crushed dried chiltepin chiles. It’s how it’s served in Arizona, and the gentle heat of the dried chiles complements the subtle flavors of the soup.

In a large Dutch oven or soup pot, combine broth, water, potatoes, tomatoes, onion, green chiles, garlic and 1 teaspoon salt or bouillon powder. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium and simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are tender when poked with a fork, about 20 minutes. 

Meanwhile, in a separate small saucepan, add the evaporated milk and heat over medium heat until warmed through and just simmering. Reduce the soup pot heat to low, and slowly pour in the warmed evaporated milk while stirring constantly. Add the oregano, and cook until warmed through but not fully simmering, about 5 minutes longer. Season to taste with salt or bouillon powder and pepper.

When ready to serve, in the bottom of each individual serving bowl, place 1/4 cup of the shredded cheese. Ladle the hot soup over top. Sprinkle with crushed chiltepin chile (if using) and more oregano. Serve with warm tortillas for scooping. 

Special Equipment

Dutch oven or soup pot, small saucepan

Notes

Canned green chilies make this a soup anyone anywhere can make any time of the year, but if freshly roasted Anaheim or Hatch chiles are also good alternatives. 

I prefer to season the soup with chicken bouillon powder for extra flavor, but you can use just kosher salt for seasoning.

Make-Ahead and Storage

The soup can be cooked through step 2, cooled, and refrigerated for up to 5 days. To serve, bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat while stirring occasionally before proceeding with step 3.

There’s nothing quite like the sensation of licking that thick bright-orange coating of nacho cheese dust from your fingers after polishing off a bag of Doritos. The savory, cheese-dusted tortilla chips have always been a part of my life. I remember the joy of discovering a small bag packed alongside my PB&J in day camp lunches, and girls passing big bags around at sleepover parties while we watched TV shows slightly too old for us. These days I have nothing against a good packaged, mass-produced snack from time to time, but I also really enjoy my own DIY version of Doritos.

With the help of my air fryer, they’re easy and fun to make. In my homemade version of the popular crunchy chip snack, corn tortillas are cut into quarters and air fried until crisp, then tossed in my custom cheesy, savory seasoning blend that tastes pretty darn close to the original Doritos seasoning.

But let’s face facts: Doritos tortilla chips, which are perfect in every way and universally loved by almost everyone, cannot truly be produced without the assistance of factory machines and perhaps a dedicated team of lab-coated scientists. I will leave that to the experts at Frito-Lay. My goal with this recipe was to create a fun-to-make stand-in that will make you pause and say, “Hey, these really do taste like Doritos!” not an exact replica.

A Very Brief History of Doritos

Before we talk about how to get that signature Doritos flavor, let's learn a little about this beloved snack, which was invented at Disneyland in the early 1960s and introduced nationwide in 1966. It may be surprising to learn that the original Doritos flavor was Toasted Corn, not the ever-present Nacho Cheese, which wasn’t invented until 1972. In 1967, a year before I was born, a mild “Taco” flavor hit the shelves. It has just a hint of taco seasoning, which perhaps was considered bold at the time. 

Tips for Making Air-Fryer "Doritos”

Start with my homemade super savory “Doritos” blend. The combination of salty and savory powdered cheese, dried buttermilk, nutritional yeast, dried tomato powder, savory spices, and a touch of monosodium glutamate (MSG) is what makes my copycat Doritos blend taste so good and so close to the real thing.

For the powdered cheese, I like to use Yellow Cheddar Cheese Powder. It’s the closest match both visually and in flavor to real Doritos. King Arthur Baking’s white cheese Better Cheddar is also excellent. The seasoning makes a full cup, which is enough for two batches of chips, and it stores well at room temperature for up to a month. I also like to mix the seasoning blend with cottage cheese or sprinkle it over popcorn or hard boiled eggs for flavorful snacks. You can even mix it with sour cream or Greek yogurt for a flavorful dip.

Choose from three seasoning blends. These days there are all kinds of wild Doritos flavors: Coffee in Australia, Roast Mediterranean Chicken in Taiwan, and even a Late Night Loaded Taco flavor in North America. The main recipe includes my spin on Doritos’ classic Nacho Cheese flavor blend, but I’ve also included two time-honored flavor variations: Taco and my personal favorite, Cool Ranch.

Let the air fryer do the work. I love my air fryer and use it whenever I can. Not only is it a somewhat healthier and much less messy alternative to deep frying, but thanks to the air fryer’s ability to heat quickly and its constant air flow, foods cooked in the appliance come close to the crispy fried texture of deep fried foods. It’s why I love to use it to make my own tortilla chips. But even air-fried food needs some fat to get crispy, so be sure to lightly coat the corn tortillas with neutral oil before quartering and air frying them to ensure that they brown and crisp evenly. The bit of oil will also help the seasoning cling to the chips. 

Use fresh corn tortillas. I found in testing batch after batch of chips that the seasoning blend will not adhere properly to stale or dried out tortillas. Store-bought packaged tortillas work great, but make sure they are soft and pliable. If you hear a popping sound towards the end of the cooking time, this is totally normal and nothing to worry about, and actually a good thing—it's just the chips blowing around inside the air fryer, a sign they are almost fully crisp. (Although in my experience, this popping sound doesn’t occur with every batch.)

Season the chips while hot. This is critical for the seasoning to properly cling to every chip. You can toss everything together in a bowl, but I prefer to shake it all up in a sealed gallon-size zip-top bag. It’s a fun bake and shake experience. 

I’ll admit my DIY Doritos aren’t exactly the same experience as popping open a bag of the real thing, but they’re still pretty darn close, with the bonus of being a lot of fun to make.

For the Nacho Cheese Seasoning Mix: In a bowl, add all of the ingredients and whisk to combine. Transfer 1/2 cup of the mix to a quart-size resealable bag; set aside. Reserve the remaining 1/2 cup seasoning mix in a separate airtight container for a later batch. 

For the “Doritos”: Preheat a 6-quart air fryer at 350°F for 3 minutes. Place 1 tortilla on cutting board and spray lightly with cooking spray or brush top lightly with oil. Flip tortilla over and spray the second side lightly with cooking spray or brush lightly with oil. Repeat brushing the remaining tortillas with oil, stacking the oiled tortillas together. Using a chef’s knife, quarter all of the tortillas. 

Spread all of the cut chips into an even layer (some chips will overlap; this is OK) in the preheated air-fryer basket and cook, shaking the basket every few minutes, until chips are lightly browned and crispy, 12 to 14 minutes. The tortilla chips may start to flip around inside the air fryer and make a sound like corn popping when they are almost done.

Using tongs, immediately add the warm chips to the bag with the prepared seasoning mix. Seal and vigorously shake the bag until the chips are thoroughly coated. Transfer chips to a serving bowl, gently shaking excess seasoning mix back into the bag, (Excess seasoning can be added to the remaining blend to reserve for later use.) Serve.

Flavor Variations

Cool Ranch Doritos Flavor: Add one .4 ounce (11g) packet Hidden Valley Ranch Restaurant Style Dressing powder to the dried seasoning mix in step 1.

Taco Doritos Flavor: Add one 1-ounce (28g) packet Lawry’s Taco Spices and Seasoning Mix to the dried seasoning mix in step 1 and reduce the salt to 1 tablespoon (10g).

Special Equipment

6-quart air fryer, silicone-coated tongs, quart-size resealable bags

Notes

Yellow Cheddar Cheese Powder was the closest match both visually and in flavor to Doritos. King Arthur Baking’s white cheese Better Cheddar is also excellent.

Of the four taco seasoning blends I tested, Lawry’s Taco Seasoning Mix tasted the closest and had the most pronounced taco flavor overall. Of all the varieties of Hidden Valley Ranch powder available, The Restaurant Style Dressing Mix produced the closest match to Cool Ranch Doritos.

Make-Ahead and Storage

The seasoning mix is shelf stable and can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 1 month. The seasoning blend makes about 1 cup, which will make at least 2 batches of chips. Any excess powder left in the bag after shaking can be returned to the storage container.

The seasoned chips can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.

Great American food cities like New York and Chicago have regional hot dogs that define them, and Tucson, Arizona is no different. The Sonoran dog didn’t start hitting the local Tucson food scene until 1993—which was coincidentally around the same time that I moved to Tucson from Columbus, Ohio. Since moving here and biting into my first Sonoran dog, I've fallen in love with the vendor cart staple and have taken the time to learn how this unique style of hot dogs became so popular in Tucson.

Our beloved local franks, known as Sonoran hot dogs, start with a soft and slightly sweet bolillo-style roll that’s filled with (take a breath) a heaping scoop of pinto beans, onions—both griddled and raw—a bacon-wrapped hot dog (the star here), diced tomatoes, signature stripes of a fresh jalapeño sauce and yellow mustard, and a final zigzag of mayonnaise. It’s a hot dog that requires two hands to devour, and I’ve devoted more than 20 years to eating as many as I can throughout Tucson. Since its local debut at hot dog carts in Tucson, this hyper-regional dog has been popularized beyond Arizona, and is now well known throughout the US. Here’s how the Sonoran hot dog became popular in Tucson, and my tips for how to make a real-deal version at home.

The Rise of the Sonoran Hot Dog in Tucson

While many people in the US link the Sonoran hot dog to Tucson, it actually originated in Sonora, Mexico. One of the first restaurateurs to popularize it in Tucson was Benjamin Galaz, the owner of Tucson’s BK Tacos and Carne Asada. Galaz told me that while still living in his hometown of Nacozari de García in northern Sonora, he learned how to make Sonoran-style hot dogs from Rolando Mendivil, a local hot dog cart owner. It was a skill Galaz brought with him to Tucson years later, where he opened up his own food cart featuring his hometown hot dogs. Shortly after opening his first cart, Galaz partnered with Daniel Contreras (who later opened and now owns El Güero Canelo).

Shortly into their partnership, Galaz and Contreras disagreed over their business and parted ways to run their own separate carts. Both would go on to sell carne asada and hot dogs, and both would succeed. Today both Galaz and Contreras have set aside their food carts and now own highly successful brick and mortar restaurants. Since the success of Galaz’s first hot dog cart in Tucson, dozens of restaurants, carts, and food trucks started selling their own versions of Sonoran hot dogs, and the specialty has become a culinary symbol of Tucson’s regional cuisine.

In 2019, both Galaz and Contreras contributed recipes to my cookbook, Taste of Tucson; Sonoran-Style Recipes Inspired by the Rich Culture of Southern Arizona. Galaz showed me how to make carne asada and Contreras shared his method for creating Sonoran hot dogs. I’ve now eaten just about every Sonoran hot dog in town—from vegan dogs to the double weenie “Sammy” dog (two franks in one bun, IYKYK), and after years of refining, researching, and experimenting, I’ve come up with my own recipe. Read on to learn my tips for how to make it.

The Best Bun for a True Sonoran Hot Dog

Any great sandwich (or in this case, hot dog) starts with the right bread, and the Sonoran dog is no different. Here the bun needs to be soft and supple enough to sink your teeth through, while also sturdy enough to hold the bacon-wrapped dog and its heaping mound of assorted toppings. In my many years of eating Sonoran hot dogs, I always thought that bolillo rolls—Mexican crusty and soft long white rolls—were the bun of choice, but after researching more, I discovered that was not the case. Most buns served at Sonoran hot dog vendors in Tucson are similar to bolillo rolls, but are slightly sweeter and softer. 

Maribel Alvarez, an anthropologist at the University of Arizona, explained that because regular hot dog buns could not hold up to the Sonoran dog’s heavy toppings, special buns using flour made from local white Sonoran wheat—the same flour used in local tortillas—were created. These buns were made and shaped in the style of bolillo rolls, but they rely on Sonoran wheat flour’s relatively lower protein amount to make them softer and slightly sweeter than most bolillo rolls.

Contreras told me that El Guero Canelo makes their own buns, but most hot dog vendors buy their buns from local bakeries. My favorite buns are at El Sinaloense, a hot dog cart permanently located in an otherwise empty gravel lot in Tucson. Their buns are slightly narrower than their competitors at Guero Canelo and BK’s, which produces a better bun to hot dog ratio.

To learn where El Sinaloense gets their buns, I went straight to the source. As I stood at their grill platform to ask, I glanced to my left and saw a pickup truck piled high with boxes from Alejandro’s Tortilla Factory. The chef confirmed the visual cue with great enthusiasm.

If you live in the Tucson area and have access to buns from Alejandro’s Tortilla Factory, or any true Sonoran hot dog buns made with white Sonoran wheat flour, go with those. If not, (that would be most of you living outside of Tucson) I've written this recipe with bolillo-style rolls. But if bolillos are unavailable, skip the mass-produced supermarket buns and head straight to a bakery for good quality long egg or brioche buns that measure approximately 7x2x1 inches. This is based on advice I received from Miguel Kaiser, who owns T-Loc's Sonora in Austin, Texas, one of a few places outside of the Sonora-Arizona region selling Tucson-style Sonoran dogs. I know, brioche buns don't sound like the closest replacement for a bolillo roll, but Kaiser points out that the egg adds structure and a tender texture that's similar to the local buns made with the white Sonoran wheat, or the bolillo buns.

The Stuffed Güero Chiles

It’s standard to serve a grilled yellow Güero Caribe chile alongside the bun. These chiles can range from mild to medium, with a Scoville rating varying from 5,000 to 15,000. At Jason’s Mexican Food in Tucson, they take the extra step and stuff the chile with cheese, wrap it in bacon, and griddle it until the bacon is crisp, the chile is tender, and the cheese is melted. It’s an incredible upgrade from the standard grilled chile served at other vendors in Tucson. Inspired by this, I’ve added stuffed Güero chiles to my recipe here.

The Bacon Wrapped Hot Dog

Any skinless hot dog works well. While the satisfying snap of a hot dog with a natural casing is desirable in many situations, here the casing is a deterrent because it's difficult to bite through, especially when paired with all of its topping. Contreras uses skinless all-beef hot dogs and pork bacon in his restaurant but he specifies that any variety of hot dog will work, be it pork, beef, chicken or plant-based—and the same goes for the bacon. My personal favorite hot dogs are Nathan’s Famous or Hebrew National all-beef uncured hot dogs. (My husband is a vegetarian, so I also tested Lifeline jumbo veggie dogs wrapped in Morningstar veggie bacon and they came out great.)

Avoid thick-cut bacon. It won't crisp as well or render as much fat as thinner bacon. I also recommend looking for longer strips, which are easier to wrap around the dog and stay attached to the hot dog after cooking. To get the bacon to stay in place, tuck the leading edge of the bacon under the first wrap of the bacon as shown in the photos below and make sure to place the dog with the bacon seam-side down to hold the bacon in place while cooking.

Bake the hot dogs (Gasp!). Most local vendors cook their bacon-wrapped hot dogs on a commercial flat-top grill for speed and convenience. This makes sense when you’re preparing hundreds of orders on the fly. But when making a smaller amount at home, I’d argue it’s better to bake the bacon wrapped hot dogs alongside the bacon wrapped chiles in your oven or air fryer. When I began testing this recipe, I cooked my first few batches of franks and chiles in a cast-iron skillet and on a two-burner griddle, and I had to constantly tend to the hot dogs and chiles, which cooked at different rates and splattered everywhere. The result was withered hot dogs wrapped in unevenly cooked bacon. After extensive testing, I determined that oven-baking or air-frying the bacon-wrapped hot dogs and güero chiles is not only easier, but also produces evenly crisped bacon without the greasy mess in the skillet.

Tips for Legit Sonoran Hot Dog Toppings

Make a fresh and simple jalapeño salsa. The salsa recipe included here is the simple salsa that Contreras taught me how to make at his restaurant El Guero Canelo. There are so many toppings with this hot dog that keeping the salsa simple lets the fruity, fresh, and spicy jalapeño flavor shine through. When pulsing the salsa in your blender, don’t be tempted to add any water at first. The natural high water content of the jalapeños ensures they blend easily into a smooth and vibrant green salsa.

Top the dogs with a combination of sautéed and raw onions. The combination of both griddled and raw onions is a staple for all Sonoran-style dogs, and I’ve used the duo here. Any type of raw onion can be used, but I prefer white onions.

Stick with canned pinto beans. Canned beans are commonly used in hot dog cart and restaurant versions for their convenience, and that’s the same reason I stick with them here. The hot dogs come together relatively fast, and only require a cup of beans for topping the dogs, so it’s practical to start with cooked beans. Once rinsed and drained, warm them through with the sautéed onions. With the assortment of flavors from all the toppings, there’s no need to dress them up any further than that.

Give the chopped tomatoes a quick squeeze. Chopped fresh tomatoes are standard on all Sonoran dogs. I found freshly chopped tomatoes packed right onto the bacon wrapped dog immediately turned the hot dog soggy. To avoid this at home, take a moment to squeeze out as much moisture from the tomatoes as possible to prevent the hot dog from getting too mushy. 

Squeeze and zigzag the sauces. The three sauces crown everything. The lengthwise placement of stripes of bright yellow mustard and green jalapeño sauce and the zigzag of mayonnaise is both decorative and strategic. In restaurants and hot dog carts the sauces are stored in standard thin-tipped squeeze bottles that help achieve the hot dog’s signature stripes and zigzags. To achieve this at home, I recommend purchasing squeeze bottles of mustard and mayonnaise. My favorite yellow mustard is Plochman's, but any brand will work here.

For preparing the toppings: In a blender, blend the jalapeños and salt on high power, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed, into a smooth purée, about 1 minute. If needed, add water, 1 tablespoon at a time, to help the chiles catch the blade to blend fully. Transfer to a small bowl or squeeze bottle; set aside. Transfer the yellow mustard and mayonnaise to squeeze bottles if not already packaged in them. Set aside ¾ cup raw diced white onion. Refrigerate until ready to use.

In a 12 inch cast-iron skillet, melt 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Once melted, cook 1 1/2 cup onion, stirring frequently, until softened and starting to brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in pinto beans and cook until warmed through, 1 to 2 minutes. Cover and keep warm until ready to use.

For the stuffed bacon-wrapped chiles and hot dogs: Using a paring knife, leave stem intact, and cut slit lengthwise down 1 side of each chile. Gently pry open chiles, remove seeds if desired, and stuff each chile with pieces of Oaxaca or string cheese. Wrap each stuffed chile with 1 strip of bacon, spiraling from end to end, and overlapping slightly to cover the chile, and making sure the ends of the bacon slices are opposite the cut opening of the chile.

Wrap each hot dog with 1 strip bacon, spiraling from end to end, and stretching and overlapping slightly until hot dog is completely wrapped and bacon seams end up on same side. A second piece of bacon may be needed to adequately envelop the hot dog.

For baking in the oven: Adjust the oven rack to middle position and preheat the oven to 400°F (190°C). Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and set a wire rack into the prepared tray; set aside. Arrange the bacon-wrapped hot dogs and stuffed chiles bacon seam–side down on the prepared sheet tray and bake, flipping both hot dogs and chiles halfway through, until the bacon is well browned on both the hot dogs and the chiles, 25 to 35 minutes.

For baking in the air fryer: Preheat a 6-quart air fryer to 375°F (205ºC) for 5 minutes. Working in batches, carefully transfer the bacon-wrapped hot dogs and stuffed chiles into the preheated air fryer basket, bacon seam–side down, leaving 1/2-inch space between each one. Place basket in preheated air fryer and cook until bacon is well browned, flipping halfway through, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer to a rimmed baking sheet and hold warm in a 200℉ oven while air frying the remaining hots dogs and chiles.

For Assembling: Using a serrated paring knife, split each roll vertically down the side, leaving about 1/4-inch uncut at either end and without piercing the bottom of the bun and gently pry open, forming a bun “boat.” In a 10-12” cast-iron skillet or double burner griddle, melt 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat. Working in batches, toast the buns until well browned on all sides, 2 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a platter and let cool slightly, about 3 minutes, then spoon 2 to 3 tablespoons of cooked onion and bean mixture down the center of each cut bun.

Nestle a hot dog into each bun, then top with 1 tablespoon of the remaining raw chopped onion and 2 tablespoons diced tomatoes. Spoon or squirt a stripe of the prepared jalapeño sauce and yellow mustard vertically down the middle. Squirt a zigzag of mayonnaise down the length of each hot dog. Serve immediately with a grilled bacon-wrapped chile on the side.

Special Equipment

Blender, 1-3 food-safe squeeze bottles, 6-quart capacity Air fryer or 1 rimmed baking sheet lined fitted with a wire baking rack, One 12” cast-iron skillet or double burner griddle

Notes

Look for bolillos in well-stocked supermarkets or Latin American bakeries; if you can't find them, substitute brioche hot dog buns.

Make-Ahead and Storage

The jalapeño sauce and uncooked wrapped hot dogs/chiles can be prepared in advance and stored in airtight containers in the refrigerator for up to 3 days before cooking.