Ah, queso fresco! So fresh and moist, never melty or stringy, this Mexican-style cheese is perfect for all kinds of amazing dishes. Queso fresco – which literally translates to "fresh cheese" – is like a Mexican ricotta or farmer's cheese. It's easy to crumble yet moist in your mouth, with a flavor that's mild, milky, bright, and slightly tangy. In Mexico, you'll find this youngest of cheeses wrapped in leaves or corn husks, but in Wisconsin we tend to wrap it in plastic wheels to make it a little easier to get through the checkout line and home to your fridge. When you're ready to make a new cheesy amigo, you can't go wrong with queso fresco.
Here's a nifty cheese fact: queso fresco is to Mexican food what feta is to Greek dishes – the most commonly used cheese for all kinds of dishes. You'll see it sprinkled like snow over meats, soups and salads, or baked into enchiladas and hearty oven dishes. We love it as filling for chile relleños or quesadillas, or lightly sprinkled on refried beans and tortilla soup. It's perfect for corn on the cob with butter and lime. And an afternoon snack of queso fresco with a little watermelon and mint?
Queso fresco goes well with:
Queso fresco is a fresh Mexican-style cheese with a moist but crumbly texture and a mild flavor that offsets the heat of spicy Mexican food. Queso fresco is often used as a garnish for soup, a complement for sweet salads or a snowy white topping for tacos, enchiladas, huevos rancheros and other Mexican dishes. It gets softer when heated, but it's difficult to melt.
Fresh cheese.
Queso fresco is best eaten by crumbling on everything from quesadillas and refried beans to grilled corn or fresh salads, or baking it in enchiladas, empanadas, and quiches.
Making queso fresco is simple: the milk – usually cow's milk or a combination of cow's and goat's milk – is acidified with an additive like vinegar or rennet which curdles it. It's then strained in a cheesecloth and pressed into cakes which can be sliced or crumbled.
Get Pairing Ideas, Cheese Recipes, Cheese Facts, Wisconsin Cheese Awards delivered straight to your inbox.
Wisconsin may be just about as far north in America as you can get from the Rio Grande, but our master cheesemakers know this Mexican cheese variety like the back of their mano. That's because in Wisconsin, we live, breathe, and dream in cheese. Our cheese makers have brought home 5,552 cheese awards (not that were counting), more than any other state or nation in the world. Our obsession with all things cheese pushes us to master more flavors and variety of cheesy goodness – including queso fresco – than anywhere else on earth. So, when you're ready to add a little south-of-the-border flavor to your enchiladas or summer salad, look north to Wisconsin, where cheese has no borders.
Craving award-winning aged cheddar, pining for parmesan, or searching for a new cheese to try? The world’s best cheese is just a click away! Explore our directory of Wisconsin cheesemakers and retailers who offer online cheese shopping and get cheese shipped right to your door. What are you waiting for?
Cheese
Recipes
Search
More