Cheddar Cheese Soup (Wisconsin Chili)
- Tracy Scheckel
- Oct 1
- 4 min read
I called this cheddar cheese soup for SEO reasons, but somewhere back in my past, I was at a restaurant (don't ask, because I don't remember) where they had Wisconsin Chili on the menu and it turned out to be cheddar cheese soup with a spicy kick. For 30+ years, that's what I've always though Wisconsin chili was. If you look it up, it's basically chili with shredded cheddar on top, sometime with elbow macaroni. (bordering on American chop suey -- Wisconsin style).
Anyway, so that people can actually find this recipe when they do a search, we'll call it cheddar cheese soup, but to me it's Wisconsin chili. How this landed in my recipe list now and not in February is one of those rabbit hole stories that might help you understand how my mind works.... Or you can skip right to the recipe (my friend Tom B. likes this skip ahead option).
In my day job, I hosted a chamber of commerce event and had caterers from around Ellsworth provide the food. One of those was Salsa Shack with a make your own street taco station. Cory had all the fixin's including a delicious blend of roasted corn and black beans. I opted for a salad rather than a soft tortilla as the vehicle for the pulled chicken and toppings and I absolutely fell in love with that corn and bean combo.
A few days later, I am prepping a pork loin to go on the smoker and get it in my head that the roasted corn and beans would make a great side dish and I set out to make it happen. I heat the oven to 375 degrees, rinse a can of black beans, and spread them and an equal amount of corn on a cookie sheet with a silicon mat. I sprinkled it with my usual taco seasonings and put it in the oven. I either should have drizzled with some oil or not baked it so long because the end result was tasty but a bit crunchy. Oh well, you win some and you lose some and I'll have to ask Cory for his recipe.
Now because I'm me, I didn't throw the stuff out and started contemplating how I might repurpose it. Fast forward a couple of days and we're out with a bunch of friends for what we fondly refer to as Thursday date night. An order of pretzel nuggets with beer cheese is ordered for the table and that got me to thinking about maybe using the corn and bean concoction in some kind of dip or spread.
Earlier that same week, in another rabbit hole adventure, I was serving the leftover smoked pork and in an effort to preserve its perfect medium rare doneness, I planned to serve it at room temp with something nice to accompany it. I came across a recipe for a light BBQ sauce that was made from Kewpie mayo, sriracha, and honey and that intrigued me -- 'cept I didn't even know what Kewpie mayo was. After a little Googling, I learned what it is and decided to whip up a bit of my own with a bit of Hellman's r mayo, some rice vinegar, a dash of Dijon and some powdered white miso. Then I added the honey and sriracha to get to the BBQ recipe I found. Hang in, you'll soon see why I'm telling you this.....
Then the weekend rolled around (which is when I do most of my rabbit hole cooking) and the weather took a turn to cold and rainy -- perfect weather for some soup.....
When I opened the fridge for inspiration, I saw the leftover light BBQ sauce and that bowl of over roasted corn, and THAT'S when the idea for the Wisconsin Chili came to me. I figured that adding the corn and beans along with that BBQ sauce and some salsa might make for the perfect amount of kick for the cheddar cheese soup.
I started by sauteing some diced onion, garlic and sweet yellow peppers in butter. I had a quart of frozen home made vegetable broth in the freezer so added that to the mix. (I have used a combination of beer and broth, but this time stuck with just broth.) Once the broth started to thaw into the onion and pepper saute, I added the BBQ sauce, the corn and bean mix and some salsa. Once that was all blended, I started gradually adding the cheese until the soup was, well soup.
Ironically, my husband John happened to be in the kitchen when I was dumping the corn and bean stuff into the soup pot; he commented about that being a good way to use it. I looked at him as if he should have known that it was that recipe gone wrong that inspired the soup in the first place. If you stuck with me through this little odyssey, my hat is off you you. Enjoy the soup!
THE RECIPE:
4T butter
18-/2 C each diced onion and sweet pepper
1T minced garlic
1Qt of vegetable broth or a combination of broth and 12 OZ of beer to equal 1 quart
1C salsa
1C each black beans drained and frozen corn (assuming you don't have a leftover failed recipe kicking around, or a bag of the frozen combo))
1/2C of sour cream to replace that light BBQ sauce -- unless you have some on hand
1/2 LB Velveeta cheese cubed
4 OZ cream cheese
4 OZ extra sharp cheddar cubed
2C shredded cheddar
Tabasco or sriracha to adjust the kick
Saute the onion pepper and garlic in the butter until onion is translucent and tender
Add the broth. if using frozen, allow to thaw a bit before adding anything else. If using boxed or canned, add the salsa and other ingredients with the broth.
Bring the mixture to a slow simmer and add the Velveeta and cream cheese and whisk or stir until both are completely melted and no lumps remain. (Don't knock the Velveeta, it keeps the other cheeses from separating and without it you'd need to be adding corn starch to achieve the smooth texture)
Gradually add the chunked and shredded cheddar and continue stirring until smooth.
Taste a little bit and adjust the heat with Tabasco or sriracha
