Chipotle Mexican Grill announced Thursday that it’s testing a new Queso Blanco in 52 restaurants across Dallas, Detroit, and San Diego for a limited time. The new Queso Blanco uses only real ingredients including aged Monterey Jack cheese, White Cheddar, and Serrano, Poblano, and Chipotle Peppers.
The all new Queso Blanco has a smooth texture and bold cheese flavor with a mild spicy heat and a smoky finish—perfect on the side with Chipotle’s freshly fried chips or on top of any burrito bowl. Importantly, and to be consistent with all of Chipotle’s food, the Queso Blanco has no artificial ingredients and no preservatives.
“Making delicious queso with real ingredients and no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives is a tough project to take on,” says Chef Nevielle Panthaky, vice president of Culinary at Chipotle. “We listened to our guests and worked tirelessly in our kitchens to make an even better tasting queso. We are proud to have created a delicious recipe for Queso Blanco that uses only high quality, real ingredients that you can pronounce and find in your own kitchens at home.”
This new menu addition is being tested via Chipotle’s new “stage-gate process,” which allows the company to test, learn, listen to customer feedback, and iterate extensively before deciding on a national launch. Initial customer reviews show positive responses as seen in fan tweets and an increase in Queso Blanco sales across all test markets after the first week.
