Chile cheesecake, a Mexican cheesecake recipe. It’s prepared in a springform pan like a cheesecake, it looks like a cheesecake, but its loaded up with southwestern ingredients, this appetizer served with tortilla chips is a unique and wonderful crowd pleasing recipe.
For our May wine tasting party we chose a wonderful Italian Wine to sample. One of these days I’m actually going to plan ahead and serve an appetizer that pairs with the wine, but when this recipe caught my eye I threw all food/wine pairing rules out the window and grabbed my springform pan.
A Mexican cheesecake made with all things Southwestern? What a great idea. And it was an easy fix.
For the crust, I used my food processor with the plastic blade to crush up some corn chips and mixed them with melted butter. Pressed into a cheesecake spring form pan and baked a few minutes before adding all the cheesy ingredients on top. Loved this idea.
The cheesecake uses two 8-ounce blocks of cream cheese, and Colby and Monterey Jack creamed with two eggs. I think the key to the flavor of this is the can of fire roasted chopped chile peppers. The smoky flavor really shined. Don’t grab just any old can of chopped peppers. And even better yet, if you have a stash of frozen roasted Hatch Chile peppers, please use those.
And topped with tomatoes, green onions and avocados, we loved this. My imagination ran wild on variations to this recipe, but I wanted to try it in it’s original form first. The only thing I added that the recipe didn’t suggest was chopped avocados. You’ll find the full recipe below.
With usual suspects, Dan and Teri, Tom and Kathy, let’s look at the line up of food.
I thought this was the best thing on the table. Teri brought some incredibly flavored sun-dried tomatoes swimming in olive oil and served with some of the best ciabatta bread, I l-o-v-e- loved it.
I mean just look at it.
She also plated some creamy Gorgonzola, honey infused goat cheese, poached figs, quince marmalade, served with crostinis and balsamic glaze.
The obligatory Cheetos in crystal, this time accompanied by a candy jar full of peanut M&M’s.
The red wine a 2003 Montefalco Sagrantino. Sagrantino di Montefalco is the name given to Italian wines made with 100% Sagrantino grapes in and around the comune of Montefalco in the Province of Perugia, Umbria.
For the white wine, Tom and Kathy brought a Chateau St. Jean Fume Blanc.
Chile Cheesecake, A Mexican Cheesecake Recipe
I hope you give this Mexican Cheesecake Recipe a try, and if you do, please come back and give the recipe a star rating. And leave a comment about your experience with the recipe.
And if you have a favorite Mexican Cheesecake recipe, let me know, I’d love to give it a try.
More Hot Cheese Appetizer Recipes
- Baked 3 Cheese Appetizer with Pesto
- Fresh Tomato Tart Recipe with Gruyere
- Cumin Spiced Gouda Cheese Fondue
- Queso Fundido al Tequila with Chorizo
Chile Cheesecake, A Mexican Cheesecake Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 Cup crushed tortilla chips
- 3 Tablespoons butter melted
- 16 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- 2 eggs
- 4 ounces fire roasted diced green chiles
- 1 fresh jalapeno cored, seeded and diced
- 4 ounces Colby cheese shredded
- 4 ounces Monterey Jack cheese shredded
- 1/4 Cup sour cream
- For topping:
- 1/8 cup chopped tomatoes
- 1/8 cup chopped green onions
- 1/8 cup sliced black olives
- 1/2 avocado chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In medium bowl, combine crushed tortilla chips and butter. Press into bottom of a 9-inch spring form pan. Bake 15 minutes, remove from oven, leaving oven on.
- In large bowl, blend cream cheese and eggs. Add green chiles, jalapeno, Colby and Monterey Jack. Pour over crust and bake 30 minutes. Do not overcook. Remove from oven and cool in pan 5 minutes. Run knife around inside edge and remove sides from pan. Spread sour cream over top and decorate with tomatoes, green onions, olives and avocado. Serve with tortilla chips.
Nutrition
Mexican Cheesecake …It’s What’s for a crowd pleasing appetizer
This cheesecake looks incredible!
We’d love to share this recipe and one of your photos on a blog I help manage for Purple Cowboy Wines (purplecowboy.com). Could we use one of the cheesecake photos with your permission? We would link directly back to this post and include your website in the post.
Thanks for your help Lea Ann!
You most certainly can! Thanks for stopping by.
What a cool idea! Looks like a great party all around. Now pass the Cheetos!
I’ll arm wrestle you for them! Love my Cheetos.
This sounds like a terrific appetizer. I’m going to have to look for the fire roasted chilies…I’m sure they add to the overall flavor.
Ortega brand was what I bought at Safeway. They were much more flavorful than the plain.
Oh my gosh, that cheesecake looks fantastic, Lea Ann. The entire menu is mouthwatering. This will be on my menu at my next family get together.
Thanks Cathy.
Now that is something I hadn’t seen before; savory cheesecake! But what a brilliant idea too and the rest of the meal looks pretty amazing too!
Me either. It caught my attention and just had to be made! And devoured! Thanks for stopping by Simone
Savory cheesecake…. how could you go wrong???
Looks like you had a great night.. good food.. good wine.. good company.. nothing better!
That’s exactly what we had, good food, wine and company. I love our wine nights.