The Aldi Shredded Cheese I Always Use For Extra-Melty Quesadillas

I feel as though my appreciation for quesadillas has only increased into adulthood. These melty delights are so easy to prepare; all you need to do is tuck the cheese between tortillas (I like Aldi's low-carb option), add seasonings and your favorite fillings, and toss them in a pan. If I'm in a pinch (which is most of the time), I'll skip the stove and use my microwave instead — it's just that easy.

There are endless ways to upgrade quesadillas (like adding sliced green chiles — the one-ingredient canned addition that brings the heat), but rarely do we think to switch the cheese. Most people resort to the standard cheddar or Mexican blend for their quesadillas, but I find a far superior option is shredded quesadilla cheese — particularly the Pueblo Lindo shredded quesadilla cheese from Aldi. Aldi notoriously has an excellent cheese selection, but I didn't exactly have faith in its shreds. Shredded cheese usually gets a bad rap because it tends to be full of fillers and anti-caking ingredients that make it taste, for lack of a better word, dusty and can even prevent it from melting well. However, I found that this neutral-flavored cheese melts just like mozzarella, which makes it super conducive to preparing quesadillas with an Instagram-worthy cheese pull. There is no sandy or powdery aftertaste, and I have even gone so far as to eat it from the bag; it's just that good. Besides quesadillas, it would also be excellent atop burrito bowls, rice, beans, or wherever you want a melty cheese without the flavor of cheddar — like in homemade mac and cheese.

When I initially purchased this cheese, I was curious as to what type of cheese it actually was, as I had never heard of "quesadilla cheese" before. The bag doesn't specify (it just names its components, like milk), so I did a deep dive and tried to surmise what cheese I was working with. Based on its milky flavor and stringy texture, I assume that it's made (at least in part) with Oaxaca cheese, which is in the mozzarella family. Although Oaxacan cheese is stretched in the same way that fresh mozzarella is, it is stretched into thin ribbons before being balled (it kind of looks like those rubber band balls that kids had in middle school). The flavor is often likened to a younger Monterey Jack, but I do think it stands in a class of its own — especially this Aldi version, which is very affordably priced at $3.85 per pound at the time of writing. 

Aldi sells two types of Mexican cheese under the Pueblo Lindo brand: the shreds and the crumbled cotija cheese. Cotija has a texture more similar to parmesan, meaning it doesn't melt well. So, if you're in the mood for something for extra melty quesadillas, make sure you add the quesadilla cheese to your cart. I've never tried the cotija myself, but after seeing how good the shreds are, I imagine that the cotija would also give other store-bought versions of it a run for their money.