Beer Cheese Soup.
Okay… help me.
I need a soup intervention. A souptervention, if you will.
It’s all I’ve been craving and all I’ve been wanting and this would be super awesome if it wasn’t still like 80 degrees, but whatever. Brush it off.
When I made bread bowls on Sunday I knew exactly what I was going to fill them with. And I do mean exactly. The only answer was this specific soup. The cheese soup base has been in our family for ages (it was one of the first recipes I ever rambled about here) and obviously it could only get better with beer. I mean, beer in soup!
It’s one of those things I only get so often, occasionally showing it’s face during random Octoberfest celebrations and in restaurants that have no business serving such a high maintenance soup. And it definitely is high maintenance, but anything with cups upon cups of gooey, shredded cheese is. You can’t just let it sit there people. It’s needs a little spoon lovin’… like, constantly.
But.
I promise it’s 100% worth it. Our favorite way to eat this cheese soup is with red peppers and crisp bacon tossed in at the end, but it really is a fabulous base for a traditional beer cheese soup (I think carrots and celery and other disgusting things I’m not friends with have a place there) or seeing where your own spin takes you. Add some green bell peppers, add jalapeños, add chicken… seriously, do whatever you want. And yes – it tastes like beer. You should probably enjoy beer – even just a teeny bit – to enjoy this soup. Or maybe this soup will make you like beer. Which would be a pretty cool benefit.
And yes, you should definitely dip a billion pieces of bread in it. But you didn’t hear that from me.
Beer Cheese Soup
Ingredients
- 3 slices thick-cut bacon, chopped
- 1 sweet onion, finely diced
- 1/2 red pepper, finely diced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 2 cups of your favorite beer, I find that lighter wheat beers work best
- 1 cup half and half
- 4 ounces sharp white cheddar, freshly grated
- 4 ounces extra sharp yellow cheddar, freshly grated
- 4 ounces colby jack, freshly grated
- fresh herbs, I like cilantro for garnish
- salt and pepper to season if needed
- easy whole wheat bread bowls
Instructions
- Heat a large stock pot over medium heat and add chopped bacon. Fry until crispy and fat is rendered, them remove bacon with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel to drain. Reduce heat to low and add onions, peppers and garlic, stirring to coat. Cook for about 10 minutes, until vegetables are translucent, stirring occasionally. Increase heat to medium-high and add in butter. Once sizzling, which in flour and cook for 3-4 minutes until flour is nutty and golden. Add in beer and stirring constantly, cook for 5 minutes so they alcohol cooks out and the mixture somewhat thickens.
- Add in half and half, then reduce heat to low and gradually add cheese while stirring. Stir until smooth, then fold in bacon and serve immediately. Garnish fresh chopped herbs over top if desired.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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I appreciate you so much!
I can now rest easy.
128 Comments on “Beer Cheese Soup.”
Yowza! This soup looks fabulous! YUM!
Yes, Please! This looks phenomenal and well worth all the work!
Oh yum this looks so rich & creamy. Ive been loving soup too much lately too. I love beer cheese; so im sure this is amazing.
Oh my gosh! The soup, oh the soup looks amazing!!! You got me wanting to make bread bowls!!!
I too have a slight obsession with soup, Thank you for feeding it.
;)
OMG! this sounds like heaven…… I want to try to make it with a pumpkin brew.. the bread bowl scares me.. but Perhaps i could talk myself into attempting it :)
I have been thinking about this soup ever since you posted the bread bowl recipe yesterday! All I can say is YUM! :-)
I made something similar YEARS ago and now I’m wondering why I haven’t in so long! I’ll rectify that soon because like you, I am soup obsessed! (Still have a burnt tongue to prove it from my potato corn chowder from last night. Yeow!)
I had beer cheese soup once, something like 20 years ago, and I’ve occasionally fantasized about it ever since. I think I kinda need to make this kinda soon.
Love the term souptervention ;) It’s nearly, practically… okay let’s just call it Fall already so we can enjoy soup without feeling weird.
This is the kind of soup bread bowls were made for!
I think the only possible way to help you is for me to fly over there and eat any and every last bit of this!
Oh how I love Beer Cheese soup! And these bread bowls from yesterday’s post are gorgeous. My family would be thrilled if I made these for them for dinner!! Pinned and ready to bake.
Umm ok, I’m pretty sure every man in America would fall head-over-heels in love with you for making this! Tell Mr How Sweet he’s a lucky man! :)
Thank you for this awesome soup to go in your bread bowls from yesterday! Two GREAT posts! Thank you!!!
this would not last long in our house. this looks so creamy good! i want a huge bowl right now. yes, it’s 830, but i don’t care :) i’d drink this for all 3 meals!
You’re blog is simply amazing. Seriously, one of the best.
I concur.
oh my…I just want to smother my face in this…that first picture is making me crave beer…and cheese. It might be morning, but its freeezing here! Im all over this!
I now have a major craving for beer cheese soup today. Need it.
I made my first soup of the season last night and forgot how much I loved it. I’m slowly getting into this summer-is-ending thing.
On another note, I’m going to make this for Meeker and he’ll probably show up on your doorstep and ask to be part of your family. I’ll probably join him.
Soup weather is most certainly here around these parts. I like cheese. I like beer. And I like bread. Sounds like I need to make this soup!
so interesting. can’t get real be here but can get NAB (non alcoholic beer) so I HAVE to try this!
Get out of my dreams and into my face.
I’ve been waiting for this! And being a huge beer girl (I used to homebrew when i was living in the States), this is right up my alley.
This is perfect for the weather here today, cold and rainy! The photos look particularly great in this post, Jess. Kinda cooler and clear (does that make sense?), almost like fall!
My husband would just go nuts over this. The bread bowls are so pretty! I’ve got to try this. Oh, and I LOVE the new site design!
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I knew there would be use for the bread bowls!
This looks amazing!!!
Are you real life with this?
I’m going to dream about this soup.
Just have to say, even when I don’t like the recipe I still read it for a good laugh, you’re hilarious! (and most of the time I enjoy the recipe too)
I knew you were going to do something amazing with those bread bowls! This looks so divine, and I love that beer doesn’t just enhance the flavor, it *is* the flavor. My guy, especially, would go ga ga for this one.
Amazing, I want to dive right into this…right now..for breakfast.
Can I sub the beer with broth? or milk?
Now this is so YOU! It just looks like a Jessica meal and it would be a big hit with my hubs! The cheesy soup sounds so good to me (when it’s cooler out – still in the mid 80s here!)
Annnnnnd I’ll be making this soon….
Oh god this sounds so amazing it’s surreal. This recipe is downright dangerous.
I believe dreams are made of bacon and beer cheese soup.
I make a similar soup as much as I possibly can during the winter. The only difference is I add in slices of smoked brats. It’s pretty amazing.
Ooooh boy – the hubs would love that! :) I’m not in soup-mode yet, but I’ve had a chili craving this week.
Ok I can tell already that this is going to be my new favorite soup!!
I want those spoons just as much as this soup – regardless of the heat.
Beer cheese soup sounds like something I definitely need in my life. The weather is changing too, so this is ideal.
I love that we both made beer cheese soup this week even though its still a billion degrees! It’s like we’re the same. And I used wheat beer too, but I love that you added cream, which I left out and I can’t even remember why. We need to hang out again soon. With beer.
I could eat an embarrassing amount of this. Immediately.
The bread bowls are so cute. Where I used to work we served beer cheese soup and it was fantastic. I so need to try to recreate it with this recipe!
Yum! This looks TOO good! Now I just need to figure out a way to make my husband eat soup for dinner. Maybe the beer and bacon will steer him in? Let’s hope so!
My favorite time of day is when I get to sit down in front of my Mac, open Google Chrome, and click on my favorites button that says ‘How Sweet’. I absolutely LOVE this blog. You’re awesome.
One question out of curiosity: Which beer is your personal favorite to use in this recipe?
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Ummmmm holy crap. This has got to be the most epic combo ever — beer cheese soup in a bread bowl. I can’t even.