Skip to Content

Irish Beer Cheese Soup

Irish Beer Cheese Soup ~ Irish beer and Irish sharp cheddar cheese come together in this delicious creamy cold-weather soup and St. Patrick's Day favorite!

Irish Beer Cheese Soup, in two bowls with croutons and beer and cheese in background.

Irish Beer Cheese Soup ~ if you've never had, you're in for a treat.  I recently had some cheddar beer soup from my grocery and man, was it good.  With St. Pat's Day coming up  and all things Irish in the air, I decided to tweak that midwestern version by using some Irish beer and Irish cheese.

Irish Beer Cheese Soup, photo of ingredients on a sheet pan.

This is a fairly simple and straightforward soup to make at home.  The hardest part for me was grating all the cheese by hand, not my thing.  I usually ask Meathead to do it but he wasn't home, darn.

Irish Beer Cheese Soup, shredded cheese on cutting board with beer in background.

The soup starts with sautéing some onion, celery and garlic, some seasoning, and then butter and flour.  Basically, it's a very flavorful roux.  The onions, celery and garlic need to be very finely diced, so I recommend using the food processor.  It does the job, it'll look a little mushy, but that's what you want so the soup is smooth, no bits of onion and celery  floating around in it.  I do this all the time for Italian gravy, my friend taught me so years ago.

Irish Beer Cheese Soup, in soup pot with ladle.

Once the roux is done, time to add the chicken stock, beer and milk ~ then all that glorious cheese.  Stir, keep stirring, and in about 20 minutes you'll have beer cheese soup.  Finish it off with some Dijon mustard and Worcestershire, and then be prepared to ooh and aah over that first spoonful.

Irish Beer Cheese Soup, close up in serving bowl with spoonful od soup.

Irish Beer Cheese Soup, a perfect winter soup and St. Patrick's Day treat.  You can serve it in a bread bowl if you wish, topped with scallions, snipped chives, toasted sourdough croutons or even bacon.  This is such a beautifully simple soup, rich and full of flavor ~ comfort in a (bread) bowl.  Enjoy, Kelly

Irish Beer Cheese Soup, in serving bowl/crock.

Looking for more St. Patrick's Day inspiration? How about some Irish Soda Bread, Corned Beef and Cabbage and Chocolate Mint Cake?  You can't go wrong with that lineup!

If you’ve tried this Irish Beer Cheese Soup, please rate it below in the comments and let me know how it went ~ I love hearing from you! HUNGRY FOR MORE?  Subscribe to my Newsletter and come hang out with me on PINTEREST, INSTAGRAM and FACEBOOK for all the latest updates.

Irish Beer Cheese Soup

Irish beer and Irish cheese are the basis of this delicious cold-weather soup and St. Patrick's Day favorite.
4.50 from 2 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Soup
Cuisine: Irish
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Servings: 8 servings
Calories: 472kcal

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoon butter (or bacon drippings)
  • 1 large yellow onion, finely diced/grated (1½ cups) See Recipe Notes
  • 2 ribs celery, finely diced/grated (include a few leaves) See Recipe Notes
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced or microplaned
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt
  • ¼ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
  • ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • cup butter (about 5 T) ~ I use Kerrygold salted butter
  • cup flour
  • 32 oz chicken stock, preferably homemade (4 cups)
  • 1 12-oz bottle Irish lager-style beer, like Harp
  • 4 cups whole milk
  • 1 lb Irish cheese, like Dubliner, coarsely shredded (6 cups)
  • 2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • 1 tablespoon Worchestershire sauce
  • For Garnish: sliced scallions, snipped chives, toasted fresh croutons or bacon crumbles
  • Optional: mini sourdough bread bowls for serving

Instructions

  • In large enameled cast iron stock pot, heat 2 tablespoons butter (or bacon grease) over medium heat.  Add onion, celery and bay leaf and sauté about 5 minutes.  Add the garlic, salt, black pepper and cayenne and cook 1-2 more minutes.  Add the butter and stir until melted.  Sprinkle the flour over the mixture and stir and cook 1 more minute.
  • With a wooden spoon or flat whisk, slowly stir in the stock, then the beer, then the milk to combine.  Lastly, add the cheese slowly, stirring to combine. Increase the heat to medium-high, continue stirring to almost a boil.  Reduce heat back down to medium, cook and stir frequently until cheese is mixed in well and melted, about 20 minutes.  Remove bay leaf and stir in mustard and Worcestershire; taste for salt.  Serve garnished with scallions, chives, croutons and/or crumbled bacon, in a bread bowl, if desired.

Recipe Notes

  • Irish Dubliner cheese is sweet, nutty, grainy and sharp.  Any sharp white cheddar will work.
  • Using a food processor will get the onion and celery finely chopped, almost mushy, which is what you want for this soup.  Roughly chop the onion and celery first, in order to get an even dice in the processor.
  • You can use bacon drippings to cook the onions/celery mixture instead of butter (then you'll have bacon crumbles for topping!)

Nutrition

Calories: 472kcal Carbohydrates: 18g Protein: 21g Fat: 35g Saturated Fat: 20g Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g Monounsaturated Fat: 9g Trans Fat: 1g Cholesterol: 103mg Sodium: 886mg Potassium: 437mg Fiber: 1g Sugar: 9g Vitamin A: 1170IU Vitamin C: 3mg Calcium: 574mg Iron: 1mg
Did you make this recipe? Please comment, rate it and share! And mention me on Instagram @thehungrybluebird or tag #thehungrybluebird so I can see!
 

 

Recipe adapted from Simply Schnucks

Recipe Rating




Chandra

Tuesday 15th of February 2022

I think most my proportions were identical except my flour and butter, I went with 1/2 cup for both. I thought this might make the soup thicker and this wasn't my first time making a roux. I enjoyed this recipe a lot, using about 8 oz Colby to 4 oz pepper jack but it's a bit thinner than I wanted. That being said, I like the spice and seasoning blend and it made for a delicious dinner with Guinness Cheddar pretzels.

Anita

Wednesday 13th of March 2019

I am going to make this for an Irish carry in. Do you think it would work well in the crock pot to warm it if I make it on the stovetop the night before?

Kelly

Wednesday 13th of March 2019

Yes, I think so, should be fine.