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Creamy and comforting, this beer cheese soup is an easy dinner recipe that can be ready to eat in 30 minutes! Perfect for a family weeknight dinner.
Make sure you check out our entire collection of soup recipes. You’ll love our creamy potato soup, cheeseburger soup, and our chicken pot pie soup.
Why I Love This Beer Cheese Soup
- Quick: This soup comes together in 30 minutes on the stovetop making it a great option for a busy weeknight.
- Comforting: Creamy and loaded with bits of bacon, cheese, and a flavorful broth, this soup comes out cozy.
- The Toppings: I love being able to sprinkle my favorite toppings on soups, this beer cheese soup is perfect with a sprinkling of bacon, extra cheese, some fresh herbs or chives, even a small dollop of sour cream for extra creaminess.
Ingredients Needed:
About the Beer
Pick a beer that has a light coloring. If you select a hoppy beer, it will give your soup a bitter flavoring. If you do find that your soup is getting a bitter taste, add more cream to soften the taste in the broth.
How to make Beer Cheese Soup
- Cook the bacon in the Dutch oven or stockpot. Take the bacon out, crumble it, and set it aside to be served on top as a garnish or an addition to the soup. Reserve the bacon grease for the next step.
- Saute the onion, celery, and bell pepper in the leftover bacon grease until the veggies are softened. Add in the garlic and cook an additional 30 seconds.
- Stir in the flour, creating a thick paste. The roux will give a nice thickness to the soup.
- Pour in the broth, beer, and heavy cream. Using heavy cream helps to ensure that the dairy won’t separate while we simmer the soup. Simmer, remove the soup from the heat, stir in the cheese, and continue stirring until melted. Add in salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the paprika or hot sauce as desired.
Want it Creamier?
To make this soup extra creamy, add some potatoes to it and use an immersion blender to blend up the soup before adding the cheese in.
Storage Information
- Storage: Store leftovers in a sealed container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
- Freezer: Store in a freezer safe container for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight.
- Reheating: Pour soup into a saucepan or dutch oven and heat over medium heat until warmed through. Whisk as needed to prevent the soup from separating.
Beer Cheese Soup
Creamy and comforting, this beer cheese soup is an easy dinner recipe that can be ready to eat in 30 minutes! Perfect for a family weeknight dinner.
Ingredients
- 4 slices bacon
- 1 stalk celery chopped
- ½ cup onion diced
- 1 bell pepper seeds removed, diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- ¼ cup all purpose flour
- 1 (12 ounce) beer
- 1½ cups chicken broth
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese shredded
- ½ tsp paprika
- salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cook the bacon in a large dutch oven or stock pot over medium-high heat. Cook the bacon to desired crispness. Remove the bacon and leave the grease.
- Add the celery, onion, and bell pepper. Stir while sautéing for about 5 minutes until the veggies are tender and the onion is translucent. Add in the garlic and cook an additional 30 seconds.
- Add the flour and stir until the vegetables are coated in the flour. Cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Add the beer, chicken broth and heavy cream. Stir until fully combined. Bring to a boil then lower the heat to medium.
- Continue to cook for another 15 minutes.
- Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the sharp cheddar cheese. Stir while the cheese melts.
- Add the paprika. Add the salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve soup warm garnished with parsley, more shredded sharp cheddar cheese and crumbled bacon on the top.
Video
Equipment
Notes
*Recipes containing alcohol are intended for those 21 years of age and older only. Please drink responsibly.
- Smooth Texture: If you’re wanting to get a smooth texture, you can use an immersion blender and blend up the soup, this would blend in the veggies and allow the flavor to remain.
- Thicker: Add potatoes and blend for a thicker soup. Or if you want something with less carbs, you can add cauliflower and blend. Simply add the potatoes or cauliflower and let simmer in the soup until softened. Use an immersion blender to blend up and create a smooth, thick texture to the soup.
- Beer: My preference when making this for my family (which includes children) is to use a pilsner, this is a nice light option that doesn’t impart a heavy flavoring. Avoid hoppy beers as this can create a bitter flavor in the broth.
- Leftovers: store in the refrigerator in a sealed container for 3-4 days. Reheat on the stovetop or in the microwave.
Nutrition
Serving: 1bowl | Calories: 579kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Protein: 20g | Fat: 50g | Saturated Fat: 28g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 14g | Trans Fat: 0.03g | Cholesterol: 140mg | Sodium: 870mg | Potassium: 298mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 2553IU | Vitamin C: 41mg | Calcium: 460mg | Iron: 1mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
Recipe first published September 26, 2019. Updated October 1, 2022 with new images and information. Recipe is unchanged.
Photography by the talented @KJandCompany.co
My household LOVES this take on beer cheese soup. I do slight changes such as not using celery and using a red bell pepper for an interesting sweetness to counter the “beer” taste. Oh, and I use extra beer. And extra cheese.
Definitely need to follow your directions, especially regarding removing the pot off heat and then add cheese. Otherwise the cheese and soup become grainy and you kick yourself because you really wanted beer cheese soup but it’s grainy and doesn’t taste good and need to throw it out. And then you swear off not making it for awhile because you are so mad at yourself. But change your mind the next day because this really is the best recipe for this soup!
This is the best beer cheese soup I have ever had! I wouldn’t change a thing.
This soup looks yummy!
I love making a quick pasta bake with pasta sauce, pasta, shredded pizza blend cheese and meatballs. The family loves it. Thanks for the chance to enter.
This looks so yummy! 🙂 Can’t wait to try it! And I would love to win the copy of the cookbook! My go to one-pot recipe is chicken tacos in the crockpot. Chicken breasts, salsa, spices, peppers…all go in and get happy all day long and are ready when I’m home from work!