Honey Beer Bread — The easiest beer bread ever! No kneading, no yeast, and guaranteed soft and fluffy results every time!
Quick Beer Bread Recipe
I hate beer. But I loved this bread. You will too. And it’s ridiculously easy.
Hate may be too strong of a word about my feelings for beer, but not really. In college, if the choice was drink beer at a party because it’s all there was or stay sober, I stayed sober. I was the built in designated driver.
I really don’t know what it is about beer that I despise so much. I love wine and champagne, but not beer, which is odd because I dig yeasty, cultured, and vinegary things. I like to ferment, pickle, and make homemade kombucha and kefir.
Beer does wonders for this bread, and the bread does not taste like beer. If it did, I wouldn’t love it so much.
And let’s cover this since I know I’ll be asked. Most of the alcohol bakes off and what you’re left with is wonderfully textured bread, with great depth of flavor.
The bread is one of the best sandwich-like breads I’ve ever made, either quick bread or yeast. I have others that are very good, but they’re yeasted breads and require rising, kneading, and you’re looking at a 4+ hour event with lots more work.
The bread is about as sweet as storebought honey-whole wheat sandwich bread. Although there’s no whole wheat flour in the bread, it has a wheaty, nutty quality which I love, courtesy of the beer.
I used one teaspoon each of cinnamon and nutmeg, as well as a dash of molasses, all of which add warming undertones and little bursts of comforting flavors.
They’re very subtle, but present. It’s the nutmeg that I notice most, and it plays wonderfully off the honey and maple.
This honey beer bread is ridiculously soft and moist. It’s on the denser side, as is to be expected without using yeast, but it’s not a crusty bread, which is music to my ears.
I baked it late one night last week, and woke up to photograph it, only to find it was raining and continued to rain all day. Horrible weather for food photography, but great weather for curling up with soft, squishy bread.
It’s total comfort food. I’m not even that much of a bread eater, and I loved it.
Effortless, goofproof, and tastes amazing. Cannot ask for anything more!
What’s in Honey Beer Bread?
To make this easy beer bread, you’ll need:
- Vegetable oil
- Molasses
- Honey
- Pure maple syrup
- Ground cinnamon and nutmeg
- Salt
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Beer
How to Make Honey Beer Bread
The honey beer bread is so simple to make you’ll think you’re doing something wrong.
You combine all the ingredients in one bowl, pour beer over them, stir, and that’s it. You cannot mess this up.
My one suggestion is to let the homemade beer bread cool completely before slicing it. The bread needs time to set up.
Ways to Use Beer Bread
As a sidebar recipe, I made bread pudding with it. In a medium bowl, I beat 1 egg with about 1/2 cup milk, 1/3 cup granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and then put 3 slices of bread (torn apart) into the egg-milk mixture and let it soak for 10 minutes.
Then I pressed it into an 8×4 pan and baked at 350F for 17 minutes. It was some seriously good bread pudding.
Or use the bread for Pumpkin Cinnamon Overnight Pull-Apart French Toast or in place of the Hawaiian bread in Hawaiian Bread and Maple Banana Baked French Toast.
What’s the Best Beer for Beer Bread?
Since I’m not a beer drinker, I stood in front of the beer case forever and had no idea what I was grabbing.
I finally settled on Blue Moon Harvest Pumpkin Ale because pumpkin anything sounds good. But no, the bread doesn’t taste like pumpkin, although I wish it did.
I really don’t think there’s a wrong beer for the bread. I want to make more of it, trying a variety of beers to see how they effect the taste. Since I don’t know one from the other, it’ll be random potluck. Sounds fun.
Tips for the Best Beer Bread
I used honey from Trader Joe’s. If you have fancy honey and want to use it, go for it.
If you don’t have real maple syrup, no biggie. Use what you have, and that goes for the beer, too. Just make sure to use pure maple syrup, NOT pancake syrup.
If you plan to make sandwiches with the bread or dip it with chili or soup, or let it go stale and make croutons with it, or use it as the dipper for hummus or on a cheese platter, you may want to either omit or dial back the cinnamon and nutmeg.
You could also go savory with the spices, adding a pinch of garlic or onion powder, curry, oregano, dill, or whatever flavors you like.
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Honey Maple Beer Bread
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons light, mild, or medium molasses (not blackstrap)
- ¼ cup honey
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon salt, optional and to taste
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 12 ounces beer (I used Blue Moon Harvest Pumpkin Ale
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F. Spray a 9×5-inch loaf pan with floured cooking spray, or grease and flour the pan; set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the first 9 ingredients (through baking powder). Tip: Measure the oil in a 1/4-cup measure, filling it halfway (there’s 4 tablespoons in 1/4-cup, so halfway is 2 tablespoons). By adding the oil first, it coats the measuring cup so the subsequent sticky ingredients (molasses, honey, maple) will slide right out.
- Slowly pour beer over the top. It will bubble and foam. Stir until combined. Batter is thick, gloppy, and dense.
- Turn batter out into prepared pan, smoothing the top lightly with a spatula.
- Bake for about 40 minutes, or until top is domed and set, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs, but no batter.
- Allow bread to cool in pan for about 15 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Slice using a serrated knife.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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great
can i use pancake syrup or does it have to be real maple syrup
You “could” use pancake syrup but don’t use lite.
**However, it will not taste as good with any kind of pancake syrup as compared to real maple syrup, which is why I highly recommend real maple syrup.
can i use pancake syrup or does it have to be real maple syrup
I’m planning on making this for “Maple Madness” day at my office. I’m going to try 1/2 cup of Maple Syrup instead of 1/4honey 1/4maple. Do you see this being a problem at all? It looks like someone tried all honey so I think it will be okay. I want it to have that maple flavor.
I think you’ll be fine although I’ve only made it as written.
I lowered the gluten content by replacing the All Purpose Flour with Bob’s Mills Gluten Free All Purpose Flour + 1-1/2 tsp. Xanthan gum (per the directions on Bob’s Mills package). It worked perfectly! I also used Mackeson’s Triple Stout as my beer of choice and it went perfectly with the molasses & maple! :)
Thanks for trying the bread and glad it worked out to keep it GF with the tweaks you made. That’s GREAT! Thanks for sharing b/c Im sure this will help another reader who sees this!
I’m making this tonight as a welcome home gift for the hubby. Woot!
Reporting back:
I used blueberry honey, blueberry wheat ale, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. The bread tasted weird while fresh and hot yesterday – still very beer-y, and just strange. Maybe too many spices, or the molasses was too much with those flavors, I don’t know.
BUT, this morning, it tastes like blueberry bagels! Delicious! I think it just needed time to settle down.
I’ll admit that DOES sound like a lot going on…beer and blueberries could work, along with the cinn & molasses, but it could also be a bit too much – but sounds like it all mellowed with time which is often the case with lots of big, bold flavors, they all sort of marry after a day or two. That’s wonderful! So glad it worked out and that it tastes like BB bagels. YUM!
I’ve got my sec0nd loaf in the oven! Yesterday I omitted the cinnamon and nutmeg and put in a bit of onion and garlic powders (wtih Drop Top Amber). So good! Even my brother liked it and he thinks I cook weird things. And now I’m baking a loaf with the cinnamon and nutmeg. I wanted to drink my last beer so I used a bottle of hard cider, hope that works. Added 1 peeled, shredded apple and some pecans!
As long as there’s some yeast in the hard cider I think you should be safe (As long as the batter got bubbling and foamy like it did when you added the beer to your previous loaf). Shredded apples with the hard cider sounds wonderful! And glad you even impressed your bro with your onion/garlic loaf! Thanks for trying the recipe & LMK about it!
The cider worked well! That loaf was yummy, I’m *almost* ashamed to say that I have another loaf in the oven. I may have made a grocery trip to stock up on beer and honey. Went super savory with this: all honey, no maple, subbed in 1/2 cup oat flour and 1/2 cup whole rolled oats for 1 cup of the flour and for spices used celery salt, granulated onion and garlic, and Italian seasoning and threw in a bit of cheddar and parmesan for good measure. Thank you so much,I clearly love this recipe! :D And I love that the measurements are easy enough to remember!
I love your enthusiasm and variations of this bread!!! Wow! I need to come to your house :) That’s funny that you’re stocking up on beer and honey. I know how it is when you start making something and get on a little roll with it!
I think your oat flour/whole rolled oats substitutions sound great. Some nuttiness and chewiness and texture. Mmm, good! And nice to throw in some cheddar and parm, for good measure of course :)
And I am so happy to hear the cider version worked! Now I know that and can tell people who are adverse to using beer that cider does work! Keep me posted with future variations!
Hi Averie,
I just discovered your site via Pinterest. You are SO funny! and I love your blog. I’m not a blog ‘follower’ of anyone, but that just might change.
Re: the honey maple beer bread…had a bit of a complication. The batter was not nearly as gloppy/dense as you described. Mine turned out more like a cake batter, i.e. relatively thin. I read the ingredients over multiple times thinking that I had mistakenly added too much liquid or not enough flour, but I hadn’t. Has anyone else mentioned this? I can tell by your pics that it was a very thick batter that had to be spread. Mine poured like a cake batter, I had to cook it an extra 10 min., and it didn’t rise quite as high as yours.
I mixed the dry ingredients well, poured in the wet ingredients, added the beer, then mixed. Should I have mixed ALL the ingredients before adding the beer?
I just tried some, and it is moist and delicious! I guess that’s what matters most! I did cut the nutmeg in half since my husband is not a big fan, and it seemed perfect. I am a non-kneader, too, so quick beer breads are right up my alley. Thank you!
Glad to know you re-read and are confident you didnt add too much liquid/not enough flour…so we can rule that out.
Yes my batter was THICK. Spreading it like…well, a gloppy mess is the only way to describe. I use King Arthur flour (all-purpose, red label) and swear by it. If you’re using cheaper flour, i.e. grocery store brand OR are using Pillsbury or Gold Medal, they have less available protein in them and cause baked goods not to rise as well or with as much structure. If you google about protein content in flour, very interesting – enough variance by brands to matter in some recipes. I would use King Arthur period, for the rest of your life, period. Worth an extra 2 bucks per bag.
Could it be the beer you used? Maybe it made your batter thinner? Maybe try the beer I did. Or another beer. Or add another 1/2 cup of flour so that is IS a thick batter…lots of little tweaks but you sound like you know what’s up in the kitchen. So keep me posted on your re-trials!
Thank you for the quick reply…you were right. I did use Gold Medal, and will make the switch back to King Arthur which I used to use, and perhaps add the extra 1/2 c. flour. I used Newcastle Brown Ale, and am thinking it’s a typical consistency, so it must’ve been the flour like you said. Will make it again. The fam loves it.
It’s the flour then – for sure. So just add a little more til you finish that bag and get back onto KA flour :)
We’re big beer drinkers at my house so I’ve tried a bunch of recipes of beer bread. We have several that we make regularly and I’m going to try this one tomorrow. Any bread that is quick & simple is right up my alley!
Oh how nice! Please LMK how it turns out for you!
I just took the bread out of the oven, my 3rd time making it since I found your recipe. This time the beer that I used was Widmer Brothers Brrrr (winter red ale made with caramel & chocolate) and so far it’s my favorite. The beer does leave a hint of it’s flavor in the bread so I’ve tried a different one each time.
Anyway, thanks so much for sharing this recipe. It’s a favorite at our house now and I’m going to serve it with our Thanksgiving dinner!