The BEST recipe for decadent beer cheese soup that's loaded with flavor, including two different types of cheeses! A comfort food family favorite soup that's perfect for chilly weather. You can even make it on busy weeknights because it's a one-pot recipe that's ready in 30 minutes!
Prep Time5 minutesmins
Cook Time20 minutesmins
Total Time25 minutesmins
Course: Soup
Cuisine: American
Keyword: beer and cheese soup, beer cheese soup, beer cheese soup recipe, best beer cheese soup recipe, best beer for beer cheese soup, easy beer cheese soup
Servings: 8
Calories: 919kcal
Author: Averie Sunshine
Ingredients
1medium onion.white, yellow, or sweet Vidalia
3large carrotsends trimmed
2celery stalksends trimmed
6tablespoonssalted butter
¼ - ½cupall-purpose flour*See Notes
16ounceswheat or white beer**See Notes
2cupschicken brothI use reduced or lower sodium; vegetable broth can be substituted
1cupheavy cream
8ouncescheddar pub cheese
2½cupsshredded sharp cheddar cheese
2teaspoonsWorcestershire sauce
1teaspoonground mustard powder
½teaspoonsaltor to taste
¼teaspoongarlic powder
¼teaspoonpaprika or smoked paprika
¼teaspoonfreshly ground black pepperor to taste
Bread bowlsoptional for serving
Bacon crumblesoptional for garnishing or stir them in
Chivesoptional for topping
Instructions
To the canister of a food processor, add the onion, carrots (not necessary to peel them as long as they're well washed), celery, and pulse until finely chopped. Alternatively you can do this by hand if you want more texture in your soup or you don't mind the prep work to finely chop them taking longer.
To a large Dutch oven or stock pot, add the butter*** (See Notes), chopped vegetables, and sauté over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, or until the vegetables have softened.
Reduced the heat to medium, evenly sprinkle the flour over the vegetables, and stir constantly until the vegetables start to bind together and thicken up.**** (See Notes)
Pour in the beer, broth, heavy cream, and bring to a low simmer. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. You want the mixture to be simmering gently, not a roaring boil; it can cause the cream to break.
Stir in the pub cheese, shredded cheese, Worcestershire sauce, ground mustard, salt, garlic powder, peppers, and stir occasionally until the cheese has fully melted, about 5 to 8 minutes.
Taste the soup and add additional salt and pepper, if desired to taste. Tip - For those wanting a touch of spiciness to the soup, a shake of cayenne pepper will do the trick.
Optionally serve soup in bread bowls, or regular bowls, optionally top with bacon and/or chives, and serve immediately.
The soup should be stored airtight in the fridge for up to 3 days. It will thicken slightly. I recommend reheating in a saucepan on the stove and adding a little chicken broth to loosen it back up, if needed. If you do microwave it, take care not to overheat it so you don't "break" the soup which can happen if you heat things with milk or dairy in them at too high a temperature or too rapidly, and they will have a very separated and unsightly appearance to them.
Notes
*Depending on how thick you want the soup, you can adjust the amount of flour. The photos show the soup thickened with ½ cup of flour, which gives it a thicker, almost chowder-like consistency.Use just ¼ cup flour if you want a slightly thinner soup, similar to what my extremely popular, The Best Broccoli Cheese Soup (Better-Than-Panera Copycat). It’ll still be creamy, but thinner in consistency.**I used Allagash White Beer, but any white or wheat beer will do. You could also use a lager. A stout like Guinness would also work but will have a much deeper flavor and it will change the color of the soup to be more of a beige than yellow colored.I haven’t tried making this with nonalcoholic beer but it will likely be okay, although the flavor will probably change somewhat slightly.For those concerned about serving this to children, I personally would be fine with it since the alcohol content of the beer will burn off as the soup simmers. However, do as you see fit when it comes to serving this to kids or people who don’t consume alcohol for whatever reason.***Unsalted butter may be used but you'll likely need to add more salt than the recipe calls for to make up for it.****It’s EXTREMELY important that the flour has a chance to cook and create a roux of sorts before adding the liquid. This will help the soup thicken the soup later and ensure that there isn’t any raw flour taste in the soup. If you don’t make a proper roux, your soup will never thicken properly later and apart from that, the flavor will be off. Don’t rush through when you sprinkle in the flour and then stir until the vegetables start to bind together.