Homemade Beer Cheese Soup
Homemade Beer Cheese Soup is the ultimate comfort food! It's creamy, cheesy, and even has some veggies (you know, for balance). Serve it up with soft pretzels for your next game day celebration, or for a cozy dinner on a chilly night.
Servings 6 servings
Ingredients
- 6 slices bacon, cut into large pieces
- 1/2 large yellow onion, diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 2 large red bell peppers, diced and divided Reserve half of one pepper for topping your soup
- 2 large cloves of garlic
- salt + pepper
- 5 tbsp Danish Creamery Salted European-Style Butter
- 1/3 cup + 1 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
- 8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, in block form
- 4 ounces extra sharp cheddar cheese, in block form
- 2 ounces pepperjack cheese, in block form
- 1 12 ounce bottle of any basic light beer
- soft pretzels or bread of your choice, for serving
Instructions
- Prep: Chop your veggies as directed in the ingredient list. Grate the cheese and pop it in a bowl in the fridge until you're ready for it, later on.
- Make the Soup: Begin by sautéing the bacon in a large dutch oven, over medium heat, until cooked through. Remove from the pot and set aside on a paper-towel lined plate. Without cleaning the pot, add the onion, celery, and red bell peppers. Add a light sprinkle of salt and pepper. Saute, stirring often, over medium high heat for 6-10 minutes, until tender. Add the garlic and cook for just a minute more. Reduce the heat to medium low, and add the butter, stirring, until it's completely melted. Add the flour, and stir, cooking, for 2 minutes to cook the raw flour taste out. Next, slowly add the whole milk over medium low heat, stirring while you add it. Cook for two minutes, stirring constantly. Slowly add the broth, stirring or whisking it in as you pour. Continue cooking this, stirring constantly, for 8 minutes. The mixture will thicken during this time - it should coat the back of a spoon, and if you pull your spoon through the pot (like parting the sea) the mixture should separate for a split second before coming back together. Remove the pot from the heat and slowly add the cheese, a handful at a time, whisking until completely melted before moving on to the next handful. This is very important - if you ignore any of these steps, you will end up with a grainy textured soup, because the cheese won't melt in properly . Return to low heat, and slowly whisk in the beer. Cook for about 4-5 minutes more over low heat, stirring lazily, to cook off some of the beer taste. Taste and season with more salt and pepper, if desired, or even a pinch of dried thyme.
- Serve + Store: Serve with the cooked bacon pieces and the extra diced red bell pepper on top. Store leftovers in an airtight container for 4-5 days.
Notes
Note: The cheese types can be modified to the amounts you like - for example, you could do more pepper jack and less cheddar. Just make sure you're using the 14 ounces total.