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This Beer Bread recipe is slightly sweet, moist, and so delicious! Made with just 6 ingredients, it’s a simple quick bread that tastes like you slaved over it for hours.
Quick breads like this beer bread require no yeast and are ready in about an hour. Perfect for serving with a steaming hot bowl of Vegetable Soup, Turkey Taco Soup or Chili.
Table of Contents
- Why We Love This Homemade Beer Bread Recipe
- Ingredients Needed to Make the Best Beer Bread
- How to Make Beer Bread
- How to Store Beer Bread
- How Does Beer Bread Work?
- What is the Best Beer to Use for Beer Bread?
- Serving Suggestions
- Possible Variations
- More Quick Bread Recipes
- Tools used in this recipe:
- Beer Bread Recipe Recipe
Why We Love This Homemade Beer Bread Recipe
- No bread maker needed – The best part about this beer bread recipe is that there is no yeast, and no bread maker required. It comes together quickly in one bowl then bakes for an hour and you have fresh, hot bread to serve with dinner.
- No yeast required – If you’re nervous about working with yeast, quick breads are a great way to get fresh bread without all of the work.
- It’s delicious! It has a more intense, richer flavor than traditional white breads, but it doesn’t really taste like beer.
- Crispy outside, tender inside – The melted butter on top gives the bread a crunchy top, while the inside stays moist and tender.
Ingredients Needed to Make the Best Beer Bread
The best part about this homemade beer bread recipe is that there are no crazy ingredients involved. Just 6 simple ingredients that are commonly found in your pantry!
- All-purpose flour – just regular white flour. You could use whole wheat flour if you want, but it will result in a more dense bread.
- Baking powder – To help give the bread rise.
- Salt – For flavor.
- Granulated sugar – Simple white sugar to add just a touch of sweetness. A couple tablespoons of honey or agave would be a great substitute.
- Beer or lager of your choice – One bottle or can of your favorite beer. Or if you’re not a beer drinker you can usually find single 12-ounce cans and bottles with the refrigerated liquor.
- Butter – melted and poured over the top of the batter to give a golden crust.
How to Make Beer Bread
See recipe card below for ingredient quantities and full instructions.
- Prep: Grease a loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray or melted butter and preheat the oven. I like to line the pan with a piece of parchment paper to make it easy to remove the loaf of bread from the pan.
- Mix. Grab a large mixing bowl and combine the dry ingredients together, then whisk in the beer. The batter is made from the first 5 ingredients, poured into the prepared pan and the butter is melted and drizzled on top which creates a golden, crunchy crust. For a softer crust, you can mix the melted butter in with the batter. Personally I love the crunchy texture!
- Bake. It takes about 50 minutes or so to bake, but with ovens can vary so you’ll want to check it at 40-45 minutes and possibly bake up to an hour. You’ll know it’s done when the top is golden brown and the sides pull away from the pan. The toothpick test is always a giveaway – just insert one into the center of the loaf and if all you get are moist crumbs, it’s ready!
How to Store Beer Bread
Storage: Store beer bread at room temperature for up to 3 days. Do not refrigerate are seal airtight. I recommend storing bread on a plate or cutting board and covering with a tea towel. Storing in an airtight container could cause moisture to accumulate and make the bread soggy.
Freezing: After 3 days (or sooner), freeze any remaining bread by wrapping tightly with plastic wrap then in aluminum foil and place in the freezer. Thaw on the counter overnight and let it come to room temperature before slicing.
Optional warming: Feel free to warm your bread in the microwave for 15-20 seconds.
How Does Beer Bread Work?
Beer Bread is a simple quick bread recipe that uses beer in place of yeast for the leavening. Both beer and bread are created when yeast is used to turn sugars into carbon dioxide and alcohol. In the case of bread, a great percentage of the alcohol evaporates during the baking process, but it does add a mild flavor.
What is the Best Beer to Use for Beer Bread?
There are lots of options, so choose your favorite. Dark, light, malty, hoppy, even non-alcoholic beer will work well. The flavor of the beer will translate to the bread, so the richer and more intense the flavor of the beer, the rich and more intense the flavor of the bread will be.
Serving Suggestions
Beer Bread is perfect for serving with hearty soups and stews, like Vegetable Beef Soup, Bacon and Bean Soup, Instant Pot Chicken Stew, Smoky Vegetable Beef Soup. It also makes a delicious snack on its own or slathered with butter and honey.
Possible Variations
I love this recipe just as it is, but there are a few ways you can customize it.
- Replace the sugar with honey or agave.
- Add ¾ cup of shredded cheddar cheese or ¼ cup of freshly shredded Parmesan cheese.
- Add a small can of diced green chiles or jalapenos with or without the cheese.
- Use a cider instead of a lager for a slightly sweeter taste.
- Add some dried herbs, like rosemary or thyme.
- Use the leftovers to make sandwiches.
- Toast the bread and slather with butter and jam for a quick afternoon snack.
More Quick Bread Recipes
These recipes are just as quick and also require no yeast. Some are sweet and perfect for enjoying with coffee or for dessert and some are savory and go great with hearty meals like Crock Pot Roast or Chopped Steaks with Mushroom Gravy.
- Honey Oat Quick Bread
- Cheesy Pizza Quick Bread
- Parmesan Garlic Herb Quick Bread
- Pumpkin Apple Bread
- Zucchini Bread Recipe
- Irish Soda Bread
Tools used in this recipe:
9-inch Loaf Pans: These are great and affordable, and come in a set of two.
Parchment paper – I prefer parchment to foil; it’s just easier to work with and is just as nonstick. Plus it just looks prettier!
Bread Knife – A sharp, serrated bread knife is a kitchen staple, recommended for cutting bread (and tomatoes, too!).
Beer Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ tablespoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 12 ounces beer or lager of your choice
- 4 tablespoons butter melted and slightly cooled
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease an 8-inch loaf pan and line with parchment paper that folds over just two sides (optional, for easy removal).
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.
- Pour in the beer and stir with a wooden spoon until just combined. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and drizzle melted butter on top.
- Bake the bread until golden brown and firm, about 45 minutes to an 1 hour. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then allow it to cool on a wire rack before slicing and serving.
- Serve with butter and honey for drizzling. (optional)
Does the beer need to be at room temperature, or does it matter?
Room temperature is better, but either will work.
The best beer bread I have ever made. I give this bread a 100% must try. It’s was super easy and the taste was fantastic. Thank you
You are so welcome Alicia! Thank you for the awesome feedback.
I don’t use much salt at all in my cooking but this recipe needs more salt. It didn’t have much flavor. The crunchy texture was nice but it desperately needs some flavor. Not sure I would make again.
Hi Debbie, The beer you use really creates the flavor, so that could make a hug difference. Also using salted butter versus unsalted. (I use salted). But of course you could add more salt. We love it as is.
Very simple recipe, my first attempt I used an IPA (not one I really like…., Just what we had left from summer) And I didn’t love that result, solely based on flavor. Everything is great, it was just a “skunky” beer IMO & it was my experiment batch, beer flavor definitely came thru on that, which isn’t a bad thing, I just should have used a beer I actually like. Now I’m trying one with a lager (Stella) and one with an apple cider beer (angry orchard) & they smell amazing! I love this recipe, beautifully simple & easy to add flavors I like.
Do you think I could substitute a cup of flour for whole wheat flour?
Yes you could easily swap out wheat flour. Enjoy!
Could I make these in mini loaves
Yes you could make two ini loaves, just shorten the bake time. I haven’t tried this myself but I would check them at the 20 minute mark and then go from there.
We don’t usually have beer available so I use a soda of some kind. Any one of them will work, I used coke last time, all you are looking for is the carbonation and the all give just a different flavor. I also love it if I have beer to use. Great bread.
So glad you enjoyed it Lynnette! Great idea about using soda. Thanks for stopping by.
do you have a recipe for low carb bread?
Delicious and easy! I am going to add the cheddar cheese next time.
What type of beer works best? Thank you.
You can try any beer you like. I use a basic Budweiser, but other flavors will work well. Keep in mind that a darker or sweeter beer will alter the flavor slightly.