Beer cheese soup
Wisconsin’s cozy pub soup: sharp cheddar melted into a velvety beer and vegetable base, made for dunking thick toasted bread.
- 45 min total
- 35 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $2.65 a serving
- 730 calories
- Good the next day
- Vegetarian
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 12 oz cheddar cheese, sharp, from a block
- 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
- 2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
- 2 stalks celery, finely chopped
- ¼ cup butter
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 can lager beer, 12 oz
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 1½ cups milk, whole
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- ½ tsp hot sauce
- 4 slices sourdough bread, thick
- 2 tbsp chives, chopped (optional)
From your pantry
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
Each serving has about 730 calories, 31 g protein, 49 g carbs and 44 g fat, and costs about $2.65 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No cheddar cheese? Shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese or Mexican blend cheese works.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No butter? Ghee works.
- No milk? Half-and-half works.
- No hot sauce? Sriracha works.
- No sourdough bread? French bread works.
- No chives? Green onions work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the cheddar on the large holes of a box grater and the onion, carrot and celery.
Grate. Grating means rubbing food across the holes of a grater to make fine shreds or flakes. It spreads cheese, garlic or ginger evenly through a dish so it melts right in.
How you’ll know: Even shreds fall off the back of the grater, and you stop while the piece is still big enough to hold.
Chop. Chopping means cutting food into bite-size pieces that don’t need to be neat. Keep them roughly the same size so everything cooks evenly.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are about half an inch and roughly alike, even if none of them are pretty.
Dolly’s tip: Grate it from a block. Bagged shredded cheese is coated to stop clumping, and that coating makes soup grainy.the butter in a large pot over medium. Cook the onion, carrot and celery 8 minutes, stirring now and then, until soft.
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Medium heatTimer: 8 min
Stir in the garlic for 30 seconds, then sprinkle in the flour and stir 1 to 2 minutes, until it coats everything and smells toasty.
Medium heatTimer: 1 min 30 sec
Slowly pour in the beer, the whole time, then whisk in the broth. 10 minutes, until the vegetables are tender and the soup .
Whisk. Whisking means beating quickly with a whisk or a fork to blend things together. It smooths out lumps and mixes eggs, oil or sauces evenly.
How you’ll know: It all looks one even color and texture, with no streaks or lumps.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Thicken. Thickening means cooking a sauce or soup until it’s less runny, by simmering it down or adding something like cornstarch. A thicker sauce clings to food instead of pooling on the plate.
How you’ll know: It coats the back of a spoon, and a line drawn through it with your finger holds its shape.
Medium heatTimer: 10 min
Dolly’s tip: The beer foams up when it hits the pot. Pour slowly and it settles right down.Stir in the milk, mustard and hot sauce and heat until steaming, about 3 minutes. Don’t let it boil.
Low heatTimer: 3 min
Turn the heat to low.
Low heat
Add the cheese a handful at a time, stirring until each handful before adding the next.
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Low heat
Dolly’s tip: Low heat and patience keep it silky. If it boils after the cheese goes in, it turns grainy.Toast the bread. Taste the soup and add salt and pepper if it needs it.
Ladle into bowls, top with chives, and serve with the toast for dunking.
Dolly’s tip: Reheat leftovers gently over low heat, stirring, with a splash of milk.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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