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Beer soup is pretty much as old as the hills. In fact, in medieval Europe, they even used to eat it for breakfast. We don’t know if we’d suggest going quite that far, but we do love our version for lunch or dinner or even just a satisfying snack. Our soup is more of a thick and hearty potato soup, flavored with beer and cheese. What could be better than that? It’s guaranteed to make your stomach happy.
This is a situation where you want to use a nice dark and hoppy beer. If you use a light beer it will disappear behind all that cheese and you’ll miss out on the flavor combo that makes this soup so special. You wouldn’t want that to happen.
The amount of stock you need to use depends. Start with just enough to cover the veggies (remember you’re adding more liquid at the end with the half-and-half) and you can always thin it out a bit later with more stock if you’d like. We, however, like this soup nice and thick. We think it’s great when it’s silky and smooth, but if you like a little more bite to your soup you can always opt to only puree half of it. Then you have some toothsome veggie chunks going on too.
Beer Cheese Potato Soup
Yield(s): Serves 4-6
30 minutes
you're making mealtime meaningful.
Ingredients
- 4-6 russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
- 3 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
- 3-5 cups chicken broth
- 2 cups half-and-half
- 1 bottle (12 oz) beer
- 1/4 cup butter
- 2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 2 stalks of celery, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Preparation
- In a large Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat butter over medium heat. Add onions, carrots, and celery and cook until vegetables start to soften, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, thyme, and potatoes and cook one minute more.
- Add beer and enough broth to cover vegetables. Bring to a simmer and let cook until potatoes are tender, 15-20 minutes.
- Remove soup to blender to puree in batches or use an immersion blender in the pot. Once pureed, stir in half-and-half and cheese until melted. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Enjoy!
Adapted from Gather For Bread.