Have you ever tried making bread with beer? This beer bread recipe is simple and incredibly flavorful with the addition of parmesan cheese and freshly cracked black pepper and the texture is perfectly tender and buttery. While we love this beer bread with just a generous pat of butter slathered on top, it’s even better when dipped into a big bowl of chili or broccoli cheddar soup! If you’re looking for a quick bread with tons of savory flavor, this recipe is about to be your new favorite!
What is Beer Bread?
Want a deliciously comforting loaf of bread that doesn’t require hours of proofing yeast, rising, and baking? Beer bread is a quick bread that uses the natural yeasts in beer to activate a rise. The beer reacts with baking powder to help the bread rise as it bakes. Depending on the type of beer you use, you’ll also add extra flavor to the bread. But don’t worry, all or most of the alcohol cooks out of the bread, leaving you with all the flavor but no alcohol.
How to Make Our Beer Bread Recipe
Ingredients
Process
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease the loaf pan and set aside.
- Place flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl and whisk together.
- Create a small well in the center of the flour mixture.
- Add beer, ¼ cup melted butter, lemon zest (if using), parmesan, and black pepper. Stir together until the dough just comes together. Do not over-mix! (if there are small flour pockets, gently stir them away – a couple of remaining flour pockets are okay).
- Pour mixture into a prepared loaf pan.
- Pour the remaining butter over the top of the batter. Bake for about 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the loaf.
- Remove the loaf from the pan and allow it to cool until warm to the touch (about 1 hour and 30 minutes.
Tips and Tricks for the BEST Beer Bread
Choose a flavorful beer. Craft beers, stouts, ales, or any darker beer are likely to have yeast present that will help the bread rise while also lending a nice flavor to the bread. Some beers have yeast filtered out, like Sam Adams Boston Lager, Miller Lite, or Heineken, and may not be the best choice.
Don’t overmix the batter. Be sure to just mix the batter until most of the flour pockets are gone. Stirring too much will lead to a dense loaf.
Don’t let the batter sit too long. Once the batter is mixed, get it into the pan and into the oven within 10-15 minutes. If you wait too long, the baking soda and beer will react too much before the heat is added, preventing a good rise.
Bake just until the toothpick comes out clean. If you overbake the bread, it may become dry and crumbly instead of tender.
Let the bread cool before slicing. Letting the bread rest for an hour to an hour and a half before slicing will help the slices hold their shape.
Variations
Switch up the beer. Choose your favorite craft beer or a spiced seasonal variety to add a little extra flavor to the bread. Darker beers, like Guinness, will also add more flavor to your beer bread.
Add cheese. We added parmesan cheese to this recipe, but sharp cheddar, Gruyere, mozzarella, or Monterrey Jack can also be used.
Mix in the herbs. Fresh herbs, including rosemary, thyme, dill, or oregano, can add a new, fun flavor to the bread. Freshly minced garlic or garlic powder also adds incredible flavor to this bread!
Make it spicy. Add chopped fresh jalapeno peppers, red pepper chili flakes, or pepper jack cheese.
Make it sweet. Add dried fruit like raisins, cranberries, or chopped apricots to the bread, along with chopped walnuts, pecans, or pistachios. Don’t forget a drizzle of honey as well!
Storing Instructions
To keep your beer bread fresh, let it cool completely, then wrap it in plastic wrap and place it in an airtight container for up to 2-3 days on the counter.
You can also freeze baked beer bread by wrapping it in plastic and then in an airtight freezer-safe container. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw on the counter or in the refrigerator and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days after thawing.
What to Eat with Our Beer Bread Recipe?
One of the best things about beer bread is that it tastes incredible by itself but can also be eaten with a wide variety of different foods:
Eat it with a dip like Spinach and Artichoke Dip or Hot Crab Dip.
Enjoy it along with a hearty BBQ Chicken Salad or Summer Steak Salad.
Use it to sop up a bowl of Creamy Pumpkin Soup or Chicken Gnocchi.
More Delicious Quick Bread Recipes You Will Love
Beer Bread Recipe (with Black Pepper and Parmesan)
EQUIPMENT
- 1 loaf pan 8.5" x 4.5" x 2.75" (9"x 5" is fine too)
INGREDIENTS
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 2 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 12 ounces (a nice flavorful) beer
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter melted and divided
- 3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly cracked black pepper
- zest of 1 lemon (optional)
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease loaf pan and set aside.
- Place flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl and whisk together.
- Create a small well in the center of the flour mixture.
- Add beer, ¼ cup melted butter, lemon zest (if using), parmesan, and black pepper. Stir together until the dough just comes together. Do not over mix! (if there are small flour pockets, gently stir them away – a couple remaining flour pockets are okay).
- Pour mixture into a prepared loaf pan.
- Pour remaining butter over top of batter. Bake for about 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the loaf.
- Remove loaf from pan and allow it to cool until just warm to the touch (about 1 hour and 30 minutes).
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I hope you don’t mind, but I veganized this recipe last night. It turned out fantastic. All I had to do was substitute the butter for a vegan ‘butter’ and I changed the parmesan cheese to Daiya cheddar cheese. It was super fantastic! Thank you.
Ack! As we speak the melted butter form the top of the batter has run down and out of the pan and is smoking furiously on the bottom of the oven. And I used a large loaf pan.
Was there something I missed? Should I have flattened the beer first?
Will definitely give the butter top a miss if I try this recipe again.
Ack is right! Hmm, I didn’t have that issue while baking my loaf, but in the future you should stick your loaf pan onto a baking sheet with a lip to be safe. If you’re still nervous about the run off, you can also incorporate all but 1 tablespoon of the butter into the dough/batter and then brush the remaining tablespoon over the top. Hope your loaf still turned out yummy!
Am making these for Christmas gifts! Any idea on how baking them in mini-loaf pans changes the baking time? Thanks!
Sounds delicious!!! Anybody know the modifications to make it in a bread machine?
Thanks!
I’m wondering what kind of beer would be best. I have some Guinness in the fridge or a lighter German beer. Which one of these would be better? I have all of the ingredients though, would love to make this :)
This sounds exactly like the Crescia my Nona makes for Easter every year. It’s a traditional Italian yeast bread with parmesan (though we use Locatelli) and black pepper. You usually make it on Holy/Black Friday, when you’re not supposed to leave the house, because it has multiple rising times that equate to like 4 hours or something. So it’s great to have something to do. I sent this to all my aunts and we’re going to compare. This is great too because our crescia recipe makes three monster loaves and while delicious, definitely doesn’t help our waistlines!
HI, I would like to make this for my book club Friday night, is it okay to make it the day before, or is it best the day it is baked? Thanks so much!
You can totally make this bread the day before and it’ll still be delicious!
Thanks for this great recipe! I made it for my first Thanksgiving dinner (I’m a German girl married to an American, so I missed that tradition up to now) and it turned out GREAT!
I was a bit concerned first because I wasn’t sure which consistency the batter should have, if mine was too sticky&moist, but it turned out just YUMMY!!
So your creation is living on on the other side of the ocean, not only in my kitchen but in the ones of many of our guests too! :)
I will begin by saying I will definitely make this quick-bread again. The recipe is a bit misleading though. The yeast in the beer does VERY little (possibly nothing) in this recipe because it doesn’t have time to work it’s magic. If it did there’d be no need for the baking powder.
HOWEVER it did turn out really well for me. I had no AP flour so I used self-rising and omitted the baking powder. I also think you could do with less butter poured on the top. I poured most on top and reserved a bit to brush on after it was done baking.
Finally I would say to use about 1 tsp of black pepper, especially if you don’t crack it yourself. I admit I got lazy and used ground pepper. I believe 2 tsp. of ground pepper is a good bit more than 2 tsp. of fresh cracked pepper due to the surface area difference.
The yeast in this recipe along with the carbonation does indeed help with the rise (and airiness), although you’re correct that a good amount of the works goes to the baking powder.
I disagree about the butter, it’s meant to pool at the top pre-bake to help form a nice, light crust on the top of the loaf and adds great flavor. I couldn’t imagine adding any less!
I’m happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe and urge you to crack the pepper yourself the next time around…it makes a world of difference! :)
Amazing recipe. I made this last night along with a pot of chili. It was the perfect combination. The bread smelled so delicious as it was baking. Will definitely use this recipe again.
Making this right now (sans lemon zest) with Ommegang Hennepin. It smells delicious and it’s not even baked yet…
I made this last night, with a Maudite (Belgian strong ale) that has been rolling around my fridge. It’s a *really* good, crazy-simple bread. Mine came out pretty crumbly so I’m not sure how it would hold up for a sandwich. I used a very coarse grind and next time–and there WILL be a next time–I will use a finer grind.
This morning I toasted a slice and put a fried egg over it–AMAZING.
So I made this bread on a whim last night and my extended family and I made turkey, cranberry relish and cheddar sandwiches out of it. Best. Thing. Ever. Love love love it.
I got inspired to make this! In the oven baking right now!
Outside the kitchen, he must enjoy spending time with his two children, cooking, wine making and tending to the gardens.
Oh my gosh! What a delicious idea! This combination of flavors is so perfect, my mouth is watering.Any cheesy, peppery,beer-y bread is just perfection! You nailed it.
This sounds amazing! I feel the need to make this soon!
This bread sounds pretty amazing! I may end up making a loaf to snack on intermittently all week. Or maybe I could top a slice or two with some shredded & garlic-sauteed brussels sprouts! :)
I’ve made cheesy bread before but I would LOVE to try out beer in a bread recipe. This sounds so good, I like the “hearty but airy” description!
I feel full reading this post… oh my! Happy Thanksgiving!!
Looks so good! On my to-do list :)
Ive wanted to make beer and/or cheese bread for ages and yours looks like what I need to make!
My husband’s family is Jamaican-Chinese American (ie: his parents are ethnically Chinese, born in Jamaica and immigrated here as young adults). Thanksgiving includes the best of all three cultures/cuisines. So your celebration sounds totally normal to me. ;-)
Love that I have all these ingredients in my pantry already! Totally making this today. Happy Thanksgiving!!
I want this for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Oh my!