It turns out one of my best kept cooking secrets is not much of a secret anymore. Beer does something to food that almost nothing else does, and these 19 beer recipes are the argument: it lightens a batter the way soda water does, it gives a braise a depth you cannot fake, and it turns an ordinary cheese soup into the thing people ask you about afterward. There are beer battered fish tacos in here, soft pretzels boiled and baked, a brisket that slices like butter, candied bacon, and a pan of brownies with half a cup of stout in the batter. Even I would not have thought of some of these. From soup and grilling ideas to snacks, doughnuts and a couple of very good desserts, this is where a spare bottle in the back of the fridge finally earns its keep.
1. Beer Steamed Mussels
Two and a half to three pounds of mussels, twelve ounces of beer and ten minutes of actual cooking. Melt butter in a deep pot, soften three cloves of garlic and a quarter of a diced onion without browning them, add the scrubbed and bearded mussels and stir, then pour in the beer and clap the lid on. A few minutes later they are open and done. Chopped flat leaf parsley, salt, a squeeze of lemon or lime. It costs a fraction of what a restaurant charges for the same bowl, and any mussel that refuses to open goes in the bin.
Get the full tutorial at Rasa Malaysia.
2. Beer and Honey BBQ Chicken Skewers
A pound and a half of chicken breast cut into inch and a half cubes, marinated in three quarters of a cup of beer with a third of a cup of honey, soy sauce, Dijon, garlic and red pepper flakes. Two hours minimum, twenty four for the good version. Grill at around 375 until the chicken hits 165. The part people skip: boil the leftover marinade for a full five minutes before you brush it back on, then it is a basting sauce instead of a health hazard. Soak wooden skewers first.
Get the full tutorial at Jo Cooks.
3. Beer Doughnuts with IPA Lemon Curd
Sugared doughnuts with IPA lemon curd spooned over the top so it runs down the stack, which is one of the more inspired things anybody has done with a hoppy beer. The bitterness in an IPA works with lemon in a way a mild lager never would, because the hops cut the sweetness of the curd instead of disappearing underneath it. Spoon it on while the doughnuts are still warm. This is the recipe that justifies keeping one bottle of IPA in the fridge purely for cooking.
Get the full tutorial at Domestic Fits.
4. Beer BBQ Meatballs
Two pounds of lean ground beef, and the trick that keeps them tender is soaking a cup of panko in half a cup of milk for five minutes before it goes in with the eggs, garlic and Worcestershire. Scoop inch and a half meatballs, line them up in a nine by thirteen, then whisk a cup of your BBQ sauce with a cup of beer and a couple of squirts of sriracha and pour it over. Forty minutes at 375. Or five hours on low in the slow cooker if the oven is busy.
Get the full tutorial at Sweet and Savory by Shinee.
5. Slow Cooker Beer Mac & Cheese
This is a beef and stout mac rather than a plain one. Stew meat, beef broth, a cup of stout, pub burger seasoning and a can of fire roasted tomatoes go in the slow cooker for three to four hours on high, then the dry noodles go in for another fifteen to forty five minutes until they drink up the liquid. Meanwhile you build a cheese sauce on the stove with butter, flour, another half cup of stout, milk and two cups of shredded cheese, and stir that through at the end.
Get the full tutorial at Slow Cooker Gourmet.
6. Beer Braised Pulled Pork
The two temperature method is the whole recipe. Rub a five pound bone in Boston butt with kosher salt, black pepper, chili powder, garlic powder, ground coriander and ground mustard, then roast at 500 for forty five minutes so the outside chars in places. Drop the oven to 325, pour a fourteen point nine ounce can of Guinness over the top, cover the pan tightly in heavy foil, poke about a dozen holes in it and give it three more hours. Garlic powder rather than fresh, because fresh burns at 500.
Get the full tutorial at Life Tastes Good.
7. Beer Battered Fish Tacos
The batter is four things: a hundred grams of plain flour, a teaspoon of baking powder, half a teaspoon of salt and a hundred and seventy five millilitres of beer, mixed only when the oil is already at 180C so it stays lively. Cod cut into strips about two inches long, fried three or four minutes in two batches. The sauce is yoghurt and sour cream with cumin seeds toasted dry and ground, coriander and lime. The pico gets red wine vinegar and sugar, which is what makes it taste sharp rather than flat.
Get the full tutorial at Krumpli.
8. Bacon Beer Cheese Soup with Chicken
Twenty five minutes, one pot, and the technique that matters is the cheese. Crisp the bacon, cook the chicken in the drippings, then build a roux in the same pan with garlic powder, smoked paprika and cayenne. A cup of Belgian style wheat beer goes in, then chicken stock and half and half. Now add eight ounces of shredded mild cheddar slowly, a handful at a time, whisking between each. Dump it all in at once and it goes grainy and there is no coming back from that.
Get the full tutorial at The Slow Roasted Italian.
9. Beer-Candied Bacon
The glaze takes under a minute: brown sugar whisked with a quarter cup plus two tablespoons of beer until it is a thin syrup. Lay the bacon on a wire rack over a foil lined sheet and bake at 400 for ten minutes, then brush both sides with the syrup and go back in for another ten. Repeat until the glaze is gone. Then the hard part, which is leaving it on the rack for at least an hour to cool and set. A stout works well here. An IPA does not.
Get the full tutorial at Tide & Thyme.
10. Soft Beer Pretzels With Beer Cheese Dip
Beer twice, once in the dough and once in the dip. Warm twelve ounces of lager to between 110 and 115 degrees for the yeast, mix it with twenty two ounces of flour and let it double, about an hour. The step that makes a pretzel a pretzel is the bath: ten cups of water with two thirds of a cup of baking soda, brought to a boil, and each shaped pretzel goes through before baking at 425. The dip is cream cheese, white cheddar, mozzarella and a quarter cup of beer. Skip the bath and you have bread.
Get the full tutorial at Fox and Briar.
11. Beer Braised Beef With Carrots And Potatoes
One pot, cooked slow and low in the oven, and one pot to wash afterward, which is most of the appeal on a weeknight. Beef goes in with beer, carrots, potatoes, onion, bay leaves, thyme, allspice and Dijon, and comes out tender enough to fall apart against a fork. A dark ale gives the sauce more sweetness than a lager does, and people who have made it report good results swapping in sweet potatoes, which is a change I would happily make myself.
Get the full tutorial at A Treats Affair.
12. Beer Braised Beef Brisket
A three pound brisket, seasoned on both sides with kosher salt, garlic powder, sugar and cracked black pepper, laid over sliced yellow onion and whole garlic cloves. Beer whisked with brown sugar goes over the top, then foil on tight and three hours in the oven, foil off for the last thirty minutes. Rest it twenty minutes before slicing, which is not a suggestion. Strain the pan drippings and serve them alongside, because that is where all the flavor ended up.
Get the full tutorial at Life Tastes Good.
13. Maple Bacon Beer Waffles
Waffles with beer in the batter and bacon running through them, served under maple syrup, which is a breakfast that knows exactly what it is. Beer does the same job as soda water in a batter, lightening it and giving you a crisper outside without any extra work. This is a weekend dish rather than a Tuesday one, and it is worth doubling the batch, because they reheat in a toaster during the week better than almost any other waffle I can think of.
Get the full tutorial at Domestic Fits.
14. Beer Soaked Grilled Cheese
The bread gets dunked in batter, which is where this stops being an ordinary grilled cheese. Whisk two eggs with a cup of chestnut brown ale, an eighth of a cup of flour, salt and a quarter teaspoon of chili powder. Dip a slice of sourdough on both sides, let the excess run back off, then build the sandwich with sliced cheddar and anything else you fancy. Butter in a hot skillet, three to four minutes a side. It is essentially savory French toast with a cheese problem.
Get the full tutorial at Complete Recipes.
15. Buffalo Beer Cheese Bites
Little cups of buffalo beer cheese baked in a mini muffin pan, which is the format that makes them work at a party, because nobody has to negotiate a shared dip with a fragile chip. Buffalo sauce, sharp cheese and beer were always going to end up in the same bowl; the pastry cup just makes them portable. These are game day food and they hand round a room far more easily than a bowl of dip. Serve them warm with ranch or blue cheese alongside.
Get the full tutorial at Domestic Fits.
16. Ham And White Cheddar Beer Cheese Soup
Two cheddars, six ounces of sharp white and six of yellow, and three quarters of a teaspoon of dry mustard in the roux, which is the seasoning most beer cheese soups leave out and then wonder why they taste flat. Cook the flour four minutes until it smells nutty before the beer goes in. A wheat beer is the right choice. Then stock and two percent milk, never skim. Cheese off the heat, then two cups of warmed diced ham, bacon and green onions over the top.
Get the full tutorial at With Salt and Wit.
17. Beer And Bacon Brittle
Brittle is a candy thermometer recipe and there is no talking your way around it. A quarter cup of beer, a cup of sugar and half a cup of corn syrup go to 250 degrees without stirring, then butter, then baking soda, which is what makes it foam up and turn light. A cup of chopped pecans and six slices of crisp chopped bacon go in with salt and an eighth to a quarter teaspoon of cayenne. A chestnut brown ale is the suggested bottle and it is a good one.
Get the full tutorial at Brooklyn Brew Shop.
18. Beer Brownies With Salted Whiskey Caramel
Half a cup of stout in the batter, and it makes these cakier than fudgy, which the author is upfront about. Brown the butter until it smells nutty and pour it straight into the melted chocolate, stir the stout in there, then whisk the eggs and sugars for a full two minutes before the two mixtures meet. The salted whiskey caramel gets drizzled over the top before baking, not after, so it sinks in and makes pockets of caramel fudge. Nine by thirteen, 350, thirty five to forty minutes.
Get the full tutorial at Joanne Eats Well With Others.
19. Crock Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage
Quartered baby red potatoes and cut onion line the bottom of the crock pot, four cups of water go in, then a four pound corned beef brisket sits on top. Six ounces of beer over the brisket, which is about half a can, then the spice packet sprinkled over the lot. Eight hours on high, and the coarsely chopped cabbage goes in for the last hour only, so it keeps some texture instead of dissolving. An IPA works. Save the leftovers, because corned beef sandwiches are the real prize.
Get the full tutorial at Tammilee Tips.
