This creamy, salty, and smooth pub-style beer cheese dip is an easy appetizer recipe that’s ready in 15 minutes. Flavored with lager-style beer (or your favorite style), garlic, smoked paprika, a bit of dijon mustard, and lots of cheddar cheese, this robust dip is extra flavorful and awesome with homemade soft pretzels, fresh artisan bread, pitas, or celery.
Inspired by our trip to a brewery up in Vermont this past fall, I threw together this beer cheese dip over the holidays. I adapted it from my spicy nacho cheese sauce and didn’t have any intention of sharing the recipe on my website. After the first batch disappeared in 10 seconds and the second batch was gone in .02 seconds, I had a feeling I was onto something that couldn’t possibly be kept secret.
This Beer Cheese Dip Is:
- Ready in 15 minutes
- Wildly robust with deep flavor
- Extra smooth and creamy
- Pub-style and a snack you’d find at a brewery
- Flavored with smoked paprika, garlic, and the slightest bit of dijon mustard
- Totally customizable to whatever beer you enjoy
- A soft pretzel‘s best friend (or soft pretzel bites!)
We LOVE THIS STUFF and you’ll be pleasantly surprised how quickly and easily it comes together with basic kitchen ingredients. It’s quite possibly the perfect party food, Super Bowl snack, holiday appetizer, or “let’s indulge” Saturday night activity. 🙂
Beer Cheese Dip Video (2 Minutes)
I didn’t snap many step-by-step photos of this recipe since the entire process is on the stovetop, so I filmed a quick how-to video instead. It’s really important that you see the base of the dip come together. The combination of butter and flour is called a roux and forms a thick paste before we add the remaining ingredients.
10 Ingredients in Beer Cheese Dip
Each ingredient has a job to do. I don’t recommend substitutions.
- Butter: Melt 2 Tablespoons of butter to begin. You can use salted or unsalted. No need to bring it to room temperature first; the butter can come right from the refrigerator.
- Flour: 3 Tablespoons of flour soak up the butter and create a roux, a thick paste, which is the base of the entire dip.
- Whole Milk or Half-and-Half: In a slow and steady stream, whisk in milk or half-and-half. The mixture will look chunky at first, but will come together as you continue to whisk over heat.
- Beer: Whisk in your beer of choice. See Best Beer to Use in Cheese Dip below.
- Worcestershire Sauce: The remaining ingredients are for flavor. Worcestershire sauce adds a deep and unbeatable flavor. No replacements here.
- Dijon Mustard: Want this to taste like beer cheese dip from your favorite brewery or pub? Add a bit of dijon mustard. This dip does not taste like mustard— my husband does not like mustard and loves this. Without it, the recipe tastes like it’s missing something.
- Garlic Powder: Adds flavor.
- Smoked Paprika: Even more flavor.
- Salt: Flavor flavor flavor.
- Cheddar Cheese: I like using a combination of white cheddar and regular sharp cheddar cheese, but you can use all of either. The most important step? Freshly shredding your cheese at home. Store-bought pre-shredded cheese is much drier than freshly shredded. You need the freshest cheese for this dip!
Just use a box grater for the cheese. This kitchen essential comes in handy when you need shredded cheese for cheese bread, carrots for carrot cake, grated frozen butter for scones, apples and carrots for morning glory muffins, zucchini for zucchini bread, and more.
How to Make Beer Cheese Dip
- Grate the cheese. Set aside.
- Melt butter on the stove, add flour, whisk in milk, then whisk in everything else.
- That’s it, you’re done.
The sauce is thin when it comes off the stove, but will thicken after a few minutes.
Best Beer to Use in Beer Cheese Dip
Low maintenance and no-fuss, this creamy dip tastes awesome with a variety of beer. I prefer to make beer cheese dip with a German-style beer or a local lager. The deeper the flavor of the beer, the more robust the dip will taste. The dip tastes like the beer you use, so use your favorite. Pale ales or wheat beers add a more mellow flavor. (Still delicious!)
I would just avoid fruity beers like orange or berry flavored.
What to Serve with Beer Cheese Dip
- Soft Pretzels (pictured– these are SO EASY TO MAKE)
- Soft Pretzel Bites (shown in the video)
- Pretzel Rolls
- Artisan Bread or any crusty bread
- Celery, broccoli, cauliflower
- Fresh pita or pita chips
- Crunchy crackers or hard pretzels
Honestly, what can’t you serve with this stuff?!
More Party-Friendly Recipes
- Hot Crab Dip
- Seasoned Pretzels
- BBQ Turkey Meatballs (serve with toothpicks)
- Corn Black Bean & Avocado Salsa
- Bacon Wrapped Cheesy Stuffed Jalapeños
- Pepperoni Pizza Dip
Beer Cheese Dip
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 6 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: about 2 cups
- Category: Appetizers
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: German
Description
Ready in under 15 minutes, this crowd-favorite appetizer is creamy, salty, savory, and filled with flavor. Serve with homemade soft pretzels or the variety of foods listed above this recipe.
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons (30g) unsalted butter
- 3 Tablespoons (24g) all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (240ml) whole milk or half-and-half*
- 2/3 cup (160ml) beer*
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups (250g; 8 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese (see note)
Instructions
- First, make sure your cheddar cheese is freshly-shredded and ready to go. Set aside for step 4.
- Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and whisk together until a thick and clumpy paste forms, about 1 minute.
- In a slow and steady stream, whisk in the milk. After it’s all added, continue whisking until it slightly thickens, about 1 minute.
- One at a time, whisk in the remaining ingredients.
- Remove the cheese dip from heat and pour into a serving dish. Sprinkle with extra cheese, if desired. The dip will be thin right off the stove (and delicious, of course), but will begin to thicken after a few minutes. It’s delicious warm or room temperature.
- Cover and store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Heat over stovetop or in the microwave before serving again.
Notes
- Whole Milk: Whole milk or half-and-half is best for a thicker dip. You can use 2% or lower fat (or dairy-free) milks, but keep in mind that the dip will be very thin.
- Beer: You can use your favorite. See Best Beer to Use for Beer Cheese Dip in the post above. For a non-alcoholic version, use my Spicy Nacho Cheese Sauce. You can control the spice in that cheese dip recipe.
- Cheese: I recommend cheddar cheese in this recipe, but you can use another relatively harder cheese such as pepper jack, gouda, or colby cheese. Avoid very soft cheeses. For best taste and texture, shred cheese off the block yourself with a cheese grater. Pre-shredded cheese is drier than freshly shredded. If you have extra cheese, shred a bit for garnish on top of the dip for serving.
- Spice: If you want to add spice, stir in a bit of hot sauce or cayenne pepper after the dip comes off the stove. Taste, then add more if desired.
Keywords: beer, beer cheese dip, cheddar cheese, appetizer
The flavor is great! I found it a bit thin when served warm right from the stove, which was my plan. We were sheltering in place already due to Covid, then massive wildfires in our area have created horrible air quality so we can’t go outside at all. I planned a comfort dinner of homemade soft pretzels warm from the oven and beer/cheese dip. I think next time I will reduce the milk by 1/3 c and add beer until it is a “just right” consistency. I used hot smoked paprika, extra sharp cheddar, and oatmeal stout for the beer. The subtle flavors from the mustard, garlic and worcestershire were great! I’m surprised the cold leftovers are still smooth and scoopable. I think it would make a nice cold dip for a veggie tray. I might even be able to get my boys to eat some veggies. I’m looking forward to checking out your site for more recipes. Blessings!
★★★★
Must have done something wrong …. followed all directions carefully, but it has the consistency of water even after 10 mins of cooling … and based on other comments, I only used 2/3 cup milk, so thought if anything it would have been a little thicker than normal. Unfortunately, not really usable at this consistency.
Hi Will, Make sure you are using whole milk and not a lower fat variety. Whisk it in step 3 until it thickens. If you are not sure how the roux and milk are supposed to look when they come together be sure to watch the video in the post above.
Many thanks for another successful recipe! It’s in my crockpot waiting the soft pretzels.
Perfect blend of spices and it thickened up perfect.
★★★★★
I agree, I think the recipe should be amended to 3/4 cup milk as it is much too thin.
I followed the recipe and suggested ingredients exactly and measured all precisely and mine is disappointingly thin also.
I had to make a quick roux to incorporate back in and it then thickened nicely.
Sally, thank you much for your recipes, we enjoy so many of them. I would love to make your beer dip for a gathering but several of the guests require gluten free and one is allergic to almonds. can i use oatmeal flour (which i ground in my food processor)?
Hi Leta, the cheese won’t thicken using oat flour, but you can try using cornstarch. I recommend warming the milk before starting and whisking/dissolving 1 Tablespoon of cornstarch in the milk. Then pour the milk in a steady stream into the melted butter as directed. (Directed to pour it into the flour/butter paste but you’ll be skipping the flour here.)
It was ok. Sharp cheese to sharp and you can taste the worchestor sauce
★★
Wow, this was a success. My guests scraped their bowls clean. My dip was a bit thin (low fat milk) so I tempered some of the dip with corn starch, added it back and it was perfect.
★★★★★
hi there. Can I make this cheese dip ahead and reheat and serve it again the following day?
Absolutely. Warm it back up on the stove before serving.
What do you recommend to keep it “the correct consistency” when using for a party longer than a few hours?
Hi William, If you notice it getting to thick you can warm it back up in the microwave for a few seconds and stirring before setting it back out again. We haven’t tried this, but you can try serving this in a crock pot/slow cooker set on the lowest setting to keep it warm. Let us know if you try it!
Made this recipe exactly as written and it was wonderful! My husband loves it and the friends we had over loved it too. I bought soft pretzels at the grocery store. Served the dip out of the slow cooker. Also great with hard pretzels. It was so easy too!! I will be making this over and over again. Freshly shredded cheese and whole milk are essential. The texture was perfect. I made sure the mix never came to a boil in the sauce pan. Melted the cheese a little at a time on very low heat.
★★★★★
Found the flavor pretty boring even though we used a flavorful German beer. What do the German restaurants do to make the flavor more intense?
★★★
In Kentucky we add ground red pepper
Great recipe! Used Guinness and bought soft pretzels from Sam’s. Game day success. Go Dawgs!
★★★★★
Like others, I made this recipe exactly as is and it was still quite runny even after cooling for half an hour. I don’t usually have issues with making roux or thickening dips so I’m not sure if the ratios were just off… I would recommend starting with less liquid for anyone making this recipe.
★
Made this recipe exactly – except I’m a KY girl, I don’t drink beer… I used a good bourbon! OMG, this was AWESOME!!! We could not stop eating this! Wonderful recipe, thanks for sharing!
★★★★★
Can this sauce be frozen? Loved it and had a lot left.
Hi Steve, absolutely. Thaw in the refrigerator and re-heat on the stove until warm & smooth.
This was delicious. I didn’t have whole milk, so I used evaporated milk. Still turned out perfect!
★★★★★
In Kentucky we like it spicier… add a couple of dashes of ground red pepper. And traditionally, we do serve it cold or as it comes to room temperature… not runny and from the stove. It only is ‘runny’ when you spread it on something… like a burger straight off the grill.
So bland and not a good, creamy texture. Too much flour? I’ll try to salvage and make something else with it but the soft pretzels were better plain.
★★
Pro tips: Heat the beer up in a separate pot before you add it in. Don’t boil it, but once you see it’s starting to steam, remove it from the heat. Why? The alcohol in it will curdle your milk.
Second, the consistency of this dish is going to be solely based on your roux. If yours is too thin, you need to check the amount of butter and flour you’re adding at the beginning.
I did 1 and a half TBS of flour to 2 TBS of butter, but replaced the milk completely with heavy whipping cream. Consistency was accurate.
I just made this today and it came out perfect. Serving it with warm pretzels for game day! Go Pack Go! Can’t wait to make your other dip recipes that followed.
★★★★★