Irish Soda Bread is a quick bread that does not require any yeast. Instead, all of its leavening comes from baking soda and buttermilk. This Irish soda bread recipe is my grandmother’s and has been cherished in my family for years. It’s dense, yet soft and has the most incredible crusty exterior. Buttermilk and cold butter are the secret to its delicious success!
Welcome to my favorite Irish Soda Bread recipe. I shared this no yeast bread recipe on my blog a few years ago and decided to revisit with fresh new pictures and a video tutorial. This recipe is my grandmother’s. She passed away in 2011, 2 weeks before I started this food blog. I dedicated my 1st cookbook to her. Full of energy and the creator of the best homemade pie crust on earth, she would be in her 90s today. St. Patrick’s Day is her birthday.
Irish Soda Bread is a Quick Bread
Does the thought of homemade bread send you running for the hills? Sometimes homemade bread feels daunting, but you’re in luck today. Irish soda bread is a quick bread made with baking soda, not yeast. Like my easy no yeast bread, this is a shortcut bread that doesn’t skimp on flavor. (If you want a yeast bread, I recommend my sandwich bread recipe!)
- What’s the texture like? The best Irish soda bread, like this recipe, has a golden brown crust with a dense, tight crumb. The bread isn’t heavy, it’s actually quite tender and soft inside. The crust is nice and crisp when it comes out of the oven and becomes a little chewy on day 2 and 3. It’s so good.
My grandmother’s Irish soda bread contains some sugar, but it’s not overly sweet. It’s a wonderful companion for savory dinners like hearty stew or you can serve it with butter, jam, and/or cheese. The raisins are optional, but Grandma would never let you skip them.
Video Tutorial: Homemade Irish Soda Bread
Overview: How to Make Irish Soda Bread
The full printable recipe is below. Irish soda bread dough comes together in about 10 minutes. You need buttermilk, egg, flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and butter.
- Whisk buttermilk and 1 egg together. Whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt together in another bowl.
- Cut cold butter into the flour mixture. Like scones and pie crust, cutting cold butter into the flour is a key step. Coating the flour in cold butter guarantees a lovely flaky texture. You can use a fork, your hands, or a pastry cutter. Add the wet ingredients.
- Bring the dough together with your hands. Using a very sharp knife, score the dough. This allows the center to bake.
- Bake until golden brown.
Buttermilk is the Secret
Irish soda bread only requires a few ingredients, including buttermilk. Buttermilk reacts with the baking soda to provide the bread’s leavening. It also adds wonderful flavor! We use buttermilk for the same reasons in my regular no yeast bread, too.
Feel free to Skip the Egg
Irish soda bread can be made with or without an egg. 1 egg adds richness and density. Feel free to skip it to make a slightly lighter loaf. No other changes necessary, simply leave out the egg.
3 Success Tips
- Don’t over-work the dough. It’s supposed to look a little shaggy.
- Score the top of the dough with an “X” before baking. This helps the center bake through.
- You can bake Irish soda bread on a baking sheet, in a baking pan, or in a cast iron skillet. I recommend a cast iron skillet because it helps guarantee a super crispy crust. Here’s how to keep your cast iron cookware seasoned.
If you’re baking for St. Patrick’s Day, you’ll love my Guinness Brownies, Baileys and Coffee Cupcakes, Guinness Chocolate Cake, Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes, Lucky Charms Treats, and shamrock St. Patrick’s Day Cookies, too.
PrintGrandma’s Irish Soda Bread
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 1 loaf
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Irish
Description
Irish Soda Bread is a quick bread that does not require any yeast. Instead, all of its leavening comes from baking soda and buttermilk. This Irish Soda Bread recipe is my grandmother’s and has been cherished in my family for years. It’s dense, yet soft and has the most incredible crusty exterior.
Ingredients
- 1 and 3/4 cups (420ml) buttermilk*
- 1 large egg (optional, see note)
- 4 and 1/4 cups (531g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled), plus more for your hands and counter
- 3 Tablespoons (38g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 5 Tablespoons (71g) unsalted butter, cold and cubed*
- optional: 1 cup (150g) raisins
Instructions
- Preheat oven & pan options: Preheat oven to 400°F (204°C). There are options for the baking pan. Use a regular baking sheet and line with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat (bread spreads a bit more on a baking sheet), or use a seasoned 10-12 inch cast iron skillet (no need to preheat the cast iron unless you want to), or grease a 9-10 inch cake pan or pie dish. You can also use a 5 quart (or higher) dutch oven. Grease or line with parchment paper. If using a dutch oven, bake the bread with the lid off.
- Whisk the buttermilk and egg together. Set aside. Whisk the flour, granulated sugar, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl. Cut in the butter using a pastry cutter, a fork, or your fingers. Mixture is very heavy on the flour, but do your best to cut in the butter until the butter is pea-sized crumbs. Stir in the raisins. Pour in the buttermilk/egg mixture. Gently fold the dough together until dough it is too stiff to stir. Pour crumbly dough onto a lightly floured work surface. With floured hands, work the dough into a ball as best you can, then knead for about 30 seconds or until all the flour is moistened. If the dough is too sticky, add a little more flour.
- Transfer the dough to the prepared skillet/pan. Using a very sharp knife or bread lame, score the dough with a slash or X about 1/2 inch deep. (“Score” = shallow cut.)
- Bake until the bread is golden brown and center appears cooked through, about 45-55 minutes. Loosely tent the bread with aluminum foil if you notice heavy browning on top. For a more accurate test, the bread is done when an instant-read thermometer reads the center of the loaf as 195°F (90°C).
- Remove from the oven and allow bread to cool for 10 minutes, and then transfer to a wire rack. Serve warm, at room temperature, or toasted with desired toppings/spreads.
- Cover and store leftover bread at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. We usually wrap it tightly in aluminum foil for storing.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Baked and cooled bread freezes well up to 3 months. Freeze the whole loaf or individual slices. Thaw in the refrigerator or at room temperature, then reheat as desired.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Cast Iron Skillet, 9-inch Round Cake Pan, 9-inch Pie Dish, Dutch Oven, or Baking Sheet with Silicone Baking Mat or Parchment Paper | Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Pastry Cutter | Bread Lame | Instant-Read Thermometer
- Baking Pan: There are options for the baking pan (see Special Tools Note above). You can use a lined large baking sheet (with or without a rim), a seasoned 10-12 inch cast iron skillet, or a greased or lined 9-10 inch cake pan or pie dish. I don’t recommend a loaf pan because the loaf may not bake evenly inside. This dough is best as a flatter loaf.
- Buttermilk: Using cold buttermilk is best. Buttermilk is key to the bread’s flavor, texture, and rise. The bread will not rise without it. If you don’t have any buttermilk on hand, you can make a homemade “DIY” version. Whole milk or 2% milk is best, though lower fat or nondairy milks work in a pinch. Add 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar to a liquid measuring cup. Add enough cold milk to make 1 and 3/4 cups. Whisk together, then let sit for 5 minutes before using in the recipe.
- Egg: 1 egg adds richness and density. Feel free to skip it to make a slightly lighter loaf. No other changes necessary, simply leave out the egg.
- Cold Butter: The colder the butter, the less sticky the dough will be. Make sure it’s very cold, even frozen cubed butter is great.
- Smaller Loaves: You can divide this dough up to make smaller loaves. The bake time will be shorter, depending how large the loaves are. An instant read thermometer will be especially helpful. Bake the loaves until an instant-read thermometer reads the center of the loaf as 195°F (90°C).
I’m looking forward to trying this recipe! Question: Is cutting the butter in with a pastry cutter essential to the bread’s composition? Would a food processor on pulse not work just as well?
Hi Jodi, we recommend using a pastry cutter, forks, or even your fingers. A food processor will quickly overwork your dough, though can work in a pinch.
Thanks for the speedy reply Michelle. Pastry cutter it is! I’m sure this will be a welcome addition to my St Patty’s Day table.
After 45 minutes in the oven, the bread looked great! Perfectly golden brown. We cut it open and it was still doughy inside? We just put it in for another 15 minutes and it’s getting closer. I’m more sure what happened!!! ☹️
Loved the recipe as written. My only comment would be is that the “X” is really a cross and you say in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost as you cut it to bless the bread and make a small cut in the four sections to let the fairies out that try to spoil the bread. This is from an Irish friend who’s only here a few years.
Soft, not too cakey, delicious. Freezes and defrosts beautifully, because the yield is one giant loaf. Which brings me to the question: Can the prepared dough be halved and baked in two separate greased pans? If so, how long would the baking time be?
Yes, you can divide this into two smaller loaves. The bake time will be less, but we’re unsure of the exact time needed.
If using an iron skillet, do you preheat the skillet as when making cornbread? The instructions noted preheating the oven and pan options? Later it states to place dough in “prepared pan.” Wasn’t sure if this meant preheated or lined as described. Thanks.
Hi Bob, no need to preheat the pan. The prepared pan just means the greasing/lining as described in step 1. Enjoy!
Thank you for this recipe! I used a cup of Harvest Fruit Blend instead of the raisins. Although, I had to extend the bake time a bit longer than the recipe recommended, the flavor and texture was excellent.
Hi Sally, I’m going to try this recipe this weekend. I often use dry buttermilk powder in place of fresh buttermilk in baking (using water of course for the liquid measure), in your experience does that work as well here, or should I really seek out fresh. Not a problem, I’m just trying to simplify my ingredients/pantry, and it’s handy to have the buttermilk powder around for other uses. Can’t wait to try this & thanks!
Hi Desiree! Buttermilk powder should work just fine here. Enjoy!
Anyone try mini chocolate chips instead of raisins?
Mini or regular chocolate chips should work just fine!
I don’t have buttermilk, can I use real milk with a spoon of vinegar?
Hi Brenda, yes! See recipe notes for details.
This is a great and authentic recipe. The only thing you missed was the importance of the X on top to letting the fairies fly out of the bread. Very important to the fairies.
Love..loved this Irish Soda Bread…. One of my favorite treats for St Paddies Day… I No
longer have to buy it… because this one is better than any I ever… bought…
Nice and buttery…and loved all the raisins… … did sprinkle a little sugar on top before
it went in the oven… Perfect.. perfect…. perfect… will be making more than just once a year….
Your grandmother and I share a birthday! I will make this in her honor and report back to you the results! Thank you!
It doesn’t look as if you soak the raisins first. Is there a reason that this is not advisable for this recipe? (I do soak them when I make cinnamon raisin bread).
That’s a great question, but there’s really no need. They get pretty moist inside the dough.
Definitely no need to soak the raisins but I do—in Jameson’s! And we serve it with rhubarb freezer jam. The best!!
Hi Sally,
Can I substitute all purpose flour with bread flour?
Hi Marisol, bread flour is OK to use. The bread may taste chewier and even a bit denser.
I loved this recipe. I made it last week, and shared it with my daughter and her family. It was great by itself or toasted with butter and/or jam. There aren’t many recipes I can’t wait to make again. This is of them. I did not deviate from the recipe at all, including baking it in my cast iron skillet. Your mom really knew how to make Irish Soda Bread. I thank you for sharing it with me and all of your readers!
Hi Sally, I am going to make this recipe for the first time this weekend and was wondering if I could substitute currants for the raisins. Can’t wait to try it!
Patty, absolutely! Whenever I have dried currants, I use them in this recipe.
Should you pre-heat the Cast Iron Skillet?
No need – enjoy!
Hi Sally! Looking forward to making this recipe! Do you think using powdered buttermilk would be okay? I usually add the powder to the dry ingredients and use water when the recipe calls for the buttermilk (in this case I’d mix the water and egg together, add the powdered buttermilk to the dry and then mix altogether, otherwise the buttermilk powder added to water can get lumpy). Thank you so so much!
Hi Annie, buttermilk powder should work, but we haven’t tried that method before. See recipe notes for details on other alternatives to buttermilk. Enjoy!
Yay! I was wondering about the powdered buttermilk!
Thank you! Susan
I am battling a severely injured arm from a fall, is it possible to make this in my Kitchen Aide as I am not able to knead the dough? Thank you for all your amazing recipes.
Hi Sharon, we mix it by hand as it’s a very small amount of mixing. The dough is quite sticky, but I’m sure a mixer could work.
Can you make this in a convection/microwave oven? If so can you tell me how?
Thanks!
Hi Patty, We’ve never tested it that way but let us know if you do!
Hi Sally, I would like to add Caraway Seeds as my Grandmother did, how much do you suggest for a loaf….Thank You
Hi Doreen, 1 Tbs should be enough, but you can definitely add more if you prefer!
Thank you very much, can’t wait to try your recipe…☘️
Is light buttermilk ok to use in this recipe?
That will be fine, Elaine. Enjoy!
What’s the nutritional content for this bread? My husband is on a low sodium diet following open heart surgery. Thanks.
Hi Joan, We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
I haven’t tried this yet and I am wondering how you tell the inside is cooked through.
Hi Elizabeth, When it’s finished baking the outside crust will be a beautiful golden brown color. If you happen to have an instant read thermometer, the loaf should reach 190°F at the center. Let us know if you give it a try.
Hi! Can you double this recipe? Thanks.
Hi Jill, for best results, we recommend making two batches of dough separately.
I love this bread! Almost the same as my Uncle Dennis’s except our family adds caraway seeds as well as raisins. Any leftover makes delicious toast.
I made this last year for the first time and it is the only soda bread recipe that my mom cares for. As I was recreating it this morning I realized there are a lot of similarities with scone recipes and I think this is what makes this so enjoyable to eat – there is no dryness or sharpness from the soda and the raisins are a wonderful (necessary in my mind) add. I followed the recipe but even this time around it is so easy and forgiving. I did add a dash of nutmeg for some warmth in the background – not enough to almost recognize. Also, I do try to add as little flour when forming as possible as I feel this helps keep everything light. This is a rustic bread – it is beautiful in its consumption! Thanks again Sally for providing a ‘go to’ for my recipe box!
I’ve made the other soda bread recipe and loved it, so I thought I’d give this one a try! Something I find really frustrating when kneeding dough by hand is after a few seconds, it ALWAYS becomes super sticky! Everytime I have to add an extra 2-4 tablespoons of flour at least. I use a scale to measure my flour, and the climate here is actually a little dry. But without fail, my bread dough starts clinging to my hands for dear life! Should I just add the extra flour and not sweat it?
Hi Emily, there are a lot of variables that go into the consistency of dough – there’s nothing wrong with adding just a little more flour to bring the dough into a less sticky and knead-able consistency.
Sally, it was delicious! Can I put the batter in muffin tins? I am going to use it to feed 40 people at church for the Saint Pats meal. I may make one batch with raisins and one without.
Hi Helen! We haven’t tested it, but other bakers have reported success baking individual servings in a muffin tin. Let us know if you give it a try!
Is that ok to put chocolate chips?
Can’t see why not – enjoy!
If I wanted to split the dough in half and make mini rounds, how long would these take to bake? Thanks!
Hi Sharon, I haven’t tried that before but it shouldn’t be a problem– however, I’m not sure of the best bake time. I would say at least 30 minutes at the same oven temp. Bake until the bread rounds are golden brown and the top of the score looks cooked through.
Surprisingly easy but a very impressive edition to my dinner table.
First time making soda bread. Made the recipe exactly as written. Was afraid that I undermixed it, but the texture was absolutely perfect. It does make a huge round, however! Easily enough for 8 people. Thank you.
My husband and loved this recipe. Made this last year for St. Patrick’s Day, it was best recipe I have tried over the years. I will definitely be making it again this year and the raisins in it make the bread so delicious too. Thank you for sharing.