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).
Was looking for something to cheer up my boyfriend. We don’t eat anything “white” including bread so I made it with 1/2 AP and 1/2 Spelt an then a solid dash of flax meal. Used chopped cranberries and cherries slightly moistened. Also did the vinegar and milk. I live in Denver so altitude is always a problem. Split into 2 loafs (so I can share). 30 minutes on top rack. Perfect!
Made this Irish soda bread for the first, followed the recipe to a tee, what a treat, turned out perfectly!,
Awesome recipe & tips! Turned out perfectly, so quick & easy.
Made this for St Patrick’s day & my family loved it. A question sally, if I replaced all or some Of the flour with whole wheat flour would this be similar to wheaten bread? What ration of flours would you suggest? Your thoughts & suggestions please. Thx again for all your wonderful recipes & descriptions.
Hi Lianne! The bread will taste very dense using all whole wheat flour. Instead, try using half WW and half all-purpose flour. So glad you enjoyed it. It’s our family favorite.
I have a recipe from a dear friend who’s mom passed away. Very similar to yours but instead of cutting butter into flour with a pastry blender or fork, she had simply worked everything into make the shaggiest, messiest dough. Thing of it is; it created a very thin line of butter throughout the bread once it was baked. So I combined her methodology in mixing the ingredients with a good part of your recipe amounts for flour, (her handwriting made it difficult to follow, plus it had to be translated from Gaelic to English… not so easy to do). The end result was phenomenal! So thank you so much for having your recipe be as authentic as hers. May she RIP. Your recipe ingredients & amounts are spot on! I’m so very grateful to you for a fantastic recipe & for a brilliantly done tutorial. I’d send you a picture of how they came out, but you’ve no way to do that.❤️☘️
Okay, I left a review that the dough was quite wet…however, after baking, cooling and slicing, this bread turned out amazingly well! So lovely, good crust, soft crumb, great flavor and not too sweet. Makes a large loaf…I will make again! Thank you!
I made this yesterday. It was easy and perfect. Used 3 cups AP flour and 1 cup WW flour – turned out great. Everyone loved it! Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for this great recipe. I used the cast iron skillet and it turned out perfect! I baked it 5 minutes longer to lightly brown. I was worried that maybe it would be dry but it was just perfect! Crunchy outside and soft, moist inside. Not too sweet, just right! I will definitely be making this again.
This is delicious. I have made Irish Soda Bread before, but this recipe was easy to follow. The bread was very moist!
So good!
Went out looking for AP flour today and it’s NOWHERE to be found in these crazy days. Substituted cake flour (it’s all I could get my hands on) and it actually turned out wonderful, a little more spongey crumb but still a light taste. For all of us quarantining together a loaf of warm bread is such a connecting food. Thank you for this recipe, your my go to site for all baking recipes.
Delicious! Omitted raisins, and used yogurt thinned with milk plus some vinegar for the buttermilk. And I mixed the whole thing, step by step, in my food processor. Baked it on my pizza stone. Perfect bread – lovely golden crunchy craggily bits on top. We are looking forward to leftovers toasted at lunch tomorrow. Thank you!!!
Made this tonight. Accidentally added the liquid before the butter…whoops. That definitely made the dough more sticky and then the butter didn’t incorporate very well. It still turned out delicious! Thanks, Sally.
I made this recipe today (without raisins or caraway seeds) and it turned out great! I had the buttermilk, egg, chilled butter, and other dry ingredients but was running low on all purpose flour, so I used 1 1/2 C. all purpose and 2 3/4 C. whole wheat flour. It has wonderful texture and flavor, and my husband loves it too! Thank you and Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
I first made this recipe back in 2015 and since then my mom has also successfully used it several times. I haven’t made it in a couple years and I gave it to a friend to try today and it was her first time making soda bread and it was just as fantastic as I remember. Instructions were followed as listed except my added suggestion of soaking the raisins in warm water for 10 minutes before baking. Thanks for the great recipe! Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Talk about luck! Decided last minute to try your recipe for St. Patty’s Day. A added lemon juice to my “almond-coconut blend milk” and used white whole wheat flour. Followed your recipe as directed and it was absolutely delicious!!! Light and tender inside and crunchy on the outside. The perfect amount of sweet with tender raisins, yum. Love that it’s from your Grandma too, thank you.
5 star recipe…see prior comments
The recipe is easy to follow. The bread is scrumptious!!!
I added dried cranberries (since I did not have enough raisins), grated rind of one orange, a few turns on the allspice jar and a small amount of cinnamon. Delicious!!
Thank you for sharing your family recipe. And I froze the butter and then grated it on the large hole side. Great suggestion. Barbara
Great recipe. Love Irish soda bread. Love that it’s not so sweet compared to store bought Irish soda bread. My first time making a homemade bread. Definitely will be making it again. Soaking the raisins worked very well. Next time I will add the caraway seeds. Hard not to eat the whole
Loaf. I grab one of the last bags of flour today at the market
The best soda bread I have ever made! I added caraway seeds, because that’s what my great grandma did, but otherwise made the recipe as written. The combination of the super crisp crust (thank you, cast iron skillet) and tender, light crumb is just divine, and it has the perfect level of not-too-sweetness. My sons vacuumed the first loaf so I may have to do another one tomorrow.
Came out perfectly! Could not find buttermilk in the stores so I used the milk with lemon juice way to make buttermilk. Looks so good! Smells wonderful. Tastes great!
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Thank you Sally!
I typically make a brown Irish soda bread but couldn’t find whole wheat flour (went rancid) after braving two grocery stores, so a search led me to this recipe. I made it last night, sans raisins, to accompany my delayed St. Patrick’s Day dinner. It was so incredibly easy and delicious! In fact, my husband and I took an afternoon tea break today and each enjoyed a slice slathered with butter. Luckily, I have enough buttermilk and AP flour to make several more loaves next week. Can’t wait to try it with golden raisins or dried cranberries!
I made this last week and it was delicious. I had a hard time mixing it, as it was very sticky, so I just kept adding flour a little at a time, so I could “knead” it. Once I got past that, it was easy and very good. Thanks for the recipe, I’ll be making this one again! 🙂
I subbed chopped dried figs for the raisins since I didn’t have raisins and it was delicious.
My whole family loved this and it was so easy! It’s true that the dough is wet, but the result is perfect so just go with it. Delish! Thank you!
This bread was so yummy BUT I even let it cook 5 minutes extra and it was still undone in the middle. I did notice that after I baked it, how deep Sally’s X in her picture was. My husband thought the done parts were delicious, especially with some butter. Thanks Sally!
This irish soda bread recipe is DELICIOUS! Followed the directions and it came out perfectly. I need to print this out and add it to my recipe binder. I will definitely make this again. Thanks much, Sally.
Do you heat the cast iron skillet in the oven before putting the dough in it, or do you just place the dough in a cold skillet and slide it in the oven?
Hi Sarah, No need to preheat the actual skillet, just the oven. Enjoy!
I’ve tried several soda bread recipes and always end up with a very dense loaf that stays too moist and I had the same problem with this one. Any tips?
Hi M Rec! Make sure you’re scoring the dough– slicing a little deeper will help the center cook. This is supposed to be a denser bread since it’s not leavened with yeast.
In the oven as I write. Can’t wait to taste it. I try to make soda bread every St. Patty’s day. Like to try different recipes. It’s yours this year. ☘☘☘
Just finished tasting mine. Best I’ve made and so easy. Thanks for the great recipe. It answered answered all my questions too.
Really quite good, used Kerrygold butter, substituted craisins for raisins and added 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder as the recipe looked like it could use it. Came out very nice and very quickly. Seemed to be too much liquid but I put it in the oven much wetter than I normally would and it turned out fine. Cooked it in a none stick heavy bottomed stainless steel frying pan that helped keep it together.
Excellent recipe! Came out beautifully and very delicious . I used milk with vinegar . So easy and quick .
Made this today and it was the best I have ever made. I used whole milk with lemon but also added dried cranberries. The dough is semi sticky, but floured hands help. Came out perfect. Thank you for a wonderfully easy and delicious bread!
This was super easy!! I thought my dough was a bit too sticky to knead properly, but I wonder if this might be due to my humid climate…? Anyway I put it in the oven and it turned out great!
Swapped out the raisins for dates and it’s deliciously sweet.
I’m so glad it turned out well, Felicia. And dates sounds like a great substitute for the raisins!
Making this to go with our Corned beef and cabbage!! Happy Heavenly birthday to your beautiful Grandmother