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About This Beer Cheese Dip Recipe for Pretzels
This is a stable beer cheese sauce that is intensely flavored to provide a rich backdrop to the pillowy texture of soft pretzels. It can be ready in a matter of minutes and is ideal for Oktoberfest parties, sports get togethers and all manner of outdoor festivities that involve pretzels.
To make it you will not have to be concerned about mixing flour and butter in an attempt to create texture. Instead, our recipe leverages the virtues of heavy cream to achieve a thick sauce that remains stable for longer.
In short - less work, fewer ingredients and better taste.
NOTE: The choice of beer and cheese set the direction of the overall taste of the beer cheese while the spices added fine-tune it. Try it as we demonstrate below or make your own modifications per the suggestions we provide.
Ingredients
Beer. The beer acts as a flavoring agent and has a secondary role in the melting of the cheese. See the sections just below on what kind of beer to use and why you should not worry about alcohol in beer cheese.
Cheese. We recommend that you use a sharp cheddar for its rich flavor, excellent melting properties and deep color. You can use already shredded cheese or grate it yourself. If you select the second option do the grating while the cheddar is still cold out of the refrigerator and use the largest option of your box grater. Then let the shredded cheese get to room temperature.
Heavy cream. Due to its high fat content heated heavy cream is the ideal medium to absorb cheese and melt it. The resulting beer cheese sauce is stable and smooth.
Seasonings. For this dip we recommend that you use kosher salt which offsets the sweetness of the heavy cream, paprika for its warmth (it also adds color), garlic powder and mustard powder for their zesty flavors and either Worcestershire sauce or the liquid seasoning Maggi (to add umami taste to the dip). This combination really works with sharp cheddar and the type of beer we recommend, see below.
What Kind of Beer is Best for Beer Cheese Dip?
The best kind of beer for beer cheese dip is one with:
- low bitterness (preferrably brewed with Noble hops)
- pronounced malty and bready notes
- if possible, caramelly sweetness and warm spice
All these qualities combine to lend the beer cheese dip flavors that elevate the taste of plain melted cheese.
Choose among these beer styles to make beer cheese dip for pretzels:
- Czech pilsner or Munich Helles
- German pilsner or Bock lager
- Vienna lager, Oktoberfest beer, Marzen or Dunkel lager
- amber ales or brown ales brewed with low-alpha hops (not bitter)
- mass produced lagers such as Dos Equis Amber or Modelo Negra (which are essentially Vienna lager and Dunkel lager respectively)
We really like to use Marzen lagers or similarly flavored amber or brown ales for their warm and fragrant profile. In this post we used Sam Adams Oktoberfest lager. It is perfect for the job!
Does Beer Cheese Dip Have Alcohol in it?
No. The alcohol in beer cooks off during the first step in the process of making beer cheese dip.
Beer generally has a low alcoholic content, especially the styles we recommend to be used for this beer cheese dip. During the time the beer simmers to get reduced the alcohol evaporates.
Step-by-Step
This is how to make beer cheese dip for pretzels.
- Begin by adding the beer to a cold sauce pan and bringing it to a simmer over medium low heat.
- Once the beer has reduced by about one third add the heavy cream, then the seasonings and stir to combine. Simmer the mixture for a minute or so (longer if you doubled the recipe).
- Slowly add the cheese, working in batches and gently stirring to assist the melting process after adding each batch. You may turn off the heat at this stage or reduce it to minimum. When smooth transfer the dip to a warm dish and serve immediately.
Flavor Modifications
Cheese - if sharp cheddar is not your favorite try to stay with other types of cheddar or use a young gouda cheese. You can also try Colby or Fontina, they will melt well but are less flavorful and paler in color.
Spices - try smoked paprika instead of regular if you'd like to add a smoked note, or cayenne pepper (to taste) if you want to make a spicy beer cheese sauce. A pinch or two of grated nutmeg will add warmth to the sauce that ties with and enhances the flavors in Marzen (spiced Oktoberfest beer) and many ambers (if this is what you used). Onion powder works if you would rather not use garlic powder. Also feel free to increase the amount of any of the spices suggested in the recipe card and add them to your taste.
Important Tips
- Make sure you add the beer to a cold sauce pan. Beer added to a heated pan foams and sizzles vigourously, most of it evaporates and is wasted and the experience is not pleasant.
- Make sure that the temperature of the sauce base is not too high before you begin folding in the grated cheese. If necessary turn off the heat before you begin adding cheese. Otherwise you can cause the cheese to separate.
- Make sure the shredded cheese is not cold but rather at room temperature when you begin adding it to the sauce for the same reason as above - the temperature difference between the base liquid and the cheese.
What to Do if Beer Cheese Dipping Sauce Separates?
If your beer cheese dip separated this is always due to subjecting the cheese to too high of a temperature. This could happen either when you are adding the cheese to the beer and cream mixture (it is too hot) or when reheating the beer cheese sauce (this is why try to heed our advice on reheating below).
To fix beer cheese dip that has separated add a bit more heavy cream to it and use a handheld blender to create a homogenous mixture (you could also use a regular blender but the process is messier with two unecessary sauce transfers).
How to Reheat Beer Cheese Dip?
- When reheating beer cheese dip first bring it to room temperature. Don't directly place it over a stove top burner as soon as you take it out of the fridge or it can separate and clump up.
- Once it has reached a moderate temperature combine the beer cheese and a bit of heavy cream into a sauce pan and slowly warm it up as you slowly stir over low heat.
- Start with about a tablespoon of heavy cream and add more if it looks like the sauce needs to be thinned out more. You can also season with a pinch or two of the seasonings you added when making it in the first place, to compensate for the sweetness of the newly added cream.
- It takes a few minutes but this method produces the best results.
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Beer Cheese Fondue | Pub Cheese | German Beer Cheese Dip Obatzda
Recipe
Beer Cheese Dip for Pretzels
Ingredients
- ¾ cup beer such as Czech pils Vienna lager*
- ⅓ cup heavy cream
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon paprika
- ¼ teaspoon mustard powder
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- few dashes Worcestershire sauce or Maggi liquid seasoning
- 3 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese**
Instructions
- To a cold saucepan add the beer and bring it to simmer over medium-low heat. Wait until it reduces by about a third.
- Add the heavy cream, stir and add the seasonings while continuing to stir. Simmer the mixture for about a minute or so.
- Either turn off the heat or set it to low as you begin to add the cheese in batches (1 cup per batch is ideal). Fold it in with gentle stirs, only add the next batch once the preceding one has been incorporated. When you have a smooth mixture transfer it to a warm serving bowl and enjoy immediately.
Video
Ami
The beer cheese had perfect consistency for dipping soft pretzels. Not too thin and not too thick. It was delicious and rich, exactly what you need for enjoying a few beers.
Mitch
First time making beer cheese dip and couldn’t have found a simpler recipe - everything went smooth and surprisingly fast. Thank you for sharing!
Milena Perrine
Thank you so much for the feedback, Mitch!