Cheesy Beer Biscuits are an easy ‘quick bread’ recipe with olive oil, herbs, cheese and beer, which aerates the dough, making them light and fluffy.
Cheesy Beer Biscuits For Favorite Winter Dishes
Winter is the season of simmering pots and warm ovens, of meals meant to be shared and bread meant to be torn apart by hand. These cheesy beer biscuits were born for that kind of table.
Rich, savory, and deeply comforting, they’re the kind of bake that feels just as at home alongside a bowl of soup as it does split open and filled for a hearty sandwich.
This is not a delicate biscuit. It’s hearty, rustic, and deeply savory, rich with caramelized onion, sharp cheese, and the malty depth of beer. Baked into generous portions, these cheesy beer biscuits are sturdy enough to stand beside winter soups and stews, yet tender enough to enjoy warm with butter melting into every crumb.
What Is An American Biscuit?
In America and Canada, a biscuit is a flour-based bread, leavened with baking soda, instead of yeast and is considered a ‘quick-bread’!
The texture of a biscuit is often a firm exterior with a soft, crumbly interior.
This texture is one that lends itself to spread things on, like a Homemade Marmalade, Onion Jam or Hummus, and perfect for dunking in a soup, stew or chili.
Sometimes, for a one pan meal, I will bake my biscuit recipe on top of a stew, as a Pot Pie, to cover it and present it with a pastry-like topping.
Ingredients Of The American Biscuit
Most biscuits are made from all-purpose flour, and some type of fat; butter, vegetable shortening, or lard. The liquid in our biscuits is often milk, cream or buttermilk.
These beer biscuits, however, are made with beer, and are perfect to serve with a bowl of soup or chili in the winter months or great to serve as the bread for a slider burger or sandwich.
What Is A British Biscuit?
In the UK, biscuits are totally another story! Having married a Brit, I realized we often spoke different languages! He speaks British while I speak American, and while both are English, we often have no idea what the other is talking about, LOL!
A biscuit in the UK is actually (to us Americans), a cookie! Any variety of cookies that are made with flour, sugar, some type of fat and a leavening agent, usually baking soda. The most common biscuit (cookie), is the shortbread cookie, made with lots of butter and perfect for afternoon tea.
So, let’s be clear, this flavor loaded, savory biscuit is definitely not a cookie but rather you soon-to-be favorite quick bread to accompany a multitude of favorite winter dishes.
Quick Biscuits Made With Beer
Since a biscuit is often a rather dense dough on the inside, I found that adding beer to my dough instead of milk, makes them lighter and fluffier.
Perhaps the yeast aspect in beer causes the biscuit dough to expand a bit, therefore making them rise taller when baking.
The carbonation aspect of beer, aerates the dough, making it lighter and fluffier. This also works well when making a beer batter for frying foods; making for a lighter, crispier texture.
Bread vs Biscuits
In the dead of a cold winter, I find myself making lots of soups, stews and chili dishes.
While they seem the perfect warm bowl of food for winter nights, sometimes I just want to dress them up with something special on the side.
For my winter bowls, I like to make bread; of which you will see on my blog that I have a huge variety of homemade yeast breads.
- Tea Bread – Actually made from butterfly tea flowers, beautiful and delicate in flavor.
- Beetroot Spinach Bread – Another beautiful yet most nutritious bread with beetroots and spinach.
- Homemade Yeast Bread – The basic dough for many of my yeast breads.
What To Serve With Cheesy Beer Biscuits
Soups from around the world are loved for their ingredients, not just a warming bowl to make at home, and it just so happens I have a collection of 12 Soups from around the world to make with these luscious beer biscuits.
From seafood chowders and Mediterranean meaty soups, to Wellness soups, I’ve got some favorites you are sure to love.
Quick Cheesy Beer Biscuits Instead Of Yeast Bread Are Quick!
The dilemma with yeast breads, if you don’t plan ahead to make them, is the time it takes to rise, then bake.
One evening, when I knew we would be having leftover soup, I wanted something quick to make my leftovers feel special. This recipe for a cheesy beer biscuit just popped into my head.
Instead of butter, I used olive oil, and instead of milk I used beer. The cheese melted beautifully while baking and quite honestly, I could have just eaten the biscuits alone.
To bring a richer element to the recipe, I caramelize an onion with a small pat of butter, and added fresh rosemary to the onions.
You see? Wouldn’t you just as soon eat the biscuit and forget the soup!
Forming The Beer Biscuits
Since the dough has been aerated with the beer, the dough is not dense enough to roll out and press, as you would butter biscuits, like the biscuits I made for a pot pie.
And so there are two ways to form these biscuits; in a cupcake/muffin tin or placing a rustic dollop on a baking sheet and baking them free-form.
If you want the biscuits to be firm enough for dunking, then I would suggest forming them.
But if you want to place dollops of the dough on top of a stew or chili and bake them in the oven that way, free-form is great.
Equipment Needed
This recipe relies on a handful of everyday kitchen tools, each playing a simple but important role.
- A small Sauté Pan is used to slowly caramelize the onion, drawing out its sweetness and building flavor before it ever meets the dough. Measuring cups and measuring spoons ensure the right balance between dry and wet ingredients, especially important when working with beer and leavening agents.
- A 6-cup Jumbo Silicone Muffin Pan makes baking these biscuits wonderfully easy, there’s no sticking, no greasing, and the biscuits lift out cleanly with crisp edges and soft centers. A Dough Scoop helps portion the batter evenly, giving you consistent size and bake time while keeping things mess-free.
- A sturdy Cutting Board and Sharp Knife are all you need to prep the onion, herbs, and cheese. A Whisk brings everything together smoothly, evenly distributing the leavening and preventing pockets of flour. The Stovetop is used for gently cooking the onions, while a steady Oven finishes the job, baking the biscuits until golden, fragrant, and ready to be served warm.
Ingredients Needed
These cheesy beer biscuits are built on simple, humble ingredients that come together into something deeply comforting and satisfying.
- Onions, finely chopped, gently softened in Butter, adds sweetness and depth, melting into the dough as it bakes. A fragrant herb like Rosemary brings an earthy, piney note that feels especially cozy in the colder months, though thyme or sage work just as beautifully.
- Eggs lend structure and richness, while a splash of Olive Oil keeps the crumb tender and adds a subtle fruitiness that balances the cheese. A blend of All-purpose flour and Spelt flour creates the perfect texture, reliable and light from the white flour, with a hearty, rustic character from the spelt that makes these biscuits sturdy enough for sandwiches.
- Salt sharpens all the flavors, and the combination of Baking powder and Baking soda ensures a good rise and soft interior. The star liquid, Beer, brings gentle bitterness and malty depth, reacting with the leavening to create a light, airy crumb while adding complexity you just don’t get from milk alone. Finally, Cheese, whether sharp cheddar, aged gouda, or another favorite, melts throughout the biscuits, delivering pockets of savory richness in every bite.
Together, these ingredients create a biscuit that’s bold, comforting, and endlessly versatile, perfect alongside a steaming bowl of soup, tucked under a ladle of stew, or sliced and filled for a winter sandwich.
Quick Cheesy Beer Biscuits
Equipment
- large 6 cup silicone muffin pan
Ingredients
- 1 Onion finely chopped
- 1 tbsp Butter
- 1 tbsp Rosemary chopped, or other herb
- 2 Large Eggs
- 1/2 cup Olive oil
- 1 cup All Purpose Flour
- 1 cup Spelt flour or whole wheat flour
- 1 tsp Salt
- 2 tsp Baking powder
- 1/2 tsp Baking soda
- 10 oz Beer golden or dark
- 1/2 cup Hard Cheese finely chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350If not using a silicone muffin pan, lightly oil a regular muffin tin.
- In a small saucepan, saute the finely chopped onion with the butter until caramelized. Add the chopped rosemary and remove from the stove to cool for 5-minutes.
- In a medium size mixing bowl, whisk the eggs with olive oil. Stir in the cooled onion mixture.
- Add the dry ingredients and stir well but don't over mix. Whisk in the beer.
- Divide the batter into the muffin pan.
- Bake until golden on the tops, about 30 minutes. Less time for smaller biscuits.
Video
Notes
I believe the table... that place that draws people to gather, is the most powerful symbol of togetherness. All that happens before the table is set, the planning, the gathering, the preparing, are all an intricate part of the dance that create the mood of celebration to share with friends and loved ones.