Dips and Spreads

Beer Cheese Spread

March 23, 2021 by Heidi Clark 1 Comment

Let me tell you about the newest obsession we have in our house. Yep, it’s this Beer Cheese Spread! There have been very few days in the past couple of months that there isn’t a container of this gem waiting in the refrigerator. Waiting to be spread on crisp homemade crackers, scooped up with mini pretzel twists, or fresh broccoli florets!

Rich cream cheese is blended with aged cheddar cheese, pale ale beer, and a bunch of other tasty additions to make this Beer Cheese Spread one of the best things I have slathered on a cracker in a looooong time! The recipe is the perfect size for a small gathering! Jeff and I have found a number of ways to enjoy this recipe outside of happy hour, too!

beer cheese garnished with a mini pretzel twist

We fill a fluffy omelet with spoonfuls of it and pop it under a low broiler just enough to warm the spread for the ultimate indulgent brunch meal.
Spread it on a flour tortilla and bake for several minutes until the tortilla is crispy and the cheese is bubbly and delicious. Quarter and enjoy!
Use Beer Cheese Spread instead of shredded cheddar cheese when making potato skins!

What is Beer Cheese?

Beer cheese is commonly found in Kentucky. I’m so happy our Kentucky neighbors decided to share this yumminess with the rest of us! It’s typically made with a processed cheese base {such as Velveeta}, a generous amount of beer and garlic, and served with Saltine crackers.

I updated the traditional recipe using cream cheese, aged cheddar cheese, and butter as the creamy base for the spread. If you can, try to use aged sharp cheddar cheese. It really makes a difference in the flavor profile of the recipe. I use Tillamook Aged Cheddar. Pabst or Tillamook does not pay me for this post-; I like to tell you what I use when testing a recipe.

a piece of cracker plunging into a bowl of beer cheese

I’m not much of a beer-drinker. Tequila, Gin, and Bourbon are more my speed! But, Jeff enjoys a cold beer now and again during the hot summer months. We primarily buy a six-pack of beer for cooking and baking purposes. For this recipe, I use Pabst Blue Ribbon Pale Ale because it adds a nice toasted malt flavor without being bitter. Any pale ale beer will work. I just use what we have in the fridge! Be sure to pull the bottle from the fridge the night before making this recipe! If the beer is cold when it’s drizzled into the cheese mixture, it will create a clumpy consistency.

I hope you enjoy this quick and super easy recipe as much as we do! If you love it, Pin it to your Pinterest board or forward it to a friend!

Beer Cheese Spread

★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

Author: Heidi Clark~ Yums & Kisses
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 0 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
Yield: Serves 6 1x
Diet: Vegetarian

Print Recipe

Description

Beer Cheese Spread! A savory, creamy no-cook appetizer spread made with rich cream cheese, shredded cheddar cheese, dijon mustard, caraway, smoked paprika, and pale ale! Perfect for pairing with pretzels and crackers. Or, slathered on grilled burgers!

Ingredients

Scale

4 ounces full-fat cream cheese {1/2 of a block}, softened

2 Tablespoons butter, softened

1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese {preferably aged}

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon dijon mustard

1 teaspoon whole caraway seed

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

dash of ground cayenne pepper

1 clove of garlic, finely minced

1/2 cup pale ale beer, at room temperature

To Garnish:

Sliced toasted almonds

To Serve:

pretzels, chips, crackers, fresh veggies, or spread on grilled burgers!

Instructions

Place the cream cheese, garlic, butter, cheddar cheese, salt, dijon mustard, smoked paprika, caraway seeds, cayenne, and Worcestershire sauce in the bowl of a food processor. Blend until well-combined.
With the processor running, drizzle the beer into the mixture. Continue to process until smooth. This step will take a few minutes. The mixture will look and feel grainy if not processed long enough. The mixture will be quite runny but will firm up in the refrigerator.
Transfer the contents of the bowl into a storage vessel and chill for several hours or overnight.
Garnish the chilled beer cheese with crunchy toasted sliced almonds, if desired.
Enjoy with the desired accompaniments!

Notes

To soften the cream cheese quickly: unwrap from the foil wrapper and place in a microwave-safe dish. Use the defrost setting on the microwave and warm in 15-second increments until softened.
Use a pale ale for this recipe {such as Pabst}. It has a toasty maltiness that doesn’t overwhelm the flavor profile of this Beer Cheese Spread.
Beer Cheese Spread will keep for one week in the refrigerator.

Category: Appetizers
Method: No-Cook
Cuisine: American

Keywords: beer cheese, no cook appetizer, cheese spread, party food, beer

Vegetarian Chicken Nuggets with Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce

June 24, 2020 by Heidi Clark 2 Comments

I have become one of “those people.” You know what I mean. The people you ask what something tastes like, and they respond, “Well, it tastes like chicken!” Hmmph. I know you might be a bit skeptical at this point. And I don’t blame you! But, friends, this recipe does taste like that fast-food favorite! And, bonus points(!) these delicious Vegetarian Chicken Nuggets with Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce are high in fiber, meatless, and healthy!! Their meaty texture comes from a combination of high-fiber quinoa, eggs, and cheddar cheese! So get out of the drive-thru and into the kitchen!

a vegetarian chicken nugget being dipped into a small white ramekin of honey mustard sauce a stack of nuggets rest next to the ramekin on a small wooden tray resting on a white linen towel in the background is a stack of small white plates with more nuggets

I’ve been making this recipe for several years now. And, I had every intention of naming them “cheddar herb quinoa cakes”! But, every time I ate them, I kept saying to Jeff, “these taste like chicken nuggets, only better!” I was a strict vegetarian for 23 years. And while I now enjoy a little bit of meat, our diet is 90% vegetarian. In recent times meat has become a bit scarce. Not to mention pricy! The great thing about meatless dishes is your grocery dollars go a lot further! We all love saving money, right?! Now we can enjoy a recipe with that hearty, meaty texture without blowing the budget! Plus, you won’t feel weighed down as we do after a greasy fast food meal!

overhead view of a small white speckled bowl filled with cooked quinoa with a small wooden spoon dipped into the quinoa the bowl rests on a small black round cooling rack with a white linen towel draped around the right side of the rack

This is where Vegetarian Chicken Nuggets start!

Right here with a bowl of yummy cooked quinoa! Did you know quinoa is actually a seed? It comes from the Chenopodium plant, which is a member of the spinach, chard, and beet family. I love the chewy texture it has, yet it’s light and fluffy at the same time! And it’s incredibly versatile! We enjoy it mixed into our morning bowl of oatmeal, as a salad for lunch, and of course, in this yummy recipe, I’m sharing with you today! I buy a giant bag of quinoa at our local Costco for a little over ten bucks. It’s a bargain! One thing to note about quinoa, there’s one little thing that you must do before cooking it! Put the quinoa in a fine-mesh strainer and rinse it with cold water for a solid minute or two. Quinoa contains a phytochemical call saponin. Rinsing the quinoa removes the saponin, which will leave the quinoa with a bitter flavor if not removed. Long story short: rinse, rinse, rinse!!

overhead view of a small black cast iron skillet resting on a white linen towel the skillet is filled with vegetarian chicken nuggets standing upright with the sides of the nuggets in view in the corner is a hint of a white plate with a small white ramekin filled sauce a small wooden spoon rests on the edge of the ramekin

Let’s walk through the recipe!

To make Vegetarian Chicken Nuggets with Honey Mustard Sauce Dipping Sauce:

Make the Honey Mustard Sauce. Refrigerate until serving time.
Rinse the quinoa.
Cook the quinoa. You’ll know it’s done when it’s tender, and you can see the little curlicue tendrils pop out—{See the cooked quinoa photo above for reference}.
Cool the quinoa to room temperature. You can speed up the cooling by spreading the quinoa in an even layer on a cookie sheet and placing it on a wire rack.
While the quinoa cooks, assemble the remaining nugget ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
When the quinoa is cool, add it to the nugget mixture.
Cook the nuggets!
Dip the hot nuggets in the homemade Honey Mustard Sauce and enjoy!

close up view of a stack of four vegetarian chicken nuggets resting on a small white plate with a sprig of thyme on top the plate sits on a white linen towel in the background is a small wooden tray filled with vegetarian chicken nuggets with a small white ramekin with a small wooden spoon resting on the edge

If you know someone who would enjoy this recipe, please, forward it to them! And, don’t forget! You can subscribe to receive recipes every time I post a new one! Just go to the subscribe box at the bottom of the page and enter your first name and email, push Subscribe! Voila!! You’re signed up! I promise you I will never sell your email address! You can also follow me on Pinterest!

Here’s a few more recipes from Yums & Kisses that you’ll love!

The Best Homemade Onion Dip! Honestly, it is! With the 4th of July coming up, you’ll want to make a batch of this to have on hand! There’s nothing better with potato chips than this dip! Plus, you’ll save a trip to the grocery store since you probably already have the ingredients for this recipe!
Going on a bike ride this weekend? These No-Bake Peanut Butter Energy Bars are sturdy enough to take on-the-go! Peanut butter, honey, oats, coconut, millet, ground flax seeds, chocolate chips, and more will keep you fueled up for a full day of activity!
If you’re lounging poolside this weekend, a cold pitcher filled with fruity and floral Watermelon Elderflower Sangria is always a good idea! Watermelon and strawberries turn this refresher a gorgeous rose color! Serve some of these along with it!
And, because cake and ice cream is never a bad idea! Make my German Chocolate Ice Cream Cake! A cake so rich and fudgy it’s borderline a brownie topped with a thick layer of chocolate ganache, store-bought vanilla ice cream, and coconut-pecan frosting!

Have a fantastic weekend, friends! Stay safe! Stay healthy! I’ll see you here next week!

Love,

Heidi