Cinnamon Ridge Beer Cheese Soup
Use Cinnamon Ridge Yellow Cheddar Cheese to create a tasty-heart comfort food soup.
Equipment
- 1 Dutch Oven
Ingredients
- 4 Slices Thick Cut Bacon
- 1 ½ Cups Carrots - Diced
- 1-1/2 Cups Yellow Onion - Diced
- 1-1/2 Cups Celery - Diced
- 2 tbsp Garlic - Minced (6 cloves)
- ½ tsp Sea Salt
- ¼ tsp Cayenne pepper optional
- ⅓ cup Butter you can use unsalted if you like
- ⅓ cup All-purpose flour
- 1 (12 oz) can Pilsner-style beer Or our favorite
- 2 Cups Whole milk or half-and-half
- 3 Cups Broth - Chicken or vegetable
- 1 tbsp Dijon Mustard I used Boetjes mustard - a local mustard here.
- 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp Dry Mustard
- 1 tsp hot pepper sauce or to your taste preference
- 12 oz Cinnamon Ridge Shredded Cheddar Cheese (3 cups) you can purchase shredded or shred your own
- Popped plain popcorn for garnish
Instructions
- Cut the bacon into pieces and add to a large Dutch oven.
- Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until crisp, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate, reserving drippings.
- Add carrots, onion, and celery to drippings and increase heat to medium-high. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 6 to 8 minutes. I shut the burner off and let the vegetable steam. That works as well.
- Stir in garlic, salt, pepper, and cayenne; cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Add butter and cook, stirring constantly, until melted.
- Add flour and cook, stirring constantly, until lightly browned, about 2 minutes.
- Stir in beer, and cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 2 minutes.
- Stir in broth and half-and-half; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium. Cook, stirring occasionally, just until mixture lightly coats the back of a spoon, 12 to 15 minutes.
- Stir in Dijon, Worcestershire, dry mustard, and hot sauce until fully incorporated. Remove from heat.
- Add cheese, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly until melted before adding more. NOTE: To keep the cheese from separating and clumping, do not cook the soup once the cheese has been added.
- Serve immediately, top with the popcorn and reserved bacon