Honey Beer Bread — The easiest beer bread ever! No kneading, no yeast, and guaranteed soft and fluffy results every time!
Quick Beer Bread Recipe
I hate beer. But I loved this bread. You will too. And it’s ridiculously easy.
Hate may be too strong of a word about my feelings for beer, but not really. In college, if the choice was drink beer at a party because it’s all there was or stay sober, I stayed sober. I was the built in designated driver.
I really don’t know what it is about beer that I despise so much. I love wine and champagne, but not beer, which is odd because I dig yeasty, cultured, and vinegary things. I like to ferment, pickle, and make homemade kombucha and kefir.
Beer does wonders for this bread, and the bread does not taste like beer. If it did, I wouldn’t love it so much.
And let’s cover this since I know I’ll be asked. Most of the alcohol bakes off and what you’re left with is wonderfully textured bread, with great depth of flavor.
The bread is one of the best sandwich-like breads I’ve ever made, either quick bread or yeast. I have others that are very good, but they’re yeasted breads and require rising, kneading, and you’re looking at a 4+ hour event with lots more work.
The bread is about as sweet as storebought honey-whole wheat sandwich bread. Although there’s no whole wheat flour in the bread, it has a wheaty, nutty quality which I love, courtesy of the beer.
I used one teaspoon each of cinnamon and nutmeg, as well as a dash of molasses, all of which add warming undertones and little bursts of comforting flavors.
They’re very subtle, but present. It’s the nutmeg that I notice most, and it plays wonderfully off the honey and maple.
This honey beer bread is ridiculously soft and moist. It’s on the denser side, as is to be expected without using yeast, but it’s not a crusty bread, which is music to my ears.
I baked it late one night last week, and woke up to photograph it, only to find it was raining and continued to rain all day. Horrible weather for food photography, but great weather for curling up with soft, squishy bread.
It’s total comfort food. I’m not even that much of a bread eater, and I loved it.
Effortless, goofproof, and tastes amazing. Cannot ask for anything more!
What’s in Honey Beer Bread?
To make this easy beer bread, you’ll need:
- Vegetable oil
- Molasses
- Honey
- Pure maple syrup
- Ground cinnamon and nutmeg
- Salt
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Beer
How to Make Honey Beer Bread
The honey beer bread is so simple to make you’ll think you’re doing something wrong.
You combine all the ingredients in one bowl, pour beer over them, stir, and that’s it. You cannot mess this up.
My one suggestion is to let the homemade beer bread cool completely before slicing it. The bread needs time to set up.
Ways to Use Beer Bread
As a sidebar recipe, I made bread pudding with it. In a medium bowl, I beat 1 egg with about 1/2 cup milk, 1/3 cup granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and then put 3 slices of bread (torn apart) into the egg-milk mixture and let it soak for 10 minutes.
Then I pressed it into an 8×4 pan and baked at 350F for 17 minutes. It was some seriously good bread pudding.
Or use the bread for Pumpkin Cinnamon Overnight Pull-Apart French Toast or in place of the Hawaiian bread in Hawaiian Bread and Maple Banana Baked French Toast.
What’s the Best Beer for Beer Bread?
Since I’m not a beer drinker, I stood in front of the beer case forever and had no idea what I was grabbing.
I finally settled on Blue Moon Harvest Pumpkin Ale because pumpkin anything sounds good. But no, the bread doesn’t taste like pumpkin, although I wish it did.
I really don’t think there’s a wrong beer for the bread. I want to make more of it, trying a variety of beers to see how they effect the taste. Since I don’t know one from the other, it’ll be random potluck. Sounds fun.
Tips for the Best Beer Bread
I used honey from Trader Joe’s. If you have fancy honey and want to use it, go for it.
If you don’t have real maple syrup, no biggie. Use what you have, and that goes for the beer, too. Just make sure to use pure maple syrup, NOT pancake syrup.
If you plan to make sandwiches with the bread or dip it with chili or soup, or let it go stale and make croutons with it, or use it as the dipper for hummus or on a cheese platter, you may want to either omit or dial back the cinnamon and nutmeg.
You could also go savory with the spices, adding a pinch of garlic or onion powder, curry, oregano, dill, or whatever flavors you like.
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Honey Maple Beer Bread
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons light, mild, or medium molasses (not blackstrap)
- ¼ cup honey
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon salt, optional and to taste
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 12 ounces beer (I used Blue Moon Harvest Pumpkin Ale
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F. Spray a 9×5-inch loaf pan with floured cooking spray, or grease and flour the pan; set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the first 9 ingredients (through baking powder). Tip: Measure the oil in a 1/4-cup measure, filling it halfway (there’s 4 tablespoons in 1/4-cup, so halfway is 2 tablespoons). By adding the oil first, it coats the measuring cup so the subsequent sticky ingredients (molasses, honey, maple) will slide right out.
- Slowly pour beer over the top. It will bubble and foam. Stir until combined. Batter is thick, gloppy, and dense.
- Turn batter out into prepared pan, smoothing the top lightly with a spatula.
- Bake for about 40 minutes, or until top is domed and set, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs, but no batter.
- Allow bread to cool in pan for about 15 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Slice using a serrated knife.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Dude not much of a bread eater, I wish I could say that. Working at restaurant with fresh french bread and fresh rolls coming out of the oven daily I cannot resist bread!! This bread looks amazing so easy and quick, perfect for most days when I don’t have the time/patience for yeasted doughs!
Just saw now that you linked my bread! Thank you, thank you, thank you! You are so awesome! :)
Well, we don’t like to drink yeasty things, those taste better as food. Beer = bleh. But in bread and baked goods? YES!
Love using beer in my dishes! This bread looks and sounds fabulous, Averie!
Wheaty, nutty, effortless, goofproof and tastes amazing! Makes me want to make it right now!
Girl – do it! And in like 40 mins you’ll be digging in. EASIEST bread I’ve ever made! :)
I love beer bread – haven’t tried it myself but I did try some that someone else made. I wonder if whole-wheat flour would work. I have an old recipe for beer bread from a woman in Greece that I have yet to dig up, but seeing how easy it really is encourages me to try it.
I linked to a honey whole wheat bread in this post that’s made in a skillet and 100% I know that works with whole wheat and b/c it’s a skillet bread, if it doesn’t rise much on account of the whole wheat flour, no worries. With this one, I am thinking you could do maybe 30 to 50% WW flour, but I wouldnt do more. Honestly though, I would just make it as written. Dare I say, it’s perfect :)
Beer bread is dangerously easy and SO delicious! The flavors in yours sound awesome, Averie!
dangerously easy and SO delicious — totally agree!
I LOVE BEER. Beer, however, does not love me.
My mom makes pumpkin cinnamon chip beer bread every year for thanksgiving and for christmas. She uses a mix from Tastefully Simple and adds cinnamon chips. Everyone DIES for it, with the spices and the yeasty deliciousness. She usually makes 2 loaves and if there are leftovers (rarely) she’ll make them into a french toast bake the next day. I can’t eat them, but I soak up the smells as much as I can. (And pick at the cinnamon chips and crusty bread edges that are covered in crystallized sugar.)
Oh, and she uses Bud Light, so I really don’t think the beer matters at all.
Pumpkin cinnamon chip beer bread sounds amazing! I was actually going to add a dollop of pumpkin puree to this but wanted this recipe not to fall into the ‘seasonal’ section of my archives and wanted it to be a staple/year-round bread but adding some pumpkin pie spice and puree would be amazing – as would the cinn chips. And the fact that she makes it into a French toast bake – I did the bread pudding thing with about 1/4 of the loaf. Great minds.
Bud light. LOL But so Wisc!
Tell her to make this from scratch, no mix needed!!!
I used to hate beer too, thanks to the horrid stuff served in plastic cups at frat parties. *shiver* These days I’m really getting into locally brewed ales and stouts – as long as they’re dark, they are quite tasty! I should send you a pack of Cereal Killer Ale from Arcadia Brewing Co. (It’s actually a barley wine!) I think you’d enjoy it! The only downfall is that it’s made in small batches so it can be hard to get a hold of.
Anyway, this bread looks divine!! I bet it would be fab a heady ale. :)
Plastic cups and frat parties. Yes, I was the D.D. for a reason. *shudder* I can still smell the smells of those frat houses in my mind, a decade and a half later!
I love using beer in baking because you are exactly right, it imparts that wonderful yeasty flavor. I almost always use beer when making pizza dough because I love that sourdough flavor in pizza dough and then you don’t have to proof the dough for days in order to get that fermentation. Great recipe Averie :)
“beer when making pizza dough because I love that sourdough flavor in pizza dough and then you don’t have to proof the dough for days in order to get that fermentation.” — THAT is such a GREAT idea! I bet that principle could be applicable to many yeast doughs for ‘sourdough’ bread/rolls/buns in a hurry!
This bread looks so moist. I have never made a beer bread but may have to give it a try :)
I love savory beer breads but this sweet honey maple version sounds absolutely fabulous! Pinning!
And it’s not that sweet. It’s like your average honey-wheat bread from the grocery store, but with SO much more depth of flavor. We just loved it. Thanks for the pin!
I’m not much of a beer drinker either, but I’ve found that I love cooking and baking with it. This bread looks so soft! It’s currently raining here and I’m sitting in my cubicle at work wishing I had a big blanket and a piece or two. :)
Rainy days and cubicles – gah. I remember them from when I grew up in MN and Chicago. I don’t envy them and yes, this bread would make things better!
I am not a beer drinker either, but this bread sounds fabulous! Especially the wonderful combination of sweet ingredients! I will have to give it a try!
If you do, LMK what you think!
I love beer and I love bread. This recipe looks so so easy too, lovin the no knead no yeast thing!
No knead, no yeast is always a bonus!
Hating beer is not an overstatement – I hate it too! But like you, I love the depth of flavor beer adds to bread. And I love molasses and spices in bread too!
Glad to hear I’m not the only person who is not a beer drinker. But now I am a beer baker :) And molasses/spices in bread is the way to go!