Pub Cheese Dip

Pub Cheese Dip is a fun and flavorful dip to serve as an appetizer or starter at a party! Sharp cheddar cheese, cream cheese, spices, horseradish, bacon, scallions, and beer make up this mouth watering pub cheese recipe!

Beer Cheese Dip is an easy, spreadable, zesty pub cheese great for serving with soft pretzels, crackers, carrots, celery sticks or chips! #beercheesedip #beercheesepretzeldip www.savoryexperiments.com


 

Serve with pretzels or other dippers for a fabulous game day spread!

Beer Cheese Dip is an easy, spreadable, zesty pub cheese great for serving with soft pretzels, crackers, carrots, celery sticks or chips!

Beer Cheese Dip! One of my favorite things about going to a pub or brewery is the pub cheese. I like the dip itself, but I also LOVE the soft pretzels. Soft pretzels are my weakness.

Make sure you PIN Easy Pub Cheese for your next party!

If you’ve been to the gourmet cheese section at your grocery store, I’m sure you’ve seen tubs of overpriced pub cheese.

Easy Pub Cheese Recipe is a spreadable, zesty, no-cook appetizer in 5 just minutes! Serve with soft pretzels, carrot or celery sticks or chips! #pubcheese #nocookappetizers www.savoryexperiments.com

Usually flavored with beer or wine, the whole concept of cheese spread was developed in England by pubs that didn’t serve whole meals, but wanted something extra with their pretzels and chips that was cheap and easy.

Fact: Some say it was discovered in Irish pubs… but who knows…

What is pub cheese?

The origins of pub cheese make it laughable that it is now considered gourmet and so darn expensive. Pub cheese gets most of its flavor from the alcohol and cheese selections, so choose wisely.

Beer Cheese Dip is an easy, spreadable, zesty pub cheese great for serving with soft pretzels, crackers, carrots, celery sticks or chips! #beercheesedip #beercheesepretzeldip www.savoryexperiments.com

Beer cheese dip became even more popular after Brittany and Jax of Vanderpump Rules decided they wanted to start their own beer cheese company. I saw a huge spike in Google searches after those episodes aired!

Little fact about me…. I am a total Andy Cohen, Bravo super fan. Since I work from home, I keep it on in the background and refer to the characters as my “friends”. They basically replace any workplace colleagues and water cooler talk I miss from being in an office and around adults.

Although I usually prefer to sip on a light beer, I use something with more body and flavor for cooking.

PRO TIP: If you are serving to children or pregnant woman, you can simmer the beer prior to adding to burn off alcohol or just substitute with water. Allow to cool before combining into mixture.

If you prefer to not use alcohol at all, you can substitute water, but be mindful this will directly impact the flavor, so you may want to add more horseradish or other spices.

Beer Cheese Dip is an easy, spreadable, zesty pub cheese great for serving with soft pretzels, crackers, carrots, celery sticks or chips! #beercheesedip #beercheesepretzeldip www.savoryexperiments.com

Although cheddar is the standard for pub style beer cheese dip, you can also change the flavor by using a different type of cheese, even flavored cheese like a horseradish cheddar or another artisan blend.

Serve your Pub Cheese Dip with hard pretzels, soft pretzel bites, chips, crackers, celery or carrot sticks or with a fresh baguette. You can even make things a little fancier by serving in ramekins for individual appetizers.

If you liked this beer cheese pretzel dip, check out these other easy party dip recipes:

Caramelized Onion and Garlic Dip Recipe- Sweet and savory at the same time, Caramelized Onion and Garlic Dip is the perfect appetizer to bring to your holiday party!

Caramelized Onion Dip Recipe

5 from 11 votes
Sweet and savory at the same time, Caramelized Onion and Garlic Dip is the perfect appetizer to bring to your holiday party!
See The Recipe!
close up knife with creamy dip on it.

Creamy Spinach and Artichoke Dip

4.95 from 35 votes
Creamy Spinach Artichoke Dip is the perfect party appetizer. Make ahead and serve chilled or hot with crackers, crostini or vegetables! 
See The Recipe!
Hot Caprese Dip is a party appetizer favorite using mozzarella, pesto and sweet tomatoes. An easy appetizer your guests will love! #capresedip #capresesalad #partyappetizers www.savoryexperiments.com

Hot Caprese Dip

4.39 from 21 votes
Hot Caprese Dip is a party appetizer favorite using mozzarella, pesto and sweet tomatoes. An easy appetizer your guests will love!
See The Recipe!

Tools for making Pub Cheese Dip:

Ramekins– I like giving folks their own individual sauce cups. Then you don’t have to worry about double dipping!

Ramekins are also great for ingredient preparation and baking mini soufflés.

Mini Food Processor– I use this thing daily! It is by far my most used kitchen appliance, it is small and I throw all the parts into the dishwasher, well except the base and cord, of course!

Beer Cheese Dip is an easy, spreadable, zesty pub cheese great for serving with soft pretzels, crackers, carrots, celery sticks or chips! #beercheesedip #beercheesepretzeldip www.savoryexperiments.com

Questions you might about about how to make homemade pub cheese:

My dip came out watery, not thick, why?

I get this question A LOT, but I also get plenty of folks who have successfully made the dip as pictured. My recommendations are:

  • Pulse the mixture, don’t pulverize it
  • Make sure you aren’t adding too much beer (use a measuring cup!)
  • Drain your horseradish so it isn’t soupy
  • Use a full fat cream cheese with some body and thickness.

Can I freeze beer cheese?

I suppose you can, but I don’t typically like cream cheese bases when they thaw. They tend to get a little watery and the flavors muted.

Can I make pub cheese ahead of time?

Sure! Make it up to a day in advance, just make sure to stir before serving.

How long does pub cheese last?

Since this beer cheese recipe doesn’t have any additives or preservatives, it won’t last as long as the store bought versions. If kept refrigerated, it will keep for about 5 days. But I doubt it will last that long because it is so good!

Beer cheese dip for pinterest

Pub Cheese tastes great with everything from pretzels to potato chips. Also use leftovers to spread on a sandwich or make a killer grilled cheese!

Beer Cheese Dip is an easy, spreadable, zesty pub cheese great for serving with soft pretzels, crackers, carrots, celery sticks or chips! #beercheesedip #beercheesepretzeldip www.savoryexperiments.com

Beer Cheese Dip Recipe

4.25 from 29 votes
Beer Cheese Dip is an easy, spreadable, zesty pub cheese great for serving with soft pretzels, crackers, carrots, celery sticks or chips!
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes
Servings: 6

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Place sharp cheddar, cream cheese, beer, dry mustard, cayenne, horseradish, parsley and sea salt into a food processor and pulse until blended. Mixture may have some small lumps.
  • Refrigerate for 20-30 minutes before serving.
  • Garnish with crumbled bacon and scallions. 
  • If you’ve tried this recipe, come and let us know how it was! 

Video

Notes

Use prepared horseradish or a horseradish sauce, it depends on the flavor you desire.

Nutrition

Calories: 249 kcal, Carbohydrates: 2 g, Protein: 9 g, Fat: 22 g, Saturated Fat: 13 g, Cholesterol: 71 mg, Sodium: 686 mg, Potassium: 79 mg, Sugar: 1 g, Vitamin A: 915 IU, Vitamin C: 0.9 mg, Calcium: 241 mg, Iron: 0.4 mg
Author: Jessica Formicola
Calories: 249
Course: Appetizer
Cuisine: American
Keyword: beer cheese dip, pub cheese spread
Did you make this recipe?I’d love to see your recipes – snap a picture and mention @savoryexperiments or tag #savoryexperiments!
Jessica Formicola in her ktichen

About the Author

Jessica Formicola

Jessica the mom, wife and food lover behind Savory Experiments. She is obsessed with butter, salt and bacon and spends all her time in the kitchen and behind a camera. Jessica is a contributor to PopKitchen by Parade, Better Homes & Gardens, The Daily Meal Food + Travel and more!

Read More About Jessica

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Questions and Reviews

  1. Easy Pub Cheese sounds awesome and I love how simple and easy it looks to make!

  2. I love these spread cheeses we enjoy in pubs or as an appetizer in restaurants. I am bookmarking this easy pub cheese to make it for my friends!

  3. Oh wow!! This sounds so super delicious!! I have never heard of or tried anything like this. I think I have really been missing out!

  4. This sounds completely awesome! I can’t wait to make it this weekend for our football party! 🙂 Thanks for the recipe!

  5. I’ve never heard of pub cheese before but I like cheese and like beer so I’m sure I’d love this! I’m going to make this later this week!

  6. I’ve never had pub cheese before. I have to say though, this sounds like a simple recipe and actually pretty darn tasty.