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My favorite honey beer bread recipe is ultra-easy to make with just 6 ingredients (no yeast required) and tastes so buttery and delicious!
Looking for an easy homemade bread recipe that doesn’t require a packet of yeast?
This honey beer bread recipe is here for you. ♡
If you have never made beer bread before, I’m telling you, bread-baking doesn’t get any easier than this! Simply stir 5 basic ingredients together (flour, baking powder, salt, beer and honey), brush melted butter on top of the batter, and bake until golden. Then — voila! — in less than an hour, the most delicious, buttery, cozy and comforting beer bread will yours to enjoy in no time.
It can be served up with just about any kind of meal, although we’re especially partial to dipping it in soups and stews at our house. It can also be easily frozen and saved for later, if you would like. And it’s also easy to customize with various herbs or a handful of shredded cheese, if you would like.
I have probably made this recipe hundreds of times, and thousands of our readers have made and loved it too. So if you haven’t yet given it a try, I say it’s time! ♡
Honey Beer Bread Recipe | 1-Minute Video
Honey Beer Bread Ingredients:
All you need are 6 simple ingredients to make this honey beer bread recipe:
All-purpose flour: This recipe is total comfort food for me, so I have only ever made it with all-purpose flour.
Baking powder: To help the bread rise.
Salt: I used fine sea salt.
Honey: Which balances out the savory flavors here with the perfect hint of sweetness.
Beer: I typically use an IPA, but just about any kind of favorite beer will work in this recipe!
Butter: Which we will use to grease the pan and brush on top of the bread to give it some extra-delicious buttery flavor.
How To Make Beer Bread:
Alright, here are the basic steps for how to make beer bread — it couldn’t be easier!
Make the batter. Super simple! Just stir together the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl, then stir in the beer and honey until combined.
Add the butter. Pour about half of the melted butter into a 9×5-inch bread pan, and brush it all around to grease the inside of the pan. Add the batter and spread it out in an even layer. Then brush the remaining melted butter evenly on top of the batter.
Bake. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until a toothpick or knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove and transfer the pan to a wire baking rack and let the bread cool for at least 10 minutes.
Serve. Slice with a bread knife, serve warm and enjoy!
(Detailed recipe instructions and ingredient amounts included in the full recipe below.)
Possible Beer Bread Variations:
Want to customize this beer bread recipe? Feel free to…
Add herbs: Stir some fresh or dried herbs into the batter. (I especially love adding in some fresh or dried rosemary.)
Add garlic: Feel free to also mince a clove or two of garlic and add it to the batter to make garlic beer bread.
Add cheese: Add in a cup or so of shredded cheese to make cheesy beer bread.
More Easy Bread Recipes:
Looking for more easy bread recipes to bake? Here are a few of my faves!
This honey beer bread recipe is quick and easy to make with just 6 simple ingredients! See notes above for possible seasonings that you can add in too.
Ingredients
Scale
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/4 cup honey*
1 bottle (12 ounces) beer
1/4 cup butter, melted
Instructions
Preheat oven. Heat oven to 350°F.
Make the batter. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt until combined. Slowly pour the beer and honey into the flour mixture, and stir until combined.
Add the butter. Pour half of the melted butter into the bottom of a 9×5-inch bread pan, and brush it around to grease the inside of the pan. Add the batter and spread it out in an even layer. Then brush the remaining melted butter evenly on top of the batter.
Bake. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until a toothpick or knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove and transfer the pan to a wire baking rack and let the bread cool for at least 10 minutes.
Serve. Slice with a bread knife, serve warm and enjoy!
Honey: If your honey seems super-thick and does not drizzle easily, I recommend warming it up in the microwave or on the stovetop for a few seconds so that it will mix into the batter more easily.
So easy and delicious! I can’t believe how much flavor this bread has with such few ingredients! It freezes well so I love to make a loaf, slice it, freeze, and then pull out a slice when needed!
I loved the bread with added cheddar but we couldn’t cut it. Tried serrated bread knife, & 3 other knifes. So we just ate it by breaking off chunks. It was still delicious! I would like to know what your cutting process is. The wonderful crunchy top was the problem. When trying to cut through that it made the rest of the loaf crumble. Baked for 43 min. Will make it again crumbling or not.
This bread was so great! My hubby cracked his tooth this mirning and couldn’t get an appointment right away . I needed to make something easy to eat. I had loaded potato soup in the crockpot, and decided last minute that bread was needed. I found your recipe. It was perfection! Wow. It rose higher than your photo. It was amazing! My hubby actually thanked me for such a great dinner. I shared your bread recipe with my sister, because I was so excited that a recipe so easy could be so good. Thank you so much!
Yes, almond flour would not work as a 1:1 substitution with all-purpose flour in this recipe. If you are looking for a gluten-free alternative, you would need to use an all-purpose GF flour blend (and GF beer).
Can you use this bread for spinach dip or other dips?
Ginny Wineinger —
Made it twice now, once with Bud Light and sugar free maple syrup since that was all I had on hand and once with a Mexican Chocolate Stout and honey. Both were delicious. My niece sent me this recipe because I wasn’t able to find yeast anywhere due to the Covid-19 quarantine. I finally found yeast but ended up making this again away. So simple and so so good!
Great base recipe. I’ve used darker beers and added walnuts, dried cranberries, and white chocolate chips. I’ve also used lighter beers and added cheddar cheese and jalapeños. Thank you for such an awesome recipe!
This bread was off-the-charts fantabulous!
I used Bread Flour (aka Hard Flour) as I do with all breads and suggest perhaps considering that as an option to make it even better than all-purpose.
this bread was soft and moist and flavour-full inside, incredibly crusty outside (yes, the butter! who would have thunk). And I’ll admit this: hubby and I (two otherwise normal individuals and healthy eaters) ate it all in one sitting except for a couple of equally yummy slices we left for next day!
I am totally grateful. This will be my go-to bring-to-friends-and-leave-an-impression gift going forward.
So easy and so yummy! My husband and six year old loved it…and they are both picky! Definitely use all the butter recommended. Makes for an insanely delicious crust!
It is a very delicious home made bread.
I confess I made a little change to your recipe.
I used 2 cups of self rising regular flower and 1 cup of coconut flower plus the beer from Guatemala and 3 tbp of white sugar, I didn’t add anymore powder ingredients.
Incredible delicious !!!!!
Oh my goodness! Every speck of butter and honey make this something beyond bread. It is so good. Thank you for such an easy and delicious recipe. I follow it as directed and love it.
Karen —
I added raisins to the mixture, and only put half the batter on top of the melted butter, then sprinkled the batter in the pan with a lot of honey cinnamon, then added the rest of the batter, and brushed it with the rest of the melted butter. Yum! Can’t wait to try adding other things. Thanks for the recipe.
The bread was delicious. Used a Porter and like the darker color and deeper flavor! The cook times, however, are contrary in the recipe. In the details under the title, it indicates 60 minutes. The Instructions indicate 40-50 minutes. Fortunately, I checked it earlier than 60 minutes.
A heavy, dense, bread that can stand up to the heartiest of soups and stews, yet can also be enjoyed with a cold glass of milk, or a hot cup of tea! One of my new favorites which will be on my gift giving list this year. Going to go adventurous and try making it with Apple Ale and maple syrup.
No bread in the house. No yeast either. Too snowy to go out shopping. But, I had beer and googled beer batter bread and found your site and recipe. Both are great! Thanks.
I LOVED this recipe. This has so few ingredients and is so easy, there is no reason to buy the expensive boxes of beer bread mix. My family loves this with beer cheese dip.
2 Questions…Did you use salted or unsalted butter? Do you find there is a textural difference or significant difference in taste/sweetness level when using all honey vs. honey and sugar in the recipe?
Turned out really well, I added some cheese and garlic for a bit of extra flavour. Found the texture to be more cakey than bread but even so a hit in my house.
I feel like I must have done something wrong with this recipe. Every thing came together easily and baked up nicely, but the overall flavour was just…baking powder. The whole loaf had to go directly into the bin. Very disappointing. My baking powder isn’t terribly old, maybe a 6 months at the most.
I have been a fan of beer bread for a while, and this one is the best one I’ve tried. What I think sets it apart is the honey, because it add a moisture to what could be an otherwise crumbly bread. The fact that it’s easy to slice and toast is testament to it’s great texture. I love to bake, and often make regular yeast bread, but this bread is great if you are in a hurry or short on ingredients, or if your yeast has up and died!
Love this recipe. I have used it several times and each time tweak it a bit. This last time I sifted the flour and used 3 cups of the sifted; it produced a lighter loaf. What is your opinion about sifting/not sifting? Also is butter in the recipe unsalted/salted or doesn’t matter? I forgot to put in the salt this time (at home a little addled during the coronavirus situation) so result was a little bland but sprinkling a tiny bit of salt on top with butter solved the problem. Thanks for a great recipe!
I was incredibly excited about trying this recipe. Then I made it, and it was not what I expected. I followed the recipe, I used an ale for my beer, and my bread did not bake all the way, even after being in the oven for over an hour. It looks just the the pictures posted here, but eating raw bread dough was not enjoyable. I’ll try again using a different type of beer and see if my results are better.
I’m making it with self-rising right now… I’ll let you know how it turns out. I suspect I shouldn’t have used self-rising with all the baking powder, but we’ll see!
Thanks for creating the honey version for beer bread! It’s delicious. I modified this to make it a little more nutritious by blending a little home made oat flour and chia seeds into the dough. If you like them both, you will find that the bread tastes even yummier! Could you post nutritional information for the basic ingredients in your recipe… from calories to carbs to fiber. Thanks again for the honey variety of everyone’s favorite beer bread, Ali!
Recipe looks like it is baked in a bread/loaf pan but the directions call for a 9 x 13 pan. Please clarify for me. Thanks. Look great and quick to make a little extra special to a meal.
I used bread flour instead of AP, and a Blood Orange Wheat Lager for the beer. Added about 1.4 teaspoons of orange zest and a couple shakes of cloves. Came out sooo delicious!!!! It was fluffly, chewy, and the flavor was great. Can’t wait to try with other combinations!
First loaf was whole-wheat flour, wildflower honey, and Guinness. It came out dense and slightly bitter. That’s a description, not a complaint; it was gone in two days.
For the second, I will be using Red Stripe; additionally, I’m adding black sesame seeds.
This was soo good! I used bread flour because I’m rationing my plankn flour #isolationcooking So easy, super tasty and I don’t even like beer! Definitely will be making again!
Quarantined over here with no butter or yeast in the house. I do have the other ingredients. Any idea of what might work instead of butter? Olive oil? Coconut Oil?
This d is delicious and simple to make. I have a loaf in the oven now and it only took me about 5 minutes to mix up. Try it, you’ll be happy you did.
So easy and delicious! I can’t believe how much flavor this bread has with such few ingredients! It freezes well so I love to make a loaf, slice it, freeze, and then pull out a slice when needed!
Hi. Can this be made with Almond flour? Thank you
I loved the bread with added cheddar but we couldn’t cut it. Tried serrated bread knife, & 3 other knifes. So we just ate it by breaking off chunks. It was still delicious! I would like to know what your cutting process is. The wonderful crunchy top was the problem. When trying to cut through that it made the rest of the loaf crumble. Baked for 43 min. Will make it again crumbling or not.
Gorgeous and really yummy!
This bread was so great! My hubby cracked his tooth this mirning and couldn’t get an appointment right away . I needed to make something easy to eat. I had loaded potato soup in the crockpot, and decided last minute that bread was needed. I found your recipe. It was perfection! Wow. It rose higher than your photo. It was amazing! My hubby actually thanked me for such a great dinner. I shared your bread recipe with my sister, because I was so excited that a recipe so easy could be so good. Thank you so much!
My friend gave me a sample beer that is chai tea infused. I am definitely trying this recipe with that beer! Very excited to see how it turns out!
Made this tonight to go with crockpot beef roast and it was a major hit!! We all loved it. So happy I found this recipe =)
I tried substituting almond flour. It doesn’t want to come out of the pan.
Yes, almond flour would not work as a 1:1 substitution with all-purpose flour in this recipe. If you are looking for a gluten-free alternative, you would need to use an all-purpose GF flour blend (and GF beer).
just wondering if I could use brown sugar, instead of white, to mix with the honey ?
Sure thing!
Can you use this bread for spinach dip or other dips?
Made it twice now, once with Bud Light and sugar free maple syrup since that was all I had on hand and once with a Mexican Chocolate Stout and honey. Both were delicious. My niece sent me this recipe because I wasn’t able to find yeast anywhere due to the Covid-19 quarantine. I finally found yeast but ended up making this again away. So simple and so so good!
I was wondering if this could be put into a bread machine?
Great base recipe. I’ve used darker beers and added walnuts, dried cranberries, and white chocolate chips. I’ve also used lighter beers and added cheddar cheese and jalapeños. Thank you for such an awesome recipe!
This bread was off-the-charts fantabulous!
I used Bread Flour (aka Hard Flour) as I do with all breads and suggest perhaps considering that as an option to make it even better than all-purpose.
this bread was soft and moist and flavour-full inside, incredibly crusty outside (yes, the butter! who would have thunk). And I’ll admit this: hubby and I (two otherwise normal individuals and healthy eaters) ate it all in one sitting except for a couple of equally yummy slices we left for next day!
I am totally grateful. This will be my go-to bring-to-friends-and-leave-an-impression gift going forward.
Sharone
So easy and so yummy! My husband and six year old loved it…and they are both picky! Definitely use all the butter recommended. Makes for an insanely delicious crust!
It is a very delicious home made bread.
I confess I made a little change to your recipe.
I used 2 cups of self rising regular flower and 1 cup of coconut flower plus the beer from Guatemala and 3 tbp of white sugar, I didn’t add anymore powder ingredients.
Incredible delicious !!!!!
All of the butter!
I make it with Root beer and No sugar or honey. Delicious
Oh my goodness! Every speck of butter and honey make this something beyond bread. It is so good. Thank you for such an easy and delicious recipe. I follow it as directed and love it.
I added raisins to the mixture, and only put half the batter on top of the melted butter, then sprinkled the batter in the pan with a lot of honey cinnamon, then added the rest of the batter, and brushed it with the rest of the melted butter. Yum! Can’t wait to try adding other things. Thanks for the recipe.
The bread was delicious. Used a Porter and like the darker color and deeper flavor! The cook times, however, are contrary in the recipe. In the details under the title, it indicates 60 minutes. The Instructions indicate 40-50 minutes. Fortunately, I checked it earlier than 60 minutes.
A heavy, dense, bread that can stand up to the heartiest of soups and stews, yet can also be enjoyed with a cold glass of milk, or a hot cup of tea! One of my new favorites which will be on my gift giving list this year. Going to go adventurous and try making it with Apple Ale and maple syrup.
No bread in the house. No yeast either. Too snowy to go out shopping. But, I had beer and googled beer batter bread and found your site and recipe. Both are great! Thanks.
I LOVED this recipe. This has so few ingredients and is so easy, there is no reason to buy the expensive boxes of beer bread mix. My family loves this with beer cheese dip.
Question: does the beer have to be room temperature or can it come straight out the refrigerator? Thanks in advance for answering my question.
I used non-alcoholic beer straight from the refrig. The bread turned out perfectly!
2 Questions…Did you use salted or unsalted butter? Do you find there is a textural difference or significant difference in taste/sweetness level when using all honey vs. honey and sugar in the recipe?
Super yummy! But would have preferred a slightly sweeter bread! Any thoughts on how much more honey to add?
Absolutely delicious and so easy to make! I served it with your Can’t Believe It’s Veg Chili. I’ll make both again. Thanks for the wonderful recipes.
Delicious!!! I used White Lily flour, added one extra TBSP of honey. Definitely use all of the butter. Thank you for a wonderful recipe.
Looks amazing, can’t wait to try this recipe.
Turned out really well, I added some cheese and garlic for a bit of extra flavour. Found the texture to be more cakey than bread but even so a hit in my house.
I feel like I must have done something wrong with this recipe. Every thing came together easily and baked up nicely, but the overall flavour was just…baking powder. The whole loaf had to go directly into the bin. Very disappointing. My baking powder isn’t terribly old, maybe a 6 months at the most.
I have been a fan of beer bread for a while, and this one is the best one I’ve tried. What I think sets it apart is the honey, because it add a moisture to what could be an otherwise crumbly bread. The fact that it’s easy to slice and toast is testament to it’s great texture. I love to bake, and often make regular yeast bread, but this bread is great if you are in a hurry or short on ingredients, or if your yeast has up and died!
Love this recipe. I have used it several times and each time tweak it a bit. This last time I sifted the flour and used 3 cups of the sifted; it produced a lighter loaf. What is your opinion about sifting/not sifting? Also is butter in the recipe unsalted/salted or doesn’t matter? I forgot to put in the salt this time (at home a little addled during the coronavirus situation) so result was a little bland but sprinkling a tiny bit of salt on top with butter solved the problem. Thanks for a great recipe!
Thanks for a bright spot in a strange timeframe for our country. Delicious ?
If it to dry do I add more beer normally q can is 12oz
I was incredibly excited about trying this recipe. Then I made it, and it was not what I expected. I followed the recipe, I used an ale for my beer, and my bread did not bake all the way, even after being in the oven for over an hour. It looks just the the pictures posted here, but eating raw bread dough was not enjoyable. I’ll try again using a different type of beer and see if my results are better.
Can you use self rising flour?
I’m making it with self-rising right now… I’ll let you know how it turns out. I suspect I shouldn’t have used self-rising with all the baking powder, but we’ll see!
I used self rising, came out great.
Thanks for creating the honey version for beer bread! It’s delicious. I modified this to make it a little more nutritious by blending a little home made oat flour and chia seeds into the dough. If you like them both, you will find that the bread tastes even yummier! Could you post nutritional information for the basic ingredients in your recipe… from calories to carbs to fiber. Thanks again for the honey variety of everyone’s favorite beer bread, Ali!
Our family is obsessed with this recipe!
Recipe looks like it is baked in a bread/loaf pan but the directions call for a 9 x 13 pan. Please clarify for me. Thanks. Look great and quick to make a little extra special to a meal.
Oh yikes — major typo! Thank you so much for catching that. It should be a 9×5-inch bread/loaf pan. Thank you! :)
You’re a genuis !! Love it
Do you think this would work in a bread machine?
This sounds lovely … has anyone tried it gluten free ( would need to change beer and flour ) ? Please let me know – thanks
I would like to know this as well!
Would love to be able to print out and add it to my collection!! Sometime i have share tips on my blog https://thecrafty-woman.com
I used bread flour instead of AP, and a Blood Orange Wheat Lager for the beer. Added about 1.4 teaspoons of orange zest and a couple shakes of cloves. Came out sooo delicious!!!! It was fluffly, chewy, and the flavor was great. Can’t wait to try with other combinations!
Has anyone made this with minced garlic and shredded mozzarella ? Was thinking of trying that.
This bread was awesome. !! Talk about an easy recipe and a wunderful keepie….
This was excellent. Took one reader’s comments and used bread flour in place of AP flour. It made great grilled cheese sandwiches the next day.
First loaf was whole-wheat flour, wildflower honey, and Guinness. It came out dense and slightly bitter. That’s a description, not a complaint; it was gone in two days.
For the second, I will be using Red Stripe; additionally, I’m adding black sesame seeds.
This was soo good! I used bread flour because I’m rationing my plankn flour #isolationcooking So easy, super tasty and I don’t even like beer! Definitely will be making again!
Quarantined over here with no butter or yeast in the house. I do have the other ingredients. Any idea of what might work instead of butter? Olive oil? Coconut Oil?
You could make the bread without butter, if you would like. It just adds some nice buttery flavor. :)
What did I do wrong? Followed recipe but subbed bread flour. Tastes like poo.