Chicken Bacon Beer Cheese Soup + Video
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25 Minute Bacon Beer Cheese Soup with Chicken is one of our all-time most popular recipes and for good reason. BACON.BEER.CHEESE ready in 25 minutes. It is thick and creamy, amazingly cheesy with just the perfect spices to make your taste buds stand at attention.
Okay friends, it is the middle of comfort food season!!! This recipe is an old favorite. One of the most popular recipes on our website with over 125,000 Pins and countless readers raving about the recipe. It’s time you tried it!
We have had so many requests for more videos that we created one for you. You are going to love it.
Let’s take a peek at how this epic creation came to be…
Bacon Beer Cheese Soup with Chicken
Sometimes I am brilliant on the fly. You know what I mean; you are rushed for dinner, and you start pulling things out of your fridge and pantry and create the most spectacular meal ever.
Other nights you get stuck in one mindset. Like OK, I have chicken and need to make soup. Hmmm…. Chicken noodle soup? No.
Luckily this week Chad was incredibly inspiring. I told him I needed a soup made with chicken. We threw some ideas around and then he said: bacon, chicken cheese. OH YAY! I got that.
Before I knew what hit me, I had a pot on the stove, and I was making 25 Minute Bacon Beer Cheese Soup with Chicken.
It’s thick and creamy, uber cheesy, and perfectly seasoned to make your taste buds stand at attention. This warm and welcoming beer cheese soup is a stand out in our soup recipes.
Oh my word, this is a fabulous soup!!! Chad’s review “Someone should write a song about this soup”.
Well, there you have it. Loaded with bacon and chicken this beer cheese soup has the perfect smokiness and heat to make you notice. Just amazing! Top with chives and croutons for a fantastic crunch and finish!
I’m telling you; you’re going to love it!
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Helpful Tips to make Bacon Beer Cheese Soup with Chicken:
- Use cayenne pepper according to your heat preference. Mild=1/4 teaspoon, Medium=1/2 teaspoon, Hot=1 teaspoon.
- Half-and-half is an American dairy product made of half milk and half cream. You can substitute half-and-half with one part milk, one part cream or adjust according to your preference. Adding more milk than cream will make it less rich. Just be sure to use 2 cups total.
What you will need to make Bacon Beer Cheese Soup with Chicken:
- 8 quart pot-
- Heat resistant spoon – Ideal for cooking, stirring, and serving.
Enjoy!
With love from our simple kitchen to yours.
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Check out more of our favorite soup recipes:
Simple Crock Pot Chicken Dumplings
Bacon Beer Cheese Soup with Chicken + Video
Ingredients
- 6 slices thick cut bacon
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1/4 – 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon coarse black pepper
- 1 cup beer, Belgian-style wheat beer (I used Blue Moon)
- 1 cup reduced sodium chicken stock
- 2 cups half-and-half
- 8 ounces mild cheddar cheese, shredded
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Garnishes
- chives, chopped
- croutons
- crisp bacon, diced
Instructions
- Warm an 8-quart pot over medium-high heat. Using clean scissors; cut bacon into the pot. Cook bacon until it’s crisp, stirring occasionally.
- Meanwhile, cut the chicken into bite size pieces.
- Using a slotted spoon, remove bacon from pan draining the drippings into the pan as you take out the bacon. Place the bacon inside your upside-down pot lid (or on a plate). Add chicken pieces into bacon grease to cook, sprinkle with 1 /2 teaspoon salt. Stir occasionally until chicken is completely cooked through. Remove chicken from the pot with a slotted spoon and place on the upside-down pot lid with bacon.
- Cut butter into 1 tablespoon pieces and add to pan drippings. Stir until melted. Whisk in flour and seasonings. Allow to cook for 1 minute, whisking frequently, to cook out the floury taste. Add beer and whisk to combine and cook for 2 minutes. Add chicken stock and half-and-half. Whisk to combine and reduce heat to medium. Slowly add the cheese, if you add the cheese too quickly it can become grainy, so add a little at a time whisking until it is incorporated. Stir until you have a smooth mixture. Add Worcestershire sauce and return chicken and bacon back to the pot. Stir to combine.
- Allow to simmer until ready to serve, stirring occasionally.Garnish with croutons, chives, and bacon.
- Enjoy!
Video
Donna’s Notes
Nutrition
All nutritional information is based on third party calculations and is only an estimate. Each recipe’s nutritional value will vary depending on the ingredients used, measuring methods, and portion sizes.
Originally published 09/09/13
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Yum, Donna and Chad! It does look just fabulous. Scott's a songwriter, I think he could definitely write a delicious song about this one! 🙂
Now that would be awesome Chris!
Yes please!
I saw this and had to make it! Luckily I had Blue Moon on hand, it was fantastic! The boyfriend LOVES it and is currently getting seconds as we speak. I caramelized an onion before I cooked the bacon and added that into the soup later…delicious!
How awesome! Caramelized onions sound amazing too. So happy y'all loved it.
Sorry if this sounds stupid, but – what is half & half? ^__^ I can't translate "half & half" to german 🙂 We have "german style" wheat beer, I guess I can use this, too?
Half and half is an American dairy product that is half milk and half cream. It gives a nice balance without being too rich. In this recipe you can substitute accordingly or just substitute all milk (will be lighter) or all heavy cream (with be rich). I personally like the lightness of the Belgian style beer called Blue Moon – here is a description I found on Wikipedia: The beer is orange-amber in color with a cloudy appearance because it is unfiltered. Blue Moon has a more pronounced orange flavor than many other beers of the style, and also has a slightly sweet flavor. The grain bill for Blue Moon includes malted barley, white wheat, and oats.
All in all, use your favorite beer and it will be fabulous! Let us know how it goes. Enjoy.
Thanks Donna for your answer <3 I'll make it and let you know how it worked 🙂
Half and half just means they put some of the cream back into the mix. It's readily available, but if you don't have it, heat milk, add butter and whisk.
Halbrahm
I made this last night, we had it again tonight (I doubled the batch – so we had leftovers). My 24 year old dubbed this, "The best soup ever!" Thanks, Donna, for this & all your wonderful recipes!
Right on Cheri! So happy you enjoyed it. "The best soup ever" I can live with that. You keep reading and we will keep creating fab recipes.
I made it tonight. It's fantastic. I'm making it again this weekend for my husband.
So happy you enjoyed it so much!
It is delicious…and so easy. I did cut the cayenne pepper to 1 tsp…2 would be a little too hot.
Right on! So happy you enjoyed it!
Having made the Bacon & Beer Cheeseburger soup (to die for!), which we thoroughly enjoyed, I made this Chicken version to according to the recipe with the exception of adding an onion with the chicken when cooking it. Both recipes will make your kitchen mouth watering and have everyone anxious for the dinner bell.
It was delicious EXCEPT that we found it too hot for our tastes with 2 Teaspoons of cayenne pepper. I like things hotter than most in my family, and even I scrambled for the bread and butter, along with a nice glass of cold milk! 😀
We had to buy the beer in a six pack because they didn't sell them in singles in the store we went to, so I stirred some of the beer into my bowl to cool it off as well as cut the heat, which also helped a great deal and was very tasty as well. 😀 Everyone else followed suit; and said it improved the flavor even more, and also help cut the heat somewhat.
Next time I make this, I will add even more onions (they were a nice addition) and cut the cayenne pepper to 1/2 teaspoon and slowly add more to taste until the right balance of heat is reached for our taste.
I served it with Tortilla Chips and that would have been perfect IF it hadn't been too hot for us. It is somewhat thick and we have discussed it being used as a dip, perhaps with some spinach added.
can't wait to try this…
can't wait to try this
my husband pinned this and post it on my facebook, then went to the store with me to get the items needed, which NEVER happens! making this tonight for him and can't wait to have some. thanks for sharing!
How awesome! Let us know how it goes.
Bacon, beer and CHEESE?! Yeah, that's pretty much all the things I need in life!
I like the way you think! Enjoy.
Made it last night…delicious!!!!
So happy you loved it!
My family and I invited one of our neighbors over and we loved it.
We had ours in sourdough rounds that our lovely neighbor brought. We provided the atmosphere, the broth, chicken, bacon, beer, flour, and seasonings. She brought the cheese, half-n-half, and croutons. Love good neighbors and great company!!
I browned them to crispy under the broiler.
We did a nice little "stone soup" kind of thing. What surprised me was how savory the soup was without being "beer-y" or overly cheesy.
How awesome! I love the neighbor get together and of course the soup. Thanks for commenting.
I have made this twice now and wow. The first time I made it I followed the recipe to the letter. However the second time, I added quite a bit more bacon and chicken (12oz of applewood smoked bacon and 24oz of chicken. The first time it was a bit on the spicy side so instead of 2 tsp cayenne pepper I used 1 tsp of Chipolte Chili Pepper. It ended up being fantastic, not to spicy and a real smokey flavor. Also used tortilla strips instead of croutons.
How fantastic. I love the idea of more meat and the tortilla strips would be fantastic! So happy you loved it!
Omg the beer, bacon, cheese soup is fantastic!
Yay! So happy y'all loved it. Its on the menu again this week.
This sounds divine, I think it's on the menu for tomorrow. I'm going to venture a guess though that you meant an 8 qt, not 8 cup pot?
That looks phenomenal! What a fantastic assortment of ingredients and flavors. The combination looks both delightful and delicious. And all that extra cheese is sure to give an added helping of incredible
flavors.
Could you give a rough estimate on what the overall cook time would be? How long should the soup be simmered for ultimate flavor perfection? Looks amazing. Can't wait to try!
Honestly we ate it within 5 minutes of it being done. Enjoy. Let us know how it goes.
Sounds wonderful, but I only have beer with lime in the frig. What do you think?
Beer with lime would give the soup an added dimension of flavor and add a brightness to the soup. But, it would also give the soup a coolness. I don't know. I think it would be great with all the smoky spices in here. Let us know how it goes! Enjoy.
Tried it with the lime beer – INCREDIBLE! Thank you for this wonderful recipe!
Yay! So happy you loved it!
I am thinking about making this for a fall cooking contest at my office. Do you think if I made this and then transferred it to a crock pot on low for a few hours it would be fine?
It would be perfect. I would check it a few times if you can, as it will thicken up a bit. Maybe add 1 cups extra of chicken broth when you cook it, so as it thickens in the crockpot it will be perfect. Hope that helps! Enjoy.
Liked it! Next time, I'd like to add some veggies to it; I liked the idea of the caramelized onion. My husband said it would be good with potatoes, too. I feel like it took me a while to make, but I doubled the batch and had to cut up a lot of chicken! Also, I'm lactose intolerant so I made it with 2 percent Lactaid like I do other cream soup and it was fine. (Luckily, cheddar is one of lactose-free cheeses.) We don't drink beer so I had to send him to the package store for a bottle! 🙂
Made it last week and it is amazing! Best soup ever.
Hi Donna! Thank you so much for this amazing recipe! I made it last night using store bought rotisserie chicken breast ( I was in a hurry) and green onion instead of chives. I also took another person's advice and added chopped yellow onion with the bacon. I have two kids and we don't do spicy well, so I added 1/8 tsp of cayenne. It still had quite a kick but it wasn't to the point where it was too spicy to enjoy. My family loved it! Also I made some homemade french bread so I used that bread to make crouton and it is the most heavenly soup I've ever made! My husband said it is definitely restaurant quality.
Just finished making the first of MANY pots of Beer Bacon Cheese with Chicken soup… Thank you for the recipe! The wife and I love it!!