Beer Cheese Potato Soup with Sausage [VIDEO!]
This hearty, comforting beer cheese potato soup combines the best of both worlds – marrying the timeless flavors of sausage and potato soup with the classic Wisconsin beer cheese soup. Real, simple, whole ingredients mean you can feel good about serving this meal to your family, because you know exactly what’s in it!
Instructions
Brown turkey sausage in a heavy bottom pan or dutch oven.
Then melt butter. Because butter makes everything better, right?
Add the classic combination of my favorite aromatic veggies – onion, carrots and celery.
Saute for 10-12 minutes.
Then add garlic, oregano and thyme and cook for another minute.
Add flour, stir to coat veggies and cook for one more minute.
Add a can of your favorite beer. I recommend an IPA or lager.
Add chicken broth.
Add potatoes and bring to a simmer.
Cover and simmer for 10-12 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender.
Transfer half the soup mixture to a high speed blender and blend until smooth and creamy.
Pour soup back into the pot.
Pour in heavy cream.
Add shredded sharp cheddar and stir until melted.
Add a quick splash of white balsamic vinegar to the pot.
Then add the sausage back into the soup.
Return pot to medium heat and cook for a couple minutes, until sausage is heated through.
Garnish with green onions and shredded cheddar and enjoy!
You’ll Love This
- It’s loaded with REAL ingredients. Which is what makes it a favorite in our household. You won’t find any condensed soup or processed Velveeta cheese here!
- Beer + cheese + potatoes + sausage. It pretty much doesn’t get better than this winning flavor combination!
- It’s quick and easy which makes it a great weeknight meal! Chopping veggies and brown sausage is all that is required for prep which means you can have this dinner on the table in about 45 minutes. Be sure to check out my tips section below for notes on how to save time on prep in this recipe!
Make Ahead
As with most good things in life, this soup just gets better with time.
- Make this soup as directed below, let it cool for about an hour, then pop it in the fridge for up to a week.
- About an hour before you’re ready to eat, transfer soup to a crock pot and turn it to warm. About 10 minutes before serving, crank it up to high to make sure it was fully heated through and then dig in!
- Alternately, you could reheat this soup in a sauce pan on the stove over medium low heat, stirring frequently for about 15-20 minutes or until heated through.
- Be sure to season to taste with salt and pepper after reheating!
Tips
- Prep ingredients as you go. While the sausage is browning, chop your onion, carrots and celery. Then while the onion, carrots and celery are cooking, mince your garlic and dice your potatoes. While the potatoes are simmer, grate your cheddar. This will save you lots of precious prep time!
- Buy a block of cheese and shred it yourself. It’s often cheaper to buy a block of cheese rather than a bag of shredded. Freshly shredded cheese will also melt better as pre-shredded cheese is coated in cellulose to help the shreds not stick together, which can also prevent the cheese from melting evenly.
- Use good quality beer. Skip the Bud Light and find a high quality craft beer with a flavor that you enjoy. No dark beer – stick to lagers, ales, IPAs or the like.
- Use your favorite sausage – if you like it spicy (like me) use that. If you’re more into a mild Italian sausage, that will work great too!
- Salt liberally throughout cooking. The ingredients in this soup are simple, so be sure to salt liberally throughout the cooking process.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What kind of cheese should I use to make beer cheese soup?
- I like to use sharp cheddar for this recipe.
- Sharp cheddar on it’s own can have a very strong flavor, but when mixed with all the elements of this soup it becomes very mellow and melts nicely into the soup.
- Can my kids eat beer cheese soup?
- Yes! By the time this soup gets to the dinner table all that’s left is the flavor from the beer – the alcohol is long gone as it’s cooked off during the simmering process.
- What if I don’t like beer?
- Then you haven’t had the right beer! Check out this post about how to find the right beer for you! This is a good opportunity for you to try a local made beer or something you maybe haven’t had before. Be adventurous, be daring – try new beer!
- You might find that you actually love beer when you taste the right one!
Try these easy soup recipes next!
Did you love this recipe?
Please leave a 5-star rating and review below!
Beer Cheese Potato Soup with Sausage
This hearty soup combines the well known flavors of sausage and potato soup with the very classic Wisconsin beer cheese soup.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 12 servings 1x
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Stove Top
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 19.5 oz. spicy turkey sausage
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 1 white onion, diced
- 1 cup chopped carrots
- 1 cup chopped celery
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 5 tablespoons flour
- 3 (14.5 oz) cans chicken broth
- 12 oz. can of your favorite beer
- 2 lbs. russet potatoes, diced in 1/2″ pieces
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 8 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
- 1 teaspoon white balsamic vinegar
- Kosher salt
- fresh cracked pepper
Garnish:
- sliced green onion
- shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Heat a large pot over medium heat. Add turkey sausage and brown, crumbling with a spatula until cooked through. Remove from pan and set aside.
- Heat butter in the same large pot (no need to wipe it out) over medium high heat.
- Add onion, carrots, celery and a large pinch of salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently for 10-12 minutes.
- Turn heat to medium and add garlic, oregano and thyme and cook for another minute.
- Then add flour and stir to coat veggies. Cook for one more minute, stirring frequently.
- Stir in beer, chicken broth, and diced potatoes along with another pinch of salt and pepper.
- Cover, turn heat up to medium high and bring to a simmer.
- Once it begins to simmer, turn heat to low, cover and simmer 10-12 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender. Stir occasionally to prevent potatoes from sticking to the bottom of the pot.
- Remove soup from heat. Transfer half of the soup mixture to a high speed blend. Blend until smooth and creamy. Pour back into pot.
- Stir in heavy cream and shredded cheese. Then add white balsamic vinegar.
- Add cooked sausage back into the pot. Heat the soup over medium heat for a couple minutes, until sausage is heated through.
- Garnish with green onions and shredded cheddar cheese and enjoy!
Notes
Prep ingredients as you go. While the sausage is browning, chop your onion, carrots and celery. Then while the onion, carrots and celery are cooking, mince your garlic and dice your potatoes. While the potatoes are simmer, grate your cheddar. This will save you lots of precious prep time!
Buy a block of cheese and shred it yourself. It’s often cheaper to buy a block of cheese rather than a bag of shredded. Freshly shredded cheese will also melt better as pre-shredded cheese is coated in cellulose to help the shreds not stick together, which can also prevent the cheese from melting evenly.
Use good quality beer. Skip the Bud Light and find a high quality craft beer with a flavor that you enjoy. No dark beer, stick to lagers, ales, IPAs or the like.
Use your favorite sausage – if you like it spicy (like me) use that. If you’re more into a mild Italian sausage, that will work great too!
Salt liberally throughout cooking. The ingredients in this soup are simple, so be sure to salt liberally throughout the cooking process.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/12 of soup
- Calories: 341
- Sugar: 4.2 g
- Sodium: 427.2 mg
- Fat: 23.8 g
- Carbohydrates: 18.9 g
- Fiber: 1.4 g
- Protein: 13.2 g
- Cholesterol: 76.8 mg
This post was originally published in November 2018. It was updated in September of 2019 to include process shots, step-by-step instructions and tips for making the best beer cheese soup every single time!
I made this soup for dinner this evening. Our picky eater son went back for a third bowl. I’ll go on record as saying this soup was delicious and a hit in our house. I followed the recipe as written with the exception of andouille sausage in place of the spicy Italian sausage. My beer was Kona Long Board Lager. Delicious soup…thanks for sharing the recipe.
Yum – I bet the Andouille was delicious in this soup! Great choice! I’m so glad that your family enjoyed it too, Daryl – especially the picky eater!! 🙂 Thank you for leaving a review – I really appreciate it!
Easy to make a a joy to eat!
Woohoo! So glad that you enjoyed this soup, Kathy! Thank you for leaving a review!
The soup came out great! I used a package of ground turkey and spiced it up myself.
Serving this with toasted french bread made it a full meal!
This sounds amazing, Jason! I am so glad you enjoyed this soup. Thank you for leaving a review – I really appreciate it 🙂
Easy, tasty and a great recipe for cooler fall days. Love using hot sausage, and my husband is a home brewer…so it was a perfect combination for us!
I am so glad you both enjoyed this recipe, Lauren. Thank you for leaving a review – I really appreciate it 🙂
I needed a tasty soup for this perfect North Carolina fall day.. I found this recipe and just finished making it! Now it is one of my favorite soup recipes
I am so glad that you enjoyed this recipe, Kenzie. It IS perfect for a crisp fall day! Thanks so much for leaving a review – I really appreciate it 🙂
This soup is so delicious! Since I live in WI, I used Usinger’s Andouille sausage and a local IPA. I can’t wait to make this recipe again for Packer Sunday’s. There’s not a single thing I would change. Thank you so much for sharing!
OMG that sounds amazing. IPA is my fave to use in this soup too and I can only imagine how much delicious flavor came from the Andouille sausage! So glad you enjoyed this recipe. Thanks for leaving a review!
Delicious! My husband, who is not a soup fan, is raving about this soup. Thank you so much. This recipe is a keeper for sure!
Woohoo! I love when we can convert the non-soup lovers into total soup fans! Isn’t that the best?! I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe, Dotti! Thanks so much for leaving a review – I really appreciate it 🙂
I want to make this but don’t have heavy cream can I use half n half instead
Yes – you can use half and half. The soup will just end up a bit less creamy than if you’d used heavy cream. Great question, Joanne!
Delicious!
WOOHOO! So glad you enjoyed this recipe, Cassidy. Thanks so much for leaving a review – I really appreciate it! 🙂
Delicious, simple and perfect for multiple occasions! I’ll be doing this again!
I couldn’t have said it better myself Liz! Thanks so much for leaving a review – I really appreciate 🙂
Sausage-potato-beer-cheese soup…Incredible!! A delicious, warm, hearty, flavorful masterpiece of a meal!
What a review!!! I am so glad that you enjoyed this one Jacinda! Thanks for leaving your feedback 🙂
This soup is FANTASTIC! We’re vegetarians so I left out the sausage and subbed veggie broth for the chicken, and added a bit more potatoes to bulk it up. The flavors are heavenly and our large family loved it. I’m making it again this week!
That sounds amazing – I love the vegetarian substitutes!! I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe. Thanks for leaving a review Tana! 🙂
Excellent flavor for a very simple dish. Definitely in my soup rotation.
The only change I would make would be to double the potatoes. Otherwise literally perfect.
I can’t argue with more potatoes!! So glad you enjoyed this recipe Wendy – thanks so much for your feedback 🙂
Made this with homemade pretzels the other night and It was one of the best soups I’ve ever made! Being from Wisconsin, this definitely tasted like home. Will be making it again in the future. Thanks!
That’s pretty much the best compliment ever when something “tastes like home”!!! That is my goal with every recipe 🙂 I’m so glad that you enjoyed this recipe and thank you so much for leaving a review Sarah!
Very good. A little thinner than expected, but that may have been my fault as I used less flour than called for. I will try again.
So glad you enjoyed it Jo! Thanks for leaving a review 🙂