Exactly how it sounds in its name, this 3 Ingredient Beer Bread is made with just 3 ingredients – self-rising flour, beer, and honey. It’s so simple, yet so delicious!

Baking with yeast can be tricky. While I’d like to master the skill of baking with yeast someday, I’m pretty content using other leavening agents, especially when I can make things as good as this 3 Ingredient Beer Bread. Thanks to the beer, it’s got that yeasty and toasty flavor and aroma that you’d get from things like sourdough bread. It smells fantastic when it is baking!

Ingredients

Self-rising flour: It’s essential to get the self-rising flour as the leavening agents (baking powder) are already in the flour. If you happen not to have a bag of self-rising flour, you can take all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour (or a 50/50 blend of the two), and add 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder and ¼ tsp. of salt for each cup of flour. This recipe uses 3 cups of flour, so you’d need 4 ½ tsp. of baking powder and ¾ tsp. of salt.

Beer: I used a nice dark stout beer, but most any beer would do. The amount needed for the recipe is about the equivalent of a standard bottle or can of beer.

Honey: This obviously adds the sweetness to balance out the salt and beer’s salty and sour flavors. If you need to substitute honey, you can use another syrup like maple syrup or agave syrup. This recipe wasn’t tested with dry sweeteners like sugar.

How to Make 3 Ingredient Beer Bread

This recipe really couldn’t be any simpler. You’ll mix together the flour, honey, and beer in a large mixing bowl. You don’t need an electric mixer; it can be done by hand. The dough will be a little sticky but start to pull away from the sides of the bowl.

A two photo collage of the the beer bread dough. The top picture is the beer and the flour in a yellow bowl without stirring. and the second photo is of the dough mixed together for the 3 ingredient beer bread.

You’ll then pour the dough into a greased 9×5 loaf pan and bake for 45-50 minutes. As tempting as it is to dive right into the bread while it’s hot, allow enough time for the bread to cool before slicing into it. It’s hard; I know when you’ve been smelling those delicious aromas coming from the oven for the better part of an hour.

3 slices of 3 ingredient beer bread stacked with pat of butter on top on a white background with the loaf of beer bread in the background and a butter knife in the foreground

How to Serve Beer Bread

The 3 Ingredient Beer Bread isn’t quite a bread for making a sandwich (although, if you try it, let me know how it goes) since it’s more of quick bread. I like to serve it on the side like dinner rolls or buttered as part of my breakfast. It would be perfect with soups, like this Potato, Leek, and Kale Soup, or a hearty chili like these. Or as part of any St. Patrick’s Day celebration.