Beer Cheese Fondue

This Beer Cheese Fondue recipe blends cheddar and Swiss cheeses, light beer, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, mustard powder and freshly cracked black pepper for a delicious appetizer perfect for any party!

We just love fondues! And, this Beer Cheese Fondue appetizer is so easy to make with just a few ingredients and it will win you rave reviews at your next get together!

Do you know what an empty cheese fondue pot looks like? Well you will after you make this one. Our family literally uses the dippers to squeegee all of the cheese out of the pot.

If you don’t have a fondue pot, you can use a regular pot on the stovetop. The advantage of the electric fondue pot is that it keeps the fondue warm while you are enjoying it and you get these long, color-coded forks so that everyone knows whose is whose. We bought one of the best sellers on Amazon, this Cuisinart Fondue Pot, that you see in the photos and we love it.

Dippers for Cheese Fondue

There are so many dippers for this easy cheese fondue. It is great to provide a variety to serve with this dish. Here are our favorites.

Breads

There are so many different breads that make great dippers. Here are a few to consider: French bread, sourdough bread, rye bread, pumpernickel bread, multigrain bread, brioche bread, whole wheat bread, olive bread, focaccia bread, honey and herb bread, Irish soda bread, ciabatta bread, challah bread and naan bread. Breads with nuts and dried fruits can also pair well with this beer cheese fondue. You will want to cut the bread into squares to make little bread cubes and lightly toast them so that they don’t fall apart in the thick cheese.

Pretzels

Soft pretzels, like our Rustic Soft Pretzels work well when cut up. For hard pretzels, we recommend the thick, long pretzels: thick, so they don’t break in the cheese and long as they are too hard to use with the fondue forks.

Crackers and Chips

Thick wheat or multigrain crackers work well as do thick chips like kettle cooked potato chips or thick tortilla chips.

Vegetables

There are so many choices of vegetables to dip in cheese fondue and depending on your preference, you can have them raw, steamed, roasted or even pickled.

Here is our A to Z list of cheese fondue vegetables:

Artichoke hearts, asparagus, baby potatoes, bell peppers, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, carrots, cauliflower, celery, cherry or grape tomatoes, curried carrot and cauliflower pickles, dill pickles, fennel spears, fingerling potatoes, green beans, jalapeno peppers, mini sweet peppers, mushrooms, pearl onions, radishes, red onions, sweet gherkins, sweet onions, yellow squash, zucchini and zucchini pickles.

An important tip for the pickled vegetables is to make sure you pat them dry before serving, so that the pickle juices don’t mingle in the fondue.

Fruits

Some fresh fruit goes really well with this beer cheese fondue. Sliced green or red apples work well, with Granny Smith apples being one of our favorites. You should also consider sliced pears and seedless red or green grapes. Some dried fruit is good too, try dried apricots or dried figs.

Meats and Seafood

Add some protein to your dippers and you will have a satisfying meal that all will love.

Please note that all meat should be fully cooked before you dip into your cheese fondue.

Grilled steak, meatballs, cooked ham, poached chicken or duck breast are delicious topped with melted cheese.

Cured meats like beef jerky, chorizo, kielbasa, pepperoni, prosciutto, salami, sausage, miniature smoked sausages, and soppressata will bring some additional spice to your fondue party.

Cooked seafood like crab, scallops, shrimp, and lobster are delightful with this fondue.

Pastas

Do you love macaroni and cheese? Of course you do, I mean, who doesn’t! Then, why not dip some pasta in cheese?

You will want to pick a large pasta shape with nooks and crannies to help hold onto that delicious cheese like farfalle, fusilli, rigatoni, shells, etc.

How to Make Cheese Fondue

Assemble the ingredients. For the exact amounts, see the recipe card at the end.

Pour the beer into the fondue pot and bring the beer to a simmer. Add the garlic to the fondue pot and let it simmer for one minute. Add the mustard powder and stir it in.

Add the fondue cheeses a little at a time while stirring.

Add the flour and stir until it is dissolved.

Add the Worcestershire sauce and the cracked black pepper.

Stir until the cheese fondue is smooth and creamy.

Turn down the fondue heat to low and start dipping!

Recipe Tips

Buy fresh cheese of a good grade.

We recommend that instead of buying shredded cheese that you shred the cheese at home.

The level of heating is very important. If your heat is too low, then the cheese will not melt properly, but if too high then it will clump together into chunks. We have found that it is easier to start with a lower heat and be a little more patient with the cheese melting to have success, especially if you are using a pan on the stovetop.

Dietary Variations

For a Vegan Cheese Fondue, make sure you use a vegan friendly beer, use shredded vegan cheddar cheese and for the swiss cheese, use shredded vegan mozzarella cheese.

For a Gluten Free Fondue, instead of flour, use 1 ½ teaspoons of potato starch (not potato flour) and place in a small bowl, add 1 ½ teaspoons of water and whisk until a thick paste forms. Instead of adding the flour, at that step in the recipe add in the potato starch paste.

For a Beer Free Fondue, you can use vegetable or chicken broth instead of the beer, but make sure to add a little lemon juice as well, because the acidity is important.

Recipe Variations

Beers

What is the best beer for cheese fondue you ask? Well, you can try different beers with this recipe, but we recommend those styles with low bitterness, like lagers, English style ales, amber and brown ales.

Cheeses

What cheese for fondue? There are several cheeses that you can use in this fondue recipe, if they are good melting cheeses. Here are the ones we like: Cheddar, Colby, Emmentaler, Fontina, Gloucester, Gouda, Gruyere, Jarlsberg, Raclette, Smoked Gouda and White Cheddar.
You can use one type of cheese, but we recommend using two or three types of cheese, but we don’t recommend using more than three types of cheese.

Spicy

If you want a spicier cheese fondue, add a dash of hot pepper sauce, like Tabasco®.

Storage and Reheating Tips

In the unlikely case that you have leftovers, store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days or freeze for up to 2 months in a zip top bag with as much air removed as possible. Before reheating the frozen fondue, thaw it out overnight in the refrigerator.

To reheat, do not use a microwave to reheat as it will cause it to separate with oil on the top. Instead, use a pan on the stovetop or an electric fondue pot and reheat it on low heat, stirring frequently and adding a little beer if needed to thin it.

What to Serve with Cheese Fondue?

We love to have a fondue party and start with this Beer Cheese Fondue recipe for the appetizer, then for the second course, do a broth fondue to cook the meats and a chocolate fondue for dessert (look for that recipe soon too)!

However, if you serve protein with this fondue to make it a meal, you can serve a salad on the side to compliment the meal along with a dessert of your choice.