Bacon, Beer and Cheese Soup with Chicken

That's right. Bacon. Beer. Cheese. Chicken. What more do you want? I found this recipe on a website called slowroasteditalian and it sounded so good I had to try it. I have to say that I was not disappointed, although I did make some changes to the original recipe.

Ingredients: Bacon, onion, chicken, butter, flour, worcestershire sauce, beer, chicken broth, half & half cream, cayenne, paprika, salt and pepper. I also made a last minute addition of cream cheese

Rendering the bacon

Cooking the chicken

Making the roux

Bringing beer, stock and half & half to a simmer

Adding the cheese

Finished soup

I really enjoyed this soup, as did my brother who also tried some. It was extremely rich and creamy and although I thought the flavour of the beer I used was a bit too strong, it added a nice yeasty flavour that complimented the cheese. Definitely needed some home made pretzel bread sticks or something but I was short on time. Next time I would probably use a milder tasting beer as well. It was an extremely simple recipe with only a few ingredients, but I can't seem to resist when I hear beer, bacon and chicken in the same sentence. The recipe is as follows:

6 slices bacon (I used about 10 because I kept eating it)

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast

1/4 cup flour

1/4 butter

2 teaspoons garlic powder (I replaced this with fresh garlic)

2 teaspoons cayenne (I reduced to 1/4 teaspoon)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon paprika

1 cup beer

1 cup chicken broth

2 cups half & half

1 teaspoon worcestershire

8 ounces grated cheddar cheese

(I added about 1/4 cream cheese at the end)

Chives (I used green onion)

Directions: 

Render bacon in a pot, drain and reserve. Cook chicken, onions and garlic in bacon grease,  drain and reserve. Make roux in same pot, and add beer slowly while mixing well. Add stock while mixing and bring to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer for a few minutes and add half & half. Bring back up to a simmer and add cheese and seasoning. Simmer until ready to serve and garnish with chives/green onions.