Beer Cheese Soup with Soft Pretzels

Soft Pretzel Options:

We recommend using a heavy pot for best results, like a enamel coated Dutch oven (affiliate link).We made this many times in a stainless steel pot and it always gave us chunky results (the cheese didn’t melt smoothly).

Cheese Clump Warning: Don’t add the cheese to your soup when it’s piping hot. The cheese will not melt smoothly – it will clump up and get gritty. You just have to be gentle with the heat / cheese in order to get it perfectly smooth.

Instant Pot:Cook vegetables, beer, and broth for 10-15 minutes on high pressure. Release steam, turn off heat, and allow the soup to cool for 30 minutes (otherwise you’re gonna get gritty, clumpy cheese). Make your roux on the stovetop. Whisk the roux into the Instant Pot and add the milk and cheese. (This has a differently, slightly less thick texture than the stovetop version. I found when I made this in the Instant Pot that it didn’t really simmer to thicken the base of the soup, so therefore it didn’t need as much liquid. I chose to just omit the other half of the beer, but you could omit some of the broth or milk as well.)