Creamy Beer Cheese Pretzel Dip

Travis Bille

A cream cheese pretzel or chip dip with beer, shredded cheese, and ranch mix

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Prep Time 10

Cook Time 0

Course Appetizer, Dipping Sauce, Snack, Spread

Cuisine American

With a butter knife, cut softened cream cheese into 8 or 12 pieces.
2 8 ounce packages softened cream cheese
Add ranch mix and beat until mixed.
1 packet ranch mix
Add beer slowly while beating and continue until the mixture is smooth.
6 ounces room temperature beer
Fold in shredded cheese and mix until combined.
2 cups shredded cheese

I typically just use sharp cheddar cheese, but anything you have is fine. This is also one of the very few times you'll see me say "pre-shredded is okay." The anti-caking ingredients in a bag of shredded cheese from the store won't have much effect on the final texture.
Choice of beer is up to you. As I've made this many times, I've tried it with many different beers. I try to use something with a lot of hops because it balances really well with the other ingredients, but I don't like drinking beer with a lot of hops so I don't have it around much. My personal favorite is using a red ale, for both flavor and color.
The beer amount is very rough. If your cream cheese isn't softened enough or if the beer is straight from the fridge, the dip will seem very runny when you add the beer and you may think you put in too much. Keep beating until it's smooth.
If it still seems too runny, add more cream cheese. If it's too thick, add more beer.
There are tons of variations you can try. I've added diced chiles and pimientos to make it sort of a pimiento beer cheese thing. Not surprisingly, I also add beer to my normal pimiento cheese spread. There are no wrong answers, just tasty experiments.

Keyword beer, beer cheese, chip dip, pretzel dip

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