9 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Make With Beer, Because Why Not?
It’s football season… which means beer and more beer. But with these recipes, you can also add the infamous drink to game food and desserts.
1. Beer-Simmered Brats
What goes better with beer and football than brats? When you make these, from Bobby Flay’s recipe, you’ll want more than one, trust me (and I don’t even like brats or beer!). (I do eat Polish sausage, though, so I’ll have to sub that for the brats sometime!)
2. Beer Hot Wings
I guarantee—you have not had hot wings like this before. Not only does this recipe call for beer, but it calls for a citrus-y beer (like Grapefruit Honey Ale). (You can also use an IPA, but I think the grapefruit flavor adds a nice, atypical twist.)
3. Drunken Chicken (Otherwise Known As “Beer Can Chicken”)
Paula Deen seems to be a genius in the kitchen, no matter what she cooks, and this chicken recipe is no different. When I first heard of the concept of people cooking a chicken with a can of beer inside it, I thought it was a joke. (Wouldn’t the can explode?!) Well, it’s not a joke. I like how Paula’s recipe has us add a sprig of rosemary to the can before cooking. Yum.
4. Slow Cooker Beer Pulled Pork
We’ve told you about a lot of meals (and non-meals) you can make in your slow cookers and Crock-Pots, but we never mentioned beer ones. Until now. In her blog, Handle the Heat, Tessa, the creator of this recipe, suggests using the pulled pork for many different things: BBQ sliders (with Hawaiian bread rolls or pretzel buns), on pizza, in burritos or tacos, inside a baked potato, you name it.
5. Beer-Glazed Bacon (For Breakfast!)
Yes, that’s what I just said, beer-glazed BACON. What could be a better start to your day?! You’ll never think of a Sam Adams beer the same way again!
6. Chocolate Stout Brownies
After all of the savory recipes above, you’ll need some sweet dessert to top everything off. I don’t think I’ve met anyone who doesn’t like chocolate, particularly brownies. Now, they’re even better when you add chocolate stout to the batch! Check out the recipe and you’ll see!
7. Coconut Maple Porter Ice Cream
You’ll need some ice cream to put on top of those brownies, right? So I suggest you try this recipe for Coconut Maple Porter Ice Cream. The Brooklyn Brew Shop came up with it and it is amazing. (Again, I don’t even like beer and I am a fan of this ice cream… so if you like beer, you’ll love it even more so!) And, here are some overall tips on making craft beer ice cream.
8. Framboise Lambic Over Vanilla Ice Cream
The Yard House has an amazing beer drink/dessert: Framboise Lambic beer poured over vanilla ice cream—so it’s like a root beer float, with actual beer (but sweet and raspberry-flavored). Delicious. (You’ll never want any other kind of dessert again… unless you make the above brownies and ice cream.) You can pick up a bottle of Framboise (or peach or apple) Lambic (made by Lindemans Brewery in Belgium) for under $10 at Trader Joe’s, as well as the ice cream, and impress your dinner guests with your creative drink/dessert. (I’ll invite myself over, too.)
9. Beer Watermelon Cocktail
If you want to have another beverage on hand for your guests without the ice cream (or for those of us who don’t love beer), try out this recipe for a fun beer watermelon drink. It’s just like it sounds, with the addition of Rhum Clément Créole Shrubb liqueur (an orange-flavored rum with a bit of spice) and a bit of sugar.