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Why You’ll Love My Recipe
This British classic is the perfect comfort food for a quick lunch or an afternoon snack. Despite the name, there is no rabbit involved, just some incredible cheese sauce.
Why not learn what Worcestershire Sauce actually is for this recipe? Or make some tasty Beer Bread instead? Make sure to check out How to Make a Roux if you aren’t familiar with that particular part of this recipe.
Reader Review
My husband grew up on this he’s now 61 and he’s been hounding me to make it. I had a lot of sauce left over so instead of wasting it, I tossed in some leftover ziti pasta and baked it. Everyone now wants me to make my mac and cheese for potlucks.. Lol…… 2 different meals out of 1 recipe. Winner Winner !!
Karlynn’s Recipe Notes
- Skill Level: This is a very easy recipe.
- Total Time: You can make this in just 10 minutes.
- Variations: Change up the cheese. Try a Swiss or Gouda for a milder taste, or an aged cheddar for more zing. Skip the hot sauce if you want to. Leave out the beer if you prefer. The main bits of this are the roux, the cheese, and the milk. You can absolutely play with the other ingredients.
- Tools Needed: You’ll need a medium pot, a whisk, and a mixing spoon. Depending on whether you make some toast or use crusty bread, you’ll also need a toaster or a good bread knife.
What You’ll Need For Ingredients
Cheese: While cheddar is the classic cheese for this recipe, you can substitute or combine it with other cheeses. Swiss or mozzarella will give you extra “melty” factor, while something like aged cheddar (Red Fox is amazing) will give your sauce a stronger flavour.
Seasonings: Dry mustard, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, salt, and pepper can all be adjusted to your own tastes. Skip the hot sauce if you’d like, or add some hot pepper flakes for even more heat. If you can’t find mustard powder, an old fashioned Dijon mustard will provide you with similar flavour.
Beer: Depending on whether you enjoy beer in cheese sauces or not, you can use a dark beer, a lager, or just skip the beer entirely and replace it with milk. The darker the beer, the richer the flavour.
How To Make Welsh Rarebit
This is a brief overview of the recipe. The recipe card below contains the full list of ingredients and step-by-step instructions.
- Melt butter in a medium pot over low heat. Whisk in flour, salt, pepper, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and hot sauce (if desired). Cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly to avoid lumps.
- Remove the pot from the heat. Slowly stir in milk. Return to heat. Stir occasionally until it starts to boil. Slowly add beer.
- Add cheese. Stir until melted and fully incorporated. Remove from heat and serve over slices of toast or crusty bread.
Karlynn’s Tips and Tricks for Making Welsh Rarebit
Learn a New Skill: Like a basic cornstarch slurry, a good roux, made with fat, flour, and milk, is the base in many recipes. Once you know how to make one, you’ve got the start of everything from Cheese Sauce and Garlic Alfredo to a classic Béchamel.
What Bread to Use: Any toast will do, but this sauce will be amazing on an especially crispy and crunchy Ciabatta, French bread, or an Italian loaf. You could also try making your own White Bread and toasting slices of it to pour your cheese sauce onto. Or add some garlic into the mix by making Classic Homemade Garlic Bread as the base for your rarebit.
Storage Instructions
Fridge: Once it’s fully cooled, you can store any remaining cheese sauce in a sealed container in the fridge for 3-4 days. Reheat it in the microwave for a couple minutes or in a pot on the stove over low heat. You don’t just have to use it on bread, either. Try it on some pasta or as dip for soft pretzels.
Freezer: While you may encounter some changes in texture when you defrost the sauce, you can freeze it in a sealed container for 2-3 months. Defrost and reheat slowly, stirring frequently to reincorporate everything into a smooth sauce.
More Delicious Bread Recipes
Carrot Bread and Cranberry Orange Muffins are simple, quick breads that will make for a filling breakfast or snack.
More of a biscuits fan? Try The Best Biscuits Ever or some warm Biscuits and Gravy
Try this Cheesy Onion Bread with some Beer Cheese Dip.
There you go, friends. A classic version of cheese on toast and let me know how it turns out.
Happy Cooking!
Karlynn
Welsh Rarebit
Ingredients
- ¼ cup butter
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- ¼ teaspoon dry mustard
- ¼ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 drops hot sauce
- 1 cup milk
- ¾ cup beer
- 16 ounce block Cheddar cheese, cubed
Instructions
- Melt 1/4 cup of butter in saucepan over low heat. Slowly add in the flour, salt, pepper, mustard, Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce.
- Keep cooking and stirring until smooth and free of bubbles. This takes about 5 minutes or so. Remove from heat.
- Slowly stir in milk and return to heat, stirring occasionally until it comes to a boil.
- Slowly pour in the beer, cooking for an additional minute.
- Add cheddar cheese cubes to the mixture, slowly, until fully incorporated, then remove from heat.
- Serve over toast or Ciabatta bread.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Annie says
My husband grew up on this he’s now 61 and he’s been hounding me to make it. I had a lot of sauce left over so instead of wasting it, I tossed in some leftover ziti pasta and baked it. Everyone now wants me to make my mac and cheese for potlucks.. Lol…… 2 different meals out of 1 recipe. Winner Winner !!
holly says
my mom used to make this for us when we were little, over 4 decades ago! this is the same recipe. she didnt use the beer, though-just added more milk to thin. i love this! so tasty!! can also use as fondue.
Mr. Kitchen Magpie says
Aw what a great memory! Glad to hear the recipe is spot on! Good suggestion re: fondue.
Mike