Irish Herb Cheddar Soda Bread Mini Loaf is a simple recipe full of lots of flavor! Packed with grated cheddar cheese and dried herbs.
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Soda bread is a classic Irish bread but can sometimes lack flavor. We have fixed this by packing it with lots of herbs and cheese!
The soda bread with cheese is a great side for any Irish inspired meal like corned beef and colcannon, or even with non-Irish foods. It is also great toasted in the morning for breakfast! Find more of our Irish recipes here!
While I love a good bread, so many Irish bread loafs are pretty large. So this is a mini loaf recipe that still produces enough bread for 4-6 people! If you do want a larger loaf, easily double up all of the ingredients. Or, what I like to do, is make different kinds for variety! Find our recipe for Irish Cinnamon Raisin Soda Bread Mini Loaf here!
To make the cheddar cheese soda bread, no yeast is needed. And while it calls for buttermilk, there is a quick way around this, so no buttermilk is necessary! To make a substitute (which is what I ALWAYS do) just mix in 1 Tablespoon of fresh lemon juice for each cup of milk and let it sit for a few minutes. It works perfectly in this Irish Herb Cheddar Soda Bread Mini Loaf.
I used dried parsley for this cheese soda bread, but you can use any herb, or combination of herbs, that you would like. Rosemary, chives, or thyme would all taste great! You could also mix up multiple herbs together.
Herb Cheddar Irish Soda Bread Mini Loaf
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour (minus 1 Tablespoon)
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 Tablespoon sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter softened
- 3/4 cup buttermilk (see note for substitute)
- 2 Tablespoons dried parsley (or another herb of choice)
- 3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F with rack in the upper middle position.
- If making the buttermilk substitute, combine the milk and lemon juice and set aside.
- Measure out 2 cups of flour in a large bowl. REMOVE 1 Tablespoon of flour from these two cups. Add the cornstarch, sugar, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Whisk to combine.
- Using a fork, cut the butter into the flour in a corner of the bowl until the flour is broken down and it looks like wet sand. The butter should not be in large pieces or strips anymore.
- Add the buttermilk (or milk mixture), cheddar cheese, and parsley to the flour and use a fork to combine.
- Pour out the dough and lightly knead just until everything is combined. It should not be completely smooth.
- Pat the dough down into a disk approximately 1 inch tall and 5 inches wide. Transfer to a parchment or silicone mat lined baking sheet.
- Using a serrated bread knife, cut an X in the top of the dough approximately 1/2 to 1 inch deep.
- Bake the bread until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with just a few crumbs, approximately 25 minutes.
- Let the bread cool on a cooling rack for 1 hour.
I think this recipe looks great but I am hesitant to try it out because I usually use a fermented milk very similar to buttermilk in baking. However as you state that you always use the milk and vinegar substitute I’m not sure how well the buttermilk will work here.
Hi Juli,
The milk and lemon option has always worked for me and I get the same results as using buttermilk. I have not used fermented milk, so I could not comment on that.
Thanks for the great recipe. The bread is really delicious.
Made this for a St Patrick’s Day party and it came out just like the picture! I used oregano instead of parsley. It was delicious. Everyone loved it. Thanks so much for this easy recipe.
How wonderful! So glad it was a hit! 🙂