Best Ever Irish Soda Bread has a golden, crunchy, sweet crust with a moist, chewy interior, and tangy cranberries. This recipe blows every other version of Irish soda bread out of the water.
BEST EVER IRISH SODA BREAD
Some recipes you only pull out once a year. For instance, St. Patrick’s Day is around the corner so it’s time to make my annual slow cooker apple and brown sugar corned beef and cabbage with Irish soda bread.
Growing up, this soda bread always accompanied our annual St. Patrick’s Day dinner. Being kids, we were a little leery of eating corned beef and cabbage, but who can blame us?
When something shows up on your plate once every 365 days, and it resembles wilted lettuce combined with questionable meat, I don’t know a lot of kids who would dive right in.
But this soda bread…we housed it. It was my favorite part of the St. Patrick Day’s meal, and until my kids come to their senses, it remains their favorite part.
Since this was the only Irish soda bread I ever ate, I assumed all Irish soda bread recipes were equally yummy. During college I celebrated St. Patrick’s Day the expected way a collegiate would, drinking lots of green beer, Irish car bombs, and wearing an obnoxious green get-up.
But I wasn’t a complete heathen. The night had to start with proper Irish meal, right?
We went out to an Irish pub, and when they placed the Irish soda bread on the table I happily dug right in, telling all my friends how freaking delicious Irish soda bread is and swearing they’d love it. Then I promptly became disgustingly incredulous.
“This isn’t what Irish soda bread should taste like! Man, this pub really just spit in the face of the motherland. How could they get it so wrong?!” I swore to my friends I would make them”real” Irish soda bread, and they could experience what Irish heaven tastes like.
WHY THIS BEST EVER IRISH SODA BREAD IS THE BEST
Turns out the recipe my mom always used wasn’t quite straight from the old country. You see, we use a smidgen more sugar than traditional recipes. Hence, why we ate the crap out of it while ignoring the corned beef and cabbage on our plate.
It may not be a traditionalists take on it, but I promise you won’t have to force this puppy down. This Best Ever Irish Soda Bread recipe is so good it should start a revolution in Ireland. Maybe they just don’t know what they’ve been missing out on…
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- 4 cups all purpose flour or gluten free flour, I've made this with Cup 4 Cup gluten free flour and it turned out great!
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/3 cup butter, melted and cooled
- 1 1/3 cup buttermilk
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 3/4 cup dried cranberries*
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Heat oven to 350º. Grease a cast iron skillet or 9" cake pan with butter.
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Whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the center.
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In a small bowl combine butter, buttermilk, and egg.
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Add the liquid ingredients to the dry, pouring it into the well and stir to form a soft dough. The dough will be very stiff and you might have to slightly knead it in the bowl with your hands to make sure you have all the flour incorporated. Add the cranberries and mix throughout.
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Shape dough into a ball and transfer to the prepared pan. Use a sharp knife to make an "X" on top of the the ball.
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Bake until set, about 55 minutes. Insert a knife or toothpick in the middle to make sure it's set in the middle. Baking times can be longer, depending on the size of pan you bake it in.
You can also sub in dried cherries for the cranberries.
*If you like a plumper berry, soak the dried fruit (reduce to 1/2 cup) in a little bit of boiling water for a few minutes, drain well, then stir them in the batter. You might have add a few more tablespoons of flour if dough becomes too sticky or wet.
❊SHOP THE RECIPE❊
Here are some items I used to make this recipe:
cast iron skillet Ι Cup 4 Cup gluten free flour Ι mixing bowls
OTHER RECIPES TO LOVE:
MORE RELATED RECIPES:
Slow Cooker Apple and Brown Sugar Corned Beef and Cabbage
Irish Nachos from Cooking with Curls
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Yvonne Smith says
I’m sure this bread is tasty and I definitely intend to give this recipe a try but you need to drop the “Irish” from the title and just call it soda bread, because no one in Ireland would add sugar to soda bread (unless it was made with white flour and currents, and that’s called curney bread). Irish soda bread is flour, buttermilk, bread soda and a pinch of salt, simple and tasty .
Melissa says
Hi Yvonne, Yes, you are right. Like I said in the post, I don’t think anyone in Ireland would consider this traditional Irish soda bread. I call it that because it’s just what my mom always referred to it as. I’ve never heard of curney bread, but perhaps that is what she got it confused with. I hope you do enjoy it!
Kristy says
I lived in Ireland for 18 months as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and I can say that this is the best soda bread I’ve had. Did it taste like soda bread I was used to? No. Was it insanely delicious and promptly devoured? Yes, yes it was. I followed the recipe exactly as written. The dough was really sticky but a little flour on my hands did the trick. My only suggestion is to use the craisins infused with pomegranate juice. I saw them yesterday at the store and they were delicious. They’re even better than normal craisins. Thank you for this recipe, it’s a real keeper.
Melissa says
Hi Kristy, Thanks for writing! I am so happy you fell in love with this recipe. It really is like nothing I have tried before. I’m not even sure where the recipe came from. My mom always made it on St. Patrick’s Day and told us it was Irish Soda Bread. After trying authentic Irish Soda Bread, I realized the one I grew up with probably wasn’t, but this definitely tastes a whole lot better! How cool you got to live in Ireland as a missionary. What a wonderful opportunity!
Alyson says
Fantastic! Its become a family favorite and I make it all the time. Thank you!
Melissa says
That’s great! Thanks so much for taking the time to let me know. 🤗
Beth Heady says
I’ve been experimenting with different Irish soda bread recipes and couldn’t find one that was any good until this one! It is delicious! Exactly what I’ve been looking for. This recipe is a keeper! Will be making this many more times! Thank you!
Melissa says
I completely agree. I LOVE this bread. I know it’s probably not a “traditional” Irish soda bread, but I don’t care because it is SO MUCH BETTER than regular Irish soda bread. I always have such a hard time stop eating it.
Judy says
I made this recipe today and it tasted fabulous. However, it took close to an hour and a half for the center to get completely baked. Luckily, I’ve been baking for over 50 years so I was able to use a few tips I’ve learned over the years to get a lovely finished bread. Since I didn’t have a cast iron skillet, I used a 9 inch cake pan as suggested. The batter rose at least three inches higher than pan which is probably why the center took so long to completely bake. I was wondering if I should use a 10 inch pan or perhaps a loaf pan, so the batter will spread out rather than rise. As another thought, I was thinking I could divide the batter into two cake pans. Any thoughts on this since I will make this bread again? Thanks.
Melissa says
Hi Judy, Thanks for writing! I completely agree this bread varies on baking time, depending on how you bake it. Sometimes I just throw it on a baking sheet too, which would allow it to spread out a little more and not take as long to bake. Using gluten free flour also adds a bit of time to the baking. I haven’t tried putting it in loaf pans, but would be interested to find out how that turns out. I’d imagine you would need 2 larger size ones. I will amend the recipe so future bakers know times can vary, depending on how you bake it. In the future, since you don’t have a cast iron pan, just spray a cookie sheet and put the ball in the middle. I’ve made it like that a lot. Enjoy!
Judy says
Thanks, Melissa. Husband is still talking about how delicious the bread tasted. I will try baking on a baking sheet. I was afraid it would spread out flat. Of course, any way you slice it (excuse the pun), it will taste yummy.
Melissa says
There is so much baking powder and soda in the recipe, it really doesn’t spread out all that much. Follow up and let me know how it turns out for you that way.
This bread is definitely amazing and crazily addicting. I made some recently, thinking I’d freeze the rest for St. Paddy’s day, but the kids devoured it all.
Leona Morley says
I have also substituted yogurt for the buttermilk and found it was successful.
Melissa says
Great tip! Thanks for letting us know because I usually have yogurt on hand, but not buttermilk.
Rose says
I used my mixer with bread hook to mix and bread came out beautiful. Baked for 1 hour, 10 minutes. Perfect golden brown. Bread is delicious, great recipe followed it exactly.
Melissa says
That’s wonderful! Glad you enioyed it. 😊
Jan Battersby says
Jan says…….This was my first try at making soda bread. Made it for a St. Patricks Day Dinner of 12. One of my guests went back at least 6 times for more. Said it was the best. Since I had buttermilk left over, I’m making it again today to go with our homemade soup dinner. So00000……..obviously, we loved it also. Thanks so much for the recipe.
Melissa says
Jan, I feel for your guests. I can’t stop eating it either! I’m glad this recipe is getting some time outside of St. Patty’s Day. It deserves it! Thank you so much for writing and sharing how much you enjoyed it.
Nancy Leeder says
Made this for a neighborhood St. Patrick’s day party and got RAVE reviews. Any number of “best ever, get me the recipe” requests. I followed the recipe to a T and it was perfect. Didn’t have Buttermilk so used milk with lemon instead. It is EXTREMELY sticky but I had seen the warnings so just sprinkled a dusting of flour on the top to make it possible to get the knife to cut the slits. Also, since I didn’t have cast iron skillet, I used parchment paper and Pam in a 12″ spring form pan due to the warnings of it spreading. Again — it was PERFECT – spread to the sides but allowed it to rise enough to be pretty and round.
This is a GREAT recipe !!!
Melissa says
Nancy, that is good to know about the milk and lemon juice. When I made it this year my grocery store ran out of buttermilk, so I was going to try doing it that way. My mom ended up coming to my rescue with her extra buttermilk, but now I know you don’t have to have buttermilk stocked to make it. Thank you so much for writing and sharing your tips!
Cami says
Made this today.4 cups of flour were to much so I only added 3.Came out perfect!Wouldn’t try it with 4.
Melissa says
Hi Cami! Thanks for writing. My family has been making this bread for over 30 years, we have always used 4 cups, and it always turned out fabulous so I never questioned it. I haven’t made mine yet this year, though, so I’ll be interested to give it a taste test to see what it’s like with less flour. I’ll keep you guys posted!
Miriam - londonkitchendiaries.com says
I love the sound of the chewy crumb – will definitely give it a try!