Skillet Irish Soda Bread Served With Cheddar and Apples Recipe (2024)

My grandmother got off the boat from Cork, Ireland on March 17th, 1903 and this recipe is almost exactly the same as hers. Same ingredients, slightly smaller proportions- 1 egg, 2C flour, 1 1/8 C buttermilk, “handful” of raisins. I make her recipe every year and bring it to work- people come from all over the building to have some. This recipe is, sad to say, slightly better....

I love this recipe. It’s one of my favorites any time of the year! Not only have I made it many times as the recipe states, with or without the caraway, but at Thanksgiving I’ve also substituted cranberries for the raisins, omitted the caraway seeds, and added grated orange peel for a delicious breakfast/side bread. It's great right out of the oven, warm and crunchy, or over the next few days (as it keeps incredibly well).

I improved a similar recipe by soaking the raisins in Irish whiskey overnight.

I agree about the caraway. I needs more than 1 TBS.
I also baked this in muffin tins. This recipe is more fluid than my recipe so it was easy to pur it in. They came out great. And it was ready 15 minutes faster.

This thick batter goes straight from mixing bowl to cast iron skillet. No forming dough into a ball while sending flour throughout kitchen. Much better! An hour bake is too long for my convection oven. About 45 min seemed to do the trick. This is a moist, sweet, rich, & coffee cake-like version of soda bread. Very well suited to my American palate & it does not dry out like "real" soda bread. Thank you, Melissa!

Quite nice.A couple of adjustments:A tablespoon and a half of caraway seedsThe rasins softened in just boiled water for 7 minutesBrown sugarYogurt instead of buttermilk Half Golden rasinsBaked for 38 minutes

Wonderful any time of day. I made it in a cast iron skillet and it only took about 50 minutes, so check it early. I was also generous with the caraway seeds.

Nice, easy recipe. I baked the bread in my cast iron skillet for 40 minutes.

First and second generation Irish bring this to church suppers and wakes. What is more authentic than that? My mother did not use buttermilk, but this is close to what she made. It is a delight with butter. Who needs the cheddar and apples? We take it with a nice cuppa tea.

I got so pleased with how wonderful this looked in the pan that I let it cool without turning it out right away wanting everyone to see the little beauty in all its glory. A little more browned on the bottom than expected! :-) Thank goodness for the parchment disc. It's not intuitive, but we really liked it with the cheese and apples. So far three days later, it's still nicely moist. Just stop thinking of it as third cousin to a fruit cake!

This recipe is very similar to one from The Silver Palate cookbook that I have been making for many years. It’s always a hit!

A bit too sweet. Maybe a quarter cup of sugar given that the raisins add sweetness as well.

I was a little nervous when this bread looked like it would spill over the sides of my cast iron pan in the oven. Was the batter too loose? NO! This turned our beautifully. Total baking time was 45 minutes. We loved it, can't wait to make it again.

I have never had success making Irish soda bread until I found this recipe. I bought a 10" cast iron skillet just to make it and it turned out just right, not heavy and chewy like the past recipes i've tried.It's my go-to recipe when I'm told to bring something for a picnic. I too added more caraway seeds than directed and also more raisins.Nice easy recipe!

Heeded the advice and cut sugar to 1/4 c and increased caraway to 1 1/2 T. Also swapped one cup of regular flour for whole wheat. Baked it in my big two-handled Staub cast iron pan for 37 minutes. It turned out fantastic and not at all too sweet. We had it as our bread w dinner. Delicious!

This comes out too much like coffee cake. Too moist? Gummy?

Delicious! Used a 12” cast iron skillet and it was ready after just 25 minutes of baking. Also substituted 2 tsp dried orange peel reconstituted in 1/4-cup of water for raisins (my family doesn’t appreciate raisins, sadly), used plain yogurt 1:1 for the buttermilk (had it on hand), and substituted 1 tsp lightly crushed fennel seeds for the caraway (had it on hand). Lovely flavor, perfect texture - like a biscuit/scone/round of bread/muffin combo. Epic with the apples & cheddar; must-have.

For anyone else making this in a 12" cast iron - my cooking time was about 38 minutes (I'd start checking around 30-35 given different ovens' calibrations). 1 1/2 T caraway seeds was fantastic, though another time I think I'll skip them and use already toasted chopped nuts, maybe 1/2 cup and reduce currants to 1 cup.

I reduced the sugar to 1/3 cup (against my gut to cut it out completely) and it was still too sweet. This is more like a giant scone than Irish soda bread. Tastes fine, just not what I hoped for.

too sweet tasted like a cupcake w/caraway seeds.

This is delicious, but I reduced the sugar to 1/2 cup, and I still thought it was a bit sweet and might take it down to 1/4 cup. However, my family loved it and I am sure would be protest any changes.

easy, delicious, perfectly written, lots of compliments. thank you!

I only had enough ingredients for 1/2 this recipe so I baked it in a rectangular loaf pan for about 50 minutes (using gluten free flour and 1/4 cup sugar). It came out with more of a biscuit texture. Pretty good!

This was my first Irish Soda Bread. I liked this recipe because it is the way my Dad made it. For sure I will make the traditional Irish Soda Bread as well. This is a super easy recipe and a winner a la Melissa Clark.

I make this frequently throughout the year and I love this version. My biggest change? I dye it green for St. Patrick’s day. Odd to eat Kelly green bread but friends and family love it. Or so they say.

Reduce sugar ton1/2 cupIncrease caraway seeds to about 1.5 tablespoons (maybe more)

Good but too cakey. I was hoping for more of a biscuit texture.

This is more of a coffee cake than bread. The taste and texture is similar to cornbread. It was quite good, but not what I was expecting.

This bread was easy to make and delicious! I reduced sugar to 1/2 cup per earlier suggestion and added 2 TBS lemon to slightly less then 1 3/4 cup milk for buttermilk, which I didn't have. I added entire package of Trader Joe's mixed raisins & cranberries to a small amount of flour mix to keep uniform distribution throughout before final combination of mixture. Yummy.