Irish Soda Bread is the easiest bread you’ll make – no proofing or kneading required and the dough comes together in 5 minutes. Soda bread has a soft and tender crumb with a Biscuit-like texture.
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We love freshly baked bread, from Banana Bread to Homemade Focaccia. If you are a fan of easy bread recipes, this Irish Soda Bread is a must-try!
You’ll Love this Soda Bread!
I fell in love with Soda Bread the first time I tried it. Its lightly sweet crumb reminded me of our Paska Easter Bread and Hot Cross Buns, but it’s amazing how fast and easy it was to make a traditional Soda Bread.
What is Irish Soda Bread?
This Irish-American Soda Bread is traditionally baked for St. Patrick’s Day. It is a quick bread that uses Baking Soda (a.k.a. Sodium Bicarbonate) as the leavening to make it rise. Unlike traditional yeast bread, there is no proofing or rising time. Once the dough comes together, you score the top and bake right away.
Ingredients
We love adding raisins for the holidays, but the raisins are optional. If you want to make it without buttermilk, then kefir works just as well to activate the baking soda.
- Flour – all-purpose flour works best
- Sugar – 1/4 cup makes it a lightly sweet bread
- Salt – every good bread needs a fair amount
- Baking soda – leavening which makes the bread rise
- Butter – gives the bread a scone-like texture (use cold, unsalted)
- Buttermilk – activates the soda (use cold, low-fat)
- Egg – for a finer, richer crumb
- Raisins – optional and can be substituted for dried cranberries
Tips for the Best Soda Bread
- Do not over-mix – as with scones, the dough really just has to come together before baking.
- Sticky dough – the dough will feel sticky. Dust your work surface and hands with just enough flour to handle the dough.
- Cold ingredients – there’s no reason to bring ingredients to room temperature. Keep buttermilk, egg, and butter chilled.
- Generously grease the pan – buttering your cast-iron skillet before baking allows the bread to rise without sticking to the pan.
- Cool on a rack – Once out of the oven, transfer the soda bread to a rack to cool so it doesn’t steam and soften on the bottom.
How to Make Soda Bread
You’ll be amazed how fast and easy it is to form a loaf of this Irish-American Soda Bread.
- Prep – Preheat oven to 375. Grease a 10″ cast-iron pan with butter.
- Whisk dry ingredients – in a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda.
- Add butter and raisins – cut butter into dice then work it into the flour mixture with clean dry fingertips until crumbs form. Stir in raisins.
- Buttermilk – In a large measuring cup, beat together buttermilk and 1 egg and pour into dry ingredients. Stir with a wooden spoon until moistened and the dough starts to come together.
- Form the loaf – transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface, dust hands with flour, and form dough into a round loaf. If too sticky to handle, dust with flour.
- Bake – transfer dough to the buttered pan and score the top with a deep “X”. Bake at 375˚F for 50-55 minutes.
How to know when Soda Bread is done baking? We bake for 50-55 minutes. When you tap the loaf it should sound hollow inside.
Common Questions:
You can omit the raisins, or even substitute them for dried cranberries or other bits of dried fruit like chopped apricots.
The buttermilk activates the baking soda, making the bread rise. You can substitute the buttermilk with a low fat plain Kefir.
It tastes similar to scones or biscuits but is very lightly sweet.
We love to serve soda bread is delicious served as a side with Irish butter and honey, or jam. It’s a lightly sweet bread so it pairs well with coffee or tea.
Scoring the top gives it extra surface area to brown and crisp.
Over-mixing or over-kneading the dough can make it tough. The less you handle it, the softer the bread will be.
Soda bread freezes really well. If you freeze it the day it’s baked (be sure it’s cooled to room temperature first), it will taste great thawed and toasted.
This Irish Soda Bread recipe is sure to become a holiday favorite for you. It’s so easy and you’ll impress everyone.
More St Patrick’s Day Recipes
If you love this Soda Bread, then you won’t want to miss these St. Patrick’s Day-inspired recipes.
- Green Smoothie Bowl – perfect for a St. Patty’s breakfast
- Zeppole – a special treat loved by all
- Spinach Artichoke Dip – your new favorite dip
- Guacamole Stuffed Deviled Eggs – you’ll love the green
- Roasted Brussels Sprouts – crispy with bacon
- Broccoli Apple Salad – with creamy dressing
Irish Soda Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 cups all-purpose flour, plus 1/4 cup more for dusting
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 6 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, plus 1/2 Tbsp to grease pan
- 1 3/4 cups cold lowfat buttermilk or kefir
- 1 large egg, cold
- 1 cup raisins or dried cranberries, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 375˚F. Generously grease a 10” cast-iron skillet with 1/2 Tbsp butter.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda. Cut butter into small pieces and use your fingers to work the butter into the flour until crumbs form stir in the raisins, breaking up any clumps of raisins. Make a well in the center.
- In a large measuring cup, whisk together the buttermilk and egg then add this mixture into the flour mixture. Use a wooden spoon and mix just until lightly moistened and dough barely starts to come together.
- Transfer to a floured surface and use floured hands to shape the dough just until it forms into a round loaf. It should be shaggy. If it’s too sticky to handle, dust lightly with flour. Do not over-mix or bread will be tough.
- Transfer to the buttered pan, use a knife to score the top with a large and deep “X”. Bake in the center of your preheated oven at 375 for 50-55min. When you tap on the bread, it should sound hollow inside. Transfer bread to a wire rack to cool. Enjoy within 2 days of making it and refrigerate leftovers up to a week.
Nutrition Per Serving
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Hi Natasha I love this recipe. This was a favorite on St Patrick’s Day and looked forward to my mom baking it. Now I have made it a tradition. I love the lore behind the scored cross on the to keeping away evil. I also read that it was said to keep fairies away from ruining the bread. Happy St Paddy’s Day….Erin go Braugh!
Hi Kathy! I’m so glad you’re loving the recipe.
Should you sift the flour before measuring it? It wants me to make my comment longer so that’s why I added this sentence 🙂
Hi Carolyn! That is not necessary but you’ll want to fluff the flour first and then spoon it into your measuring cup and level it off.
See my tutorial on How to measure ingredients here.
Thank you for your quick response! I’m making it this morning and wasn’t sure I’d get the answer in time. Thank you!
Natasha. I just made the recipe the Irish soda bread the best I have ever made or bought. Thank you so much for your recipe. It was fantastic, Sandy.
That’s wonderful, Sandra! Thank you for sharing.
I don’t have a cast iron skillet. What else can I use to bake this bread in? Can I use a 9” cake pan?
Hi Janet, some of my viewers have reported making this in a regular bread loaf pans. I assume it would work, but you’ll have to experiment with the size.
I noticed no rye seeding your recipe. It’s probably okay to add some.
Hi Mary! Feel free to experiment with the addition. Let us know how it is.
Delicious. I followed all steps. It tastes great but fell. part into almost four equal parts when I transferred to cooling rack. Any pointers?
Hi Suzanne, I’m so happy you found this bread delicious! It’s hard to say what happened without being there but there could be a few reasons why it fell apart. I would verify the bread is full baked before taking it out – you can use a toothpick. I would also double-check your ingredient ratios to ensure there wasn’t too much liquid or too much flour used – that can affect the structure of the bread. Lastly, ensure your dough wasn’t over handled/ kneaded, overworked break can make for a more delicate structure. I wish I could be more helpful, but I hope these tips give you a good idea on what to check for next time. Thank you for your review, Suzanne!
I made this for brunch this morning and everyone loved it!
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Great to hear that it was a huge hit!
Made this last night to serve with Irish Stew. Perfection! I have never nailed a bake on the first attempt, but this was super easy and delicious with some irish butter and some dunking. Definitely in my arsenal from now on!!
That’s wonderful, Rob! Thank you for sharing that with us.
Hi Rob I’m curious as to why you only gave the recipe 4/5 stars?
Hello Natasha, just wondering this recipe doesn’t use any baking powder?
That’s right, we list in the ingredients we use 1 tsp of baking soda to help it rise. I hope that helps!
Made this the other week for my apartment and it was a huge hit. I made a half recipe in a normal loaf pan and baked for about 40 mins and it was perfect!! I added more raisins than called for and I felt as though there could have been more, but I love a very raisin-dense bread! Also, I omitted the egg and had no problems. Making it again today but making a savory Cheddar Thyme version!
That sounds amazing, Lana! Let us know how it turns out.
Does it have to be low fat buttermilk? Can I use just regular buttermilk?
Hi Tina! That would be fine.
Fantastic bread especially toasted. A little extra milk might be needed depending on the flour. Thank you. Your recipes are great to work with.
Thanks for sharing and I hope you’ll love all the recipes that you will try from us.
I have made this recipe over and over, and it is always a crowd pleaser. For those of you wondering if you can replace the egg, you can just leave it out. I’ve tried it with and without, and personally, I think the dough is easier to work with and rises better without the egg. I love using zante currants in this (which are a type of tiny raisin). They have a great flavor! I do think real buttermilk works best in this recipe. I’ve tried the DIY version where you add some vinegar to milk, but if you can get it, real buttermilk has a richer flavor. One small addition I make to the recipe is that I add a sprinkle of coarse sugar crystals to the top of the loaf before baking since I’ve seen a lot of bakeries do this. It gives the crust a sweet crunch to it!
Thanks a lot for sharing that with us, Cassie. That is helpful, we appreciate your comments and feedback!
I often half the recipe as there are only two of us. Cooks in 35-40 minutes roughly.
Also, I’ve baked it in a loaf pan for more of a sandwich bread shape at times.
All the suggestions for adding more sugar (if you like your doda bread sweeter) snd more raisins work (if it states 1 cup, I cram as many raisins into that one cup as i can!)
I work in a supermarket bakery and this was so much better than what me make.
Thank you Natasha
I’m so glad you loved this more than your bakery brea, Roberta! Thank you for your awesome review!
Such a tasty soda bread! It did come out of the oven lopsided, however. Could that be because I didn’t score it deeply enough?
It could be that or not spreading the dough evenly into the pan.
I have made this so many times. It’s the only thing that everyone asks me to bring when we get together for food. It is excellent.
I’m so glad it’s a hit! Thank you for sharing, Nancy.
Hi Natasha, can I use yogurt instead of buttermilk or kefir?
Hi Ina, I honestly haven’t tested that substitution to advise.
This Irish Soda Bread recipe is so delicious! And it couldn’t be any easier to make. Thank you for sharing.
You’re welcome! So glad you enjoyed it.
I had the same problem with the wet dough- I just scooped it all up and reshaped what I could in the skillet. The bread still came out with a great taste and texture- the outside of the loaf was smooth and more the shape of a biscotti though. I am going to try this again. When I measured the flour, I used the half cup scoop because it’s easier to maneuver in the flour container…it’s possible I may have miscounted- even if I measured correctly, I probably could have just added an additional 1/4 cup to the wet dough to firm things up a little (?).
I added the heaping cup of raisins suggested by another reader and then a little extra sugar- I’m sure I’ll nail this on my next try. I love a recipe that you can make a mistake and it’s not a total loss. Thanks Natasha.
Hi Patrick! Thank you so much for sharing that with me. Be sure to measure by fluffing the flour first with a spoon then spoon it into a dry ingredient measuring cup and scrape off the top. If you push your measuring cup into a flour bin, you will get up to 25% too much flour. Also, do not tap the flour down in the measuring cup.
Made this wonderful bread for late St Paddy’s Day Dinner for friends. Every one raved about it and it was so easy. Used Kefir and it had a great flavor and moisture. My husband says the best ever – delicious.
That’s wonderful, Linda! I’m glad it was hit!
Do I take it right out of the pan to cool on the rack or leave it in the pan and put it on the rack, first time making this.
Hi Linda! You’ll want to take it out and cool it on the rack so the bottom doesn’t soften.