This sweet Irish soda bread recipe is soft and tender on the inside with a golden crunchy crust on the outside
Sweet Irish soda bread is the perfect treat to make for Saint Patrick's day. Forget the green desserts, your guests will LOVE this authentic sweet bread served warm and slathered with lots of butter!
What is sweet Irish soda bread?
Sweet Irish soda bread is a little different than Authentic Irish soda bread which is made with only four ingredients. Soft pastry or cake flour, buttermilk, salt, and baking soda. This simple bread is made to be served as part of a meal like a hearty Irish stew.
Sweet Irish soda bread has more ingredients like eggs, butter, sugar, dried fruits and seeds added so it's more of a dessert served on its own.
This sweet Irish soda bread recipe is straight from Grandma's recipe tin. Not my Grandma, my producer, Emily's Grandma! Cool huh! Nothing like recipes handed down through the generations. I feel like they always just taste better!
"My mom has made this Irish soda bread every St. Patrick’s Day since I can remember. We love eating it with corned beef and cabbage or Irish stew. This recipe has been passed down from my great grandmother, whose family lived in Ireland and immigrated to America."
But when Emily brought this sweet Irish soda bread over that she and her mom made, I was sold! SO GOOD! Soft and tender, a little sweet and a great crunchy crust. Toasted with a little butter and I was in heaven.
So here is Grandma's Irish soda bread, posted with permission 🙂
What do you need to make sweet Irish soda bread?
Sweet Irish soda bread has a few more ingredients in it than traditional Irish soda bread. Eggs, butter, sugar, buttermilk, salt, flour, baking soda, and baking powder make this bread so light, it's almost like a scone.
The only other thing you really need to make sweet Irish soda bread is a cast iron pan or dutch oven. The heavy metal really gives the bread that beautiful crusty crust that makes it so delicious!
This is not 100% necessary but a cheese grater is going to really be helpful. Use a cheese grater to work your cold butter into the flour mixture so it doesn't get warm. Cold butter is very important for tender Irish soda bread.
How do you make sweet Irish soda bread?
Making sweet Irish soda bread could not be easier. Just five easy steps!
- Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and sugar in a bowl
- Grate your cold butter and add to the flour mixture. Add in your currents and caraway seeds. Rub the butter into the flour mixture with your hands until crumbly.
- Blend your buttermilk with your eggs and add to the mixture
- Stir until you get a sticky ball then fold the dough over 7-8 times to incorporate into a ball.
- Dust the surface with some flour then slice a cross on top (for the fairies) and bake!
How long does Irish soda bread last?
Sweet Irish soda bread is meant to be enjoyed the day it is baked but it will keep at room temperature for up to two days. After that, it starts to dry out.
You can also freeze Irish soda bread. Just defrost and warm in the oven before serving.
Is Irish soda bread healthy?
There are a lot of versions of Irish soda bread out there that stem from the original four-ingredient recipe. This sweet version would not be considered healthy but there is whole wheat Irish soda bread that is considered very healthy because it doesn't have any butter, eggs, or sugar and has whole wheat flour which is great for digestion.
Want more Irish recipes? Check these out!
Traditional Irish soda bread
Green velvet cake
Bailey's Irish cream cake
Guinness beer cake
Recipe
Equipment
- Cast iron pan or dutch oven
- Cheese grater
Ingredients
- 16 ounces all purpose flour
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 7 ounces granulated sugar
- 4 ounces currents or raisins
- 1 teaspoon caraway seed optional
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 8 ounces buttermilk room temperature
- 4 ounces unsalted butter cold
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter for greasing pans
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F
- Lightly grease cast iron pan with unsalted butter
- Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar in a medium bowl
- Grate your cold butter into the dry ingredients
- Sprinkle in caraway seeds and currants (or raisins). Mix together to combine.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs and buttermilk.
- Add buttermilk mixture to the dry ingredients and mix with a spoon (or your hand) until the dry ingredients are moistened.
- Place the dough on your workbench and fold 7-8 and shape it into a ball. Do not over-work the bread or it will be tough.
- Dust the surface generously with flour and use a sharp knife to cut an x on top to allow the dough to spread and rise evenly.
- Place the dough into the cast iron pan.
- Bake for 1 hour and the top is golden brown or the internal temperature reads 190º-200ºF
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Michele P Elliott says
I made this delicious bread for my ladies card-playing (Canasta) luncheon meeting and we all loved it! There are only 4 of us and they about ate the whole loaf. I made it in my 13" cast iron skillet and it spread out bigger than I wanted it to. So, I'm buying 10"as I will be making this bread again soon. My dough turned out a lot wetter than your picture but it still baked beautifully... It didn't hold the "X" cut though. Another thing, I didn't have buttermilk but I used homemade kefir from whole raw milk which may be why it was wetter. I used all the ingredients including caraway and raisins. I had golden and regular raisins so I used half of each. The flavors of caraway and raisin, wow!! Very, very deeee--licious! Thank you so much ❤️.
The Sugar Geek Show says
That sounds very delicious! I'm not familiar with baking with kefir so it could have affected the recipe, especially the acidity but if it tasted good then I still call that a win 😀
Laurie Fleisher says
I just made the sweet Irish soda bread. It came out soooo delicious. My dough was too wet like the other reviewer said but it was probably due to me measuring out a cup of buttermilk instead of weighing it like all my other ingredients. I just added a little extra flour and then it was fine. I baked it in a Dutch oven pot until golden brown and between 190°-200°. Thanks Liz!!
The Sugar Geek Show says
The dough is supposed to be very wet and sticky 🙂 I'm glad the recipe turned out well for you.
Sanchita says
Really wana try this bread, Is there any egg replacement for this recipe???
The Sugar Geek Show says
You can use any commercial egg replacer 🙂
A. Schippers says
I made a half batch of this recipe, which made one good sized loaf..I did not have buttermilk on hand, so used canned milk, but watered it down a bit..then added vinegar to curdle it. I baked it on parchment paper on a cookie sheet, because I do not have any cast iron pans, and it only took about 40 mins to bake. The bread came out looking exactly like in the pics, and tasted simply amazing!!..moist with crunchy crust..sweet, the way I like it..I ate a half of a loaf in one day, slathering the slices with butter..toasted some of them too..The next day it was not dry at all, and I ate it with sliced Gouda cheese.. and on the third day it was still great..I toasted it and slathered it with peanut butter...I will get buttermilk on my next shopping trip for the next time I bake it..but I was amazed it worked out well using canned milk and adding vinegar to curdle it..imagine how yummy the bread will be with buttermilk, when it already tasted so awesome the way I made it!!! The first day I wrapped the leftover half loaf in parchment paper and then in foil, and it really stayed surprisingly fresh!!! THANK YOU FOR THIS AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS RECIPE!! I will make the bread often!
Elizabeth Marek says
Thank you for the great feedback! I love that you used the canned milk and vinegar!
Juliet says
Didn’t have buttermilk so I used a container of yogurt and some 1/2 n 1/2. Worked great. Also used dried cranberries instead of raisins. Great results
Patrick Lacey says
Have made this twice now, but with apricots, cherries and nuts. Dough was quite sticky on both occasions, but suspect that is as much to do with the butter as the buttermilk. Both times thoroughly delicious.
Sugar Geek Show says
Yes it's very sticky 🙂 So glad you liked it!
linda le says
I haven't made the bread yet but what's the difference with the flours compared to the traditional recipe? would i be able to make the traditional recipe and just add sugar to make it sweet? or make this recipe but without the raisins and caraway seed?
Sugar Geek Show says
You can definitely make this recipe without the raisins and caraway seeds 🙂
Amy Hahne says
Amazing! This recipe was perfect. Easy and soooo delicious. Thanks!