Boiled Brats – If you’re wondering how long to bake brats before grilling them or making pan-fried brats, this post will tell you everything you need to know, plus how to make beer-braised brats, or how to bake them in sauerkraut.
For an authentic German meal, serve steamed brats with warm German potato salad, sauerkraut, stone-ground mustard and a side of beer.
Boiled Brats
If you’re still looking for more bratwurst ideas, don’t miss our posts on oven-baked bratwurst, air fryer bratwurst, and pressure cooker bratwurst. Since my husband is German, it’s important to be serious about bratwurst in our house.
Oven Baked Brats (a Delicious Alternative To Grilling)
First thing, when we talk about how long to cook the brats, we are actually going to grill or broil the bratwurst on the stove, and not cook the sausage on a hard boil. We refer to it as steamed brats because that is how most people find this type of cooking method.
Boiling the brats before grilling or pan-frying them is a popular method of preparing bratwurst.
Beer Braised Brats Regular or braised brats require only a few essential ingredients, the brats themselves are already pre-seasoned, so you don’t need to add extra flavor unless you plan to cook the bratwurst in beer or sauerkraut.
Our recipe tells you how to make a small batch of bratwurst, but feel free to double or triple the sausage! Bratwurst is always delicious when served to a crowd.
Wisconsin Beer Brats
To cook brats the best possible, we highly recommend cooking them in beer, gravy or sauerkraut, but water works in a pinch if preferred. But trust me, bits cooked in beer help bring out the natural flavor of the sausage and won’t overpower the taste at all. Even our kids love Bear Brats!
Getting fresh bratwurst from the butcher is the best way to go, but as far as prepackaged brands go, we like a local brand called Hempler’s, or Johnsonville Brats, are good as far as national brands go.
It’s very quick and easy to make beer-braised brats, and they’re even better when they’re beer-braised brats.
Recipe tip: It is essential for the success of your sausage, do not prick the bratwurst with a fork! This is just a bad tip floating around the internet that causes bratwurst to lose flavor and moisture.
Use The Right Beer To Make Those Brats Even Better For Sunday’s Game
Add the raw bratwurst, 1 sliced onion, beer (enough to cover the sausage) and half a stick of cubed butter in a deep pan or Dutch oven. If there is any beer left over after covering the brats, be sure to drink it while cooking.
Bring the beer to a boil, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer the nuggets for 10 minutes. They will be well cooked at this point, meaning partially (but mostly) cooked. They will finish the interior with the next step.
Remove the bratwurst from the liquid and grill it either on a preheated grill for 10-14 minutes until browned to your liking, or fry it in a little oil for 3 minutes on each side. The internal temperature should be at least 160F.
Is it time to start cooking and realize you never took the bratwurst out of the freezer? Don’t worry, you can still cook frozen bratwurst and make it delicious.
How Long To Boil Brats? (tips & Guides)
You only need to add 5+ minutes to the cooking time of the recipe, so the bratwurst will take about 15-20 minutes to cook in the liquid.
So first things first, many bratwurst purists will claim that there is no need to boil brats before grilling them. In my opinion, it’s all personal preference, so whether you roast the brats raw or cook first, I suggest you experiment with both techniques and answer that question for yourself.
Why cook brats before frying? The most common reason to boil the brats before grilling is to add the beer flavor to the sausage rather than grilling them directly on the grill, or many have found that boiling the brats before grilling helps to prevent them from falling apart.
You may be wondering how long to cook brats before roasting them and if it changes the cooking time in the recipe at all. Instead of cooking the sausage all the way through, you could in theory cook the brats before placing them on the grill. If you want to partially cook the brats because you like them charred dark on the grill, boiling the beer will shorten the cooking time of the brats by 10-12 minutes.
How To Grill Brats To The Perfect Temperature
Brats are full of fat and flavor, and it’s very difficult to overcook brats unless you poke them with a fork. While the ideal cooking temperature for bratwurst is 160F, brats are forgiving and if they accidentally reach 170-180F, don’t worry, they’ll still be delicious!
After grilling the bratwurst, you can serve it with the onion and beer mixture it was first braised in, or you can serve it on a substantial bun, such as a hoagie roll.
When you intend to cook brats with sauerkraut, you are technically boiling or boiling them. Our steps are a little different when adding kraut to a recipe.
Cutting carbs and gluten seems to be very popular these days, whether for health reasons or food sensitivities. If you’re on a keto diet like my husband (who’s lost 30lbs so far!), wondering if brats are keto is a tough question.
Grilled Beer Brats Recipe
Sausages such as bratwurst are pre-seasoned and some types of sausage such as kielbasa have gluten or sugar added. The key is to check the labels before you buy to make sure the brand has no added surprise ingredients.
Bratwurst by itself (or with sauerkraut) is gluten-free, but beer-braised brats are not. Feel free to cook the bratwurst in broth or water and skip the beer.
But are beer-battered brats keto? Fortunately, there are quite a few low-carb beers on the market these days, and our favorite brand of beer to use when cooking bratwurst recipes is Michelob Light, which only has 2 net carbs per bottle.
In any case, feel free to double or triple the steamed brakkies recipe! The time the brats are cooked in the beer will not change, the cooking time must remain the same. You will of course need to double the butter and onion if desired. You don’t need to double the beer because you add enough liquid to cover it.
Sam Adams Octoberfest Boiled Brats
If you’re here to learn how to steam or boil bratwurst before you plan to grill or pan fry it, but you don’t want to cook it in beer, here are some options!
And be sure to pin the recipe to Pinterest later so you can easily come back to it!
Tap that recipe review star! After you make a Boil Brats recipe, be sure to leave a review or type the star rating you would give the recipe!
Show us those pictures! Be sure to upload your boiling brats in a beer recipe photo on a Pinterest pin and/or tag us on Instagram at @wholelotta.yum! We love giving readers recipes! Cook the perfect bratwurst in your pressure cooker with this easy recipe! Instant Pot Brats are tender and juicy, and when cooked in beer and onions, they make the best hot dogs!
Bratwurst: How To Cook Bratwurst (the Right Way!)
If you are looking for an easy dish for a beer festival or Oktoberfest, these instant pot beer brats are just what you need. A very easy dish that you can make with just 3 ingredients and minutes of effort.
Brats are delicious served in a bun as a snack and go perfectly with beer. They are also great as a simple appetizer served with your favorite side dish.
Bratwurst: Bratwursts, also known as brats, are really tasty and easy to cook. You can also repeat this recipe with almost any sausage.
Beer: Beer adds a wonderful flavor to brats, and is a very traditional way of cooking them. Alcohol will evaporate during the cooking process. You can use non-alcoholic beer or chicken stock if you prefer.
How To Grill Perfect Bratwurst Sausages, According To A Golf Club Chef
You can find full instructions + ingredient measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of this page
One: Add sausage, sliced onion and a splash of beer to the Instant Pot. Select the SAUCE setting and cook until the sausage is browned on the bottom. Turn over and repeat on the other side.
Two: Scrape the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon or spatula to loosen any stuck-on pieces of sausage or onion. Close the lid and cook for 5 minutes on high pressure, pressure cooker or manual setting. Quickly release the pressure, and serve.
This beer pressure-cooked bratwurst is perfect served as an appetizer in a hot dog-like bun or with a side dish. Serve them for lunch or dinner or as a delicious late night snack.
How Long To Boil Brats?
Alcohol-free: Replace the beer with chicken stock, or use a non-alcoholic beer instead. It’s great if you don’t like to cook with alcohol,
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