Beer Braised Brats with Onions (Recipe + Video) | Craft Beering (2024)

FAQs

What is the best beer for beer brats? ›

Any beer will do, but pale lagers work best. Boil in the beer bath for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the brats turn white. Once your brats are cooked through, you'll want to sear them to achieve the crispy skin and grill marks we all love.

Soaking Your Brats in Beer = The Juiciest Brats Ever!

This step infuses the brats with extra flavor while also adding moisture to help keep them from getting dried out on the grill.

RULE #3: NEVER EVER BOIL BRATS.

Never boil brats in beer or any other liquid before or after going on the grill. Boiling brats actually leaches flavor from the meat.

Also, some people say the warm bath makes the casing more pliable and less likely to split open. And, your pan of beer bath has been simmering giving off all kinds of great aromas. And, you'll have a pan full of flavor-packed veggies you can toss on top – so it's a win-win!

However you choose to cook bratwurst, be sure the sausages are cooked all the way through. They should register 160 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer, or you can cut into one with the tip of a paring knife and check that the meat is no longer raw and dark-pink; it should be moist and juicy and very light pink.

The brats have a great depth of flavor cooking in the beer, but if you'd rather eliminate beer as an ingredient, you can easily substitute chicken broth or vegetable broth! The onions become soft and soak up all that flavor in the slow cooker, making them a great topping for the sausages.

If using pre-cooked bratwurst, you are just warming them thoroughly. Grill them to get some nice color on them, then add into the skillet with the onions. Add bratwurst and onions into the same skillet along with beer. Note: Do not poke holes in your bratwurst during the cooking process.

A digital meat thermometer is the only way to guarantee your brats reach a safe internal temperature of 160°F degrees. (The temperature continues to rise by a few degrees after cooking, so it's fine to pull the brats from the heat at 155°F). This rule applies to both fresh and pre-cooked brats.

A beer brat is when you boil uncooked brats in a couple of cans of beer to fully cook it on the stovetop. Oftentimes, they are finished off on the grill. We truly believe beer brats are superior to any other kind of brat because they are so dang delicious.

Also, while some people recommend piercing the sausages before cooking to prevent them from bursting, I find that the beer bath eliminates that threat without sacrificing all of those precious juices that escape through the holes.

How do you cook brats without them exploding? ›

If your brats are splitting during cooking, you are cooking them at too high of a temp. Brats should be cooked to an internal temp of 160 degrees F., try cooking them over a medium heat 300–350 degrees F until they reach at least 160 degrees F.

The seasoning you go for is going to depend on your personal preferences or the recipe you're following. Remember that you'll only want to roll your brats in your seasoning of choice if you're planning to toss them on the grill. If you're braising, simply add your rub of choice to the beer/broth mixture instead.

When cooking beer brats, you'll need only a few ingredients that you likely have on hand: Beer, preferably lager. Yellow onion. Onion powder.

One of the biggest mistakes you can make while cooking a brat is breaking the outside layer of the sausage. The outer layer of the brat is what makes it so delicious at the end of your cooking, as it holds in all the meat and juice that gives the meat its flavor.

Bratwurst is a raw, pork-based sausage that must be thoroughly cooked before serving. The idea behind soaking bratwurst in hot beer prior to grilling is that they cook all the way through ahead of time, so the grill master needn't worry about serving an undercooked sausage.

Most are fair game for beer batter (Pilsner Urquell, Stella Artois, Modelo, and Firestone Pivo Pils are particularly nice), with the exception of Bohemian pilsner, which comes with a heavy dose of spices that can change the overall flavor of your dish. In a beer batter, pilsner is one of the more low-key options.

Complete the Wisconsin trifecta with Johnsonville Cheddar Beer Brats. Made with only premium cuts of pork and seasoned with a perfect blend of spices and real Wisconsin beer and cheddar, they're perfect for summer cookouts, Johnsonville Cheddar Brats easy to grill and taste great in a variety of recipes.

When it comes to beer brats, there is only one worthy of your grill. Johnsonville Beer Brats are made with quality Wisconsin beer and only premium cuts of pork, delivering a juicy, robust flavor.