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

FAQs

What beer is best 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.

The first secret for making the most flavorful beer brats is soaking them in beer (and sliced onions) before they even hit the grill! This step infuses the brats with extra flavor while also adding moisture to help keep them from getting dried out on the grill. A win-win!

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!

Sindelar said parboiling speeds up the unfolding process and can result in a mushy meat texture, the development of rubbery casings and separate the casing from the sausage. So, there you have it. It's settled science.

What kind of beer do you use for beer brats? Pilsners and lagers are traditional, but IPAs, porters, and stouts all work wonderfully. If you do not want to pour that much beer into a pot for cooking bratwurst, substitute half the beer for water.

For the beer, use a lager, which has a clean, crisp, not-too-bitter taste. Lager is a family of beers that includes bright lagers, amber lagers, dark lagers, Oktoberfests, and pilsners. I use Sam Adams Oktoberfest, but Budweiser, Bud Light, Coors Light, and Miller Lite are all good options.

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.

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.

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.

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.

What makes brats taste better? ›

The quality of those proteins and the taste of your final product is going to depend on the fat and salt incorporated into your brat's construction. Fat is the main component in any good brat, and it's also what makes your brats nice and juicy.

Other swear you must grill the brats first, and then boil. A large cadre maintains beer won't penetrate through the casings unless you first prick the surface with a fork. But, a more tender sect cries if you do poke holes in the casing, all the juices will flow out and the flavor will be lost.

“The whole deal with soaking them in beer,” Miesfeld told me, “is about keeping the brats warm until you put them on your hard roll. If you're cooking brats on a charcoal grill, which is the only way you should be doing it, and there's nobody standing there with a hard roll, there has to be a way to keep them warm.”

Boiling brats in beer will ensure that they are cooked through before grilling so that they don't burn and dry out on the grill. This will make them more flavorful and juicy. The boiling time will vary, but the general rule of thumb is that they will be fully cooked with 10 minutes of boiling.

How do you know when brats are done boiling? The boiled brats are done boiling and ready to grill or fry when the casing turns white and the brats float. The best way to check this is to see whether a meat thermometer inserted into the center of a brat registers145°F.

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.

Pilsners are a fairly dry style of beer with a strong malt flavor. Pilsners pair well with grilled, mild sausages. Steam is recognized as the only classic American beer style and was invented in California during the 49erGold Rush days. The beer has a deep amber color, a sharp flavor and a great deal of carbonation.

We've made this recipe on numerous occasions using different types of beer and we've found that a lager gives the hot dogs just the right amount of flavor without any residual bitterness. Samuel Adams Boston Lager is a great choice.

In general, when making beer cheese, choose a brew with a light body and subtle flavor profile. Beers in the pilsner, blonde ale, and lager families would all be good options. For pilsners, stick to American styles as they are less hoppy, milder, and far less bitter than their European counterparts.