A wink and a nod to Oktoberfest, this German dish will stick to your ribs on a cold October night.
Bratswurst is very fatty… clearly one reason for its appeal. There are variations on the sausage recipe itself. Any of them will work in this recipe. Highly recommended though – find the best quality you can get. I like a brand from Whole Foods. It is free of a lot in the added ingredients that I do not want, and it is not greasy. Another option would be to make your own. 🙂
As to the beer, use whatever you would drink with a brastwurst…. a pilsner, ale, or lager. Just don’t go too funky with the flavors… unless you are in to that sort of thing. It’s your beer-braised bratswurst. I wont judge you.
Gluten-Free Notes: Thank you to Candy for the reminder in the comments that to make this dish gluten-free, you have to be sure that you have purchased a gluten-free beer! Here is a link to some good ones from Bon Apetit. Gluten-free meals are only as gluten-free as their ingredients. 🙂
If you are not on a grains-free diet, throw this on a pretzel roll or hoagie, with mustard. Mmmmm And some acidic/sweet red cabbage will balance out the fattiness of the sausage beautifully.
Easy Method
In a lightly oiled skillet, place onions. Leave onions alone for a few minutes on medium-high heat, in order to develop a bit of carmelezation. When the onion has browned a bit (sugars and flavor developed), stir them around and saute for a minute or two.
Add apple and saute for just a few minutes.
Scoot the onions and apples over a bit to make room for the bratswurst to contact the skillet surface. Brown the bratswurst as desired,
Move skillet off heat (to avoid a kitchen fire) and pour in the beer.
Braise 30 minutes, or until the sausage is cooked through. Remove sausage.
Strain the onions and apples from the beer broth and return the broth to the skillet.
Reduce beer broth by about half. Whisk in dijon.
Return onions and apples, stirring them into the beer broth.
Serve bratswurst smothered in onions, apples, and beer broth.
Beer Braised Brats, Onions, and Apples
Ingredients
- 1 T cooking oil (I like coconut)
- ½ onion, julienne
- 1 small granny smith apple, peeled and sliced
- 4 brats
- 1 bottle beer (pilsner, ale, lager – whatever you would drink with bratswurst)
- 1/2 T dijon mustard (or more if you love it)
Method
In a lightly oiled skillet, place onions. Leave onions alone for a few minutes on medium-high heat, in order to develop a bit of carmelezation. When the onion has browned a bit (sugars and flavor developed), stir them around and saute for a minute or two. Add apple and saute for just a few minutes. Scoot the onions and apples over a bit to make room for the bratswurst to contact the skillet surface. Brown the bratswurst as desired, then move skillet off heat (to avoid a kitchen fire) and pour in the beer.
Braise 30 minutes, or until the sausage is cooked through. Remove sausage. Strain the onions and apples from the beer broth and return the broth to the skillet. Reduce beer broth by about half. Whisk in dijon. Return onions and apples, stirring them into the beer broth.
Serve bratswurst smothered in onions, apples, and beer broth.
This is delicious with German Red Cabbage.
Enjoy!
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If you are gluten free, you would need to use a gluten free beer, which unfortunately, there aren’t alot of great ones out there. Also, some brats are premade with beer so you need to make sure and check the label. We love brats and onions (never tried them with apples) but since discovering a severe gluten intolerance in most of our family members 3 years ago, we’ve had to skip the beer and use broth. But since you are cooking apples with this, it makes me wonder how hard cider would taste, which is gluten free and very tasty.
Wonderful points!!! Thank you Candy. I have become so used to label reading that I sometimes forget that particualr items that I purchase are not common. Hard cider is a fabulous idea!