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It’s not summer or tailgate season without beer brats. If you like the flavor of caramelized onions, then you’ll love this easy 4-ingredient grilled brat recipe.
Beer brats are a time-honored Midwestern tradition, and no summer barbecue or tailgate party would be complete without them. It’s one of the many things Wisconsinites do best!
Stock up on plenty of beer for the gathering, then tuck some away to infuse loads of flavor into these crowd-pleasing brats.
Table of Contents
Recipe ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
Ingredient notes
- Bratwurst: Always start with raw than pre-cooked sausages. There is nothing wrong with a pack of Johnsonville brats! If you aren’t a Wisconsin local but want to pretend you are, you can shop online with Glenn’s Market or Usinger’s.
- Beer: Pilsners and lagers are traditional, but IPAs, porters, and stouts all work wonderfully. If you cannot bear to pour that much beer into a pot for cooking bratwurst, substitute half the beer for water.
- Sauerkraut: If you have the time, you can make your own sauerkraut in 5 days with just cabbage, salt, and juniper berries.
Step-by-step instructions
- Preheat grill over medium-high heat. Clean and oil grate. In a large pot over medium-high heat, add brats, onion, and beer. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until brats are cooked through, about 10 to 12 minutes.
- Remove brats to a bowl or platter. Continue cooking onions in beer while grilling the brats (use as a topping if desired). Increase heat to medium and cook brats, turning frequently, until browned, about 5 minutes.
- Serve in buns with your favorite toppings.
Recipe tips and variations
- Yield: This Wisconsin Beer Brat recipe makes 10 brats. Feel free to halve the recipe if you’re serving a smaller crew.
- Storage: Refrigerate any extra brats in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
- Make ahead: Beer brats are best straight off the grill, but for gatherings with staggered mealtimes, I recommend preparing Wisconsin Beer Brats in a slow cooker so you can keep them warm until you’re ready to serve. You’ll want to flip-flop the method: Place them in the slow cooker with the onion and beer. Cook for 4 hours on HIGH, or 7 to 8 hours on LOW. Then grill as needed.
- Go grill-free: If you don’t own a grill or want to enjoy these beer brats inside, simply use a stovetop grill pan or sauté in a skillet instead.
- More toppings: To allow everyone to BYOB (build your own brat), consider a topping bar with sauerkraut, onions, relish, pickles, ketchup, and a couple different mild and spicy mustards.
Recipe FAQs
For maximum flavor before grilling, simmer raw brats in a mixture of beer and onions. Make sure the brats are raw, not pre-cooked.
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.
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Wisconsin Beer Brats
Ingredients
- 10 bratwurst (raw, see note 1)
- 1 large onion thinly sliced
- 4 (12 ounce) cans beer (see note 2)
- 10 brat buns split, for serving
- Ketchup and mustard, for serving
- sauerkraut for serving (see note 3)
Instructions
- Preheat grill over medium-high heat. Clean and oil grate. In a large pot over medium-high heat, add brats, onion, and beer.
- Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until brats are cooked through, about 10 to 12 minutes. Remove brats to a bowl or platter. Continue cooking onions in beer while grilling the brats (use as a topping if desired).
- Increase heat to medium and cook brats, turning frequently, until browned, about 5 minutes. Serve in buns with your favorite toppings.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Bratwurst: Always start with raw than pre-cooked sausages. There is nothing wrong with a pack of Johnsonville brats! If you aren’t a Wisconsin local but want to pretend you are, you can shop online with Glenn’s Market or Usinger’s.
- Beer: Pilsners and lagers are traditional, but IPAs, porters, and stouts all work wonderfully. If you cannot bear to pour that much beer into a pot for cooking bratwurst, substitute half the beer for water.
- Sauerkraut: If you have the time, you can make your own sauerkraut in 5 days with just cabbage, salt, and juniper berries.
- Yield: This Wisconsin Beer Brat recipe makes 10 brats. Feel free to halve the recipe if you’re serving a smaller crew.
- Storage: Refrigerate any extra brats in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
- Make ahead: Beer brats are best straight off the grill, but for gatherings with staggered mealtimes, I recommend preparing Wisconsin Beer Brats in a slow cooker so you can keep them warm until you’re ready to serve. You’ll want to flip-flop the method: Place them in the slow cooker with the onion and beer. Cook for 4 hours on HIGH, or 7 to 8 hours on LOW. Then grill as needed.
Nutrition
Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.
This is exactly how I make my brats. I guess I’m a beer brat purest because I was reading the comments and people are putting mushrooms on their brat and cooking with Budweiser. I don’t mind people adding butter but I don’t think it needs it. The brat stands alone 🙃 I really like the Smokehouse World’s Best Brats from Woodman’s.
all these brat recipes are a little off.
you need cheap, bad beer (pabst, Milwaukee’s best, etc, even Miller Lite is too good and doesn’t leave the right taste) that is important.
beer in pan, add thick sliced onions. then add brats. simmer for a while. call it 30 minutes (can’t over cook unless the onions fall apart). if the onions are clear the brats will be cooked.
save the brats to grill (though you can serve as is straight from the beer, this is the Badger tailgating way). save the onions to top brats. or just tong out a brat to a bun then tong out onions to top.
adding mustard is great. adding ketchup is not allowed. but do as you wish. just saying how this is actually done as someone who lived a few blocks from Camp Randall and had brats before every home Badger game.
it is amazingly good. I get a craving from time to time and make these in Oregon.
Thanks for sharing, Charlie! – Meggan