Beer Simmered Brats with Peppers and Onions and German potato salad
There's no need to leave your house for this ballpark favorite that is great served with plenty of your favorite mustard - we love a spicy variety here! This meal was also featured in 2017.
Ingredients
- Potatoes, baby red - 1 lb (sub new potatoes)
- Celery - 1 stalk, chopped
- Shallots - 1 clove, chopped
- Parsley - 1 Tbsp, chopped
- Oil, olive - 1 Tbsp
- Vinegar, apple cider - 2 tsp
- Mustard, use large grain mustard if you have it - 1 tsp (sub Dijon)
- Sugar - 1/2 tsp
- Bell peppers, red - 1, sliced
- Onions, medium - 1, sliced
- Beer, any type - 2 cups (sub stock)
- Butter - 2 Tbsp
- Sausage, German-style bratwurst - 4 links (sub raw sausage links of choice)
- Oil, cooking - 1 Tbsp
- Hoagie buns (opt) - 4 (sub hot dog buns)
- Mustard, spicy or honey-mustard - 4 Tbsp (sub Dijon)
Nutrition Facts
Prep
- Bell peppers / Onions (If prepping right before cooking, skip to Prep Step 2 and get potatoes boiling before continuing with prep; if using the grill, get grill heating.) Prep as directed and combine. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
- Boil potatoes - Bring a large stock pot of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes and reduce heat to a low simmer. Simmer, covered, until potatoes are fork-tender, 15 to 20 minutes (depending on the size of potatoes). Drain and rinse under cool water. (Can be done up to 4 days ahead)
- Celery / Shallots / Parsley - Prep as directed and combine. (Can be done up to 3 days ahead)
- Make potato salad - Quarter boiled potatoes. Combine with celery, shallots, parsley, olive oil, vinegar, mustard (portion for potato salad), and sugar. Season with some salt and pepper. (Can be done up to 2 days ahead)
Make
- If finishing / searing the sausage on a grill: Heat grill to 500F / 260C degrees.
- Combine beer (or stock) and butter in a stock pot over medium heat. Bring liquid to a simmer and add sausage, onions, and peppers to hot liquid. (Don’t worry if the sausage isn’t completely covered in liquid.)
- Simmer sausage, turning every few minutes, until liquid is mostly reduced and onions and peppers are tender, ~10 minutes.
- Remove sausage from liquid and set aside. Let onions and peppers continue cooking until all the liquid is cooked off and vegetables begin to caramelize on the bottom of the pan.
- {grill}: Clean grates and brush with cooking oil. Place sausage over hottest part of the grill and sear on all sides. Toast buns (if using).
- If cooking on the stovetop: Heat a skillet with cooking oil over medium-high heat. Add sausage and sear on all sides. Toast buns (if using).
- Divide sausage, peppers, and onions between buns (or between serving plates if not using buns). Serve with mustard (portion for brats). Enjoy with potato salad on the side!
Reviews
This meal has 29 reviews
We made the original recipe but substituted Beyond sausage. The potato salad was flawless. We sauteed the onions/peppers first and I think that helped with the simmering process.
Great flavor! This meal was a hit at my house.
My husband loved how the peppers and onions turned out. I did pour out some of the liquid to speed up the caramelization process. I mixed up all the dressing ingredients, and then added it to the potatoes. After tasting, I added extra vinegar to the salad. We loved that!
Brats we're good but cauliflower needed some salt and more flavor. Took much longer to simmer liquid off than recipe stated, I ended up just giving up and removed everything off the stove early.
This was good overall, but like a lot of other commenters, I had to simmer this for much longer than the recipe called for and my onions and peppers ended up fairly bitter by the time the beer cooked down. I might cook the brats this way again, but I'd probably just saute the onions and peppers separately in the future.
Followed others’ advice and just added a bit of beer to the peppers/onions separately from the brats. Everything was delicious- next time I’d double up on the protein because I didn’t use the rolls. Also- potato salad was great I would have just mixed the oil vinegar mustard and sugar together first before adding to the potatoes as the mustard didn’t spread around evenly. I used half the sugar and it was fine. I’d also want to mince the shallots - they were too intense for my liking when chopped.