Smoked brats in beer make a delicious meal. Use your Traeger grill or pellet smoker to make smoked bratwurst in a beer bath and enjoy this delicacy with all your favourite sides. You only need 6 ingredients to make this brats on smoker recipe, along with mustard and buns to serve.
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Brats are always tasty anyway but you can enjoy them in a brand new way with this brat bath (or hot tub) recipe. Fire up a Traeger grill or smoker and get ready for the most delicious smoked brats in beer you’ve ever tasted.
Smoked Bratwurst Ingredients
The star of the dish is of course the bratwurst and you will need a package of raw brats for this recipe. The beer for the beer bath can be wheat beer or lager, as you prefer. Maybe you even have some beer in the refrigerator you aren’t so keen on. Since the beer just imparts a light flavour, you can use any kind that you happen to have on hand.
The other ingredients are a white onion, butter, chilli powder, and mustard powder. Dijon mustard is a great condiment, or you might have a preference for another kind of mustard. Maybe you prefer the smooth kind. Finally, you will need brat buns or hot dog buns to serve the tasty smoked brats.
How to Make Smoked Brats in Beer
First of all, preheat a Traeger grill or pellet smoker. Once it’s reached 225 degrees F, you can put the brats on the grill and smoke them for half an hour.
Next put the butter, mustard powder and chilli powder in a small pan and put this in the smoker too. Flip the brats on smoker and give them another half an hour.
Now turn the temperature down and slice up the white onion. Put the onion slices in a tin with the beer to make a beer bath, and then you can add some of the smoked butter. Put the brats in there and smoke them for a couple of hours.
Brush smoked butter over the buns and give them 10 minutes in the smoker, then serve the brats in there, add mustard and onions on top, and serve hot. You will be amazed just how delicious this brat bath (or hot tub) recipe is. This recipe is delicious served with a Smoked Potato Salad with Bacon.
History of Bratwurst
Bratwurst sausages, or brats as they’re fondly known, are authentically German. In Old German, ‘wurst’ meant sausage and ‘brat’ meant no waste. Whether you’re enjoying them in a brat bath (or hot tub) recipe or making smoked brats in beer another way, it’s good to know what the word means.
Traditionally, brats were made of meat scraps and encased in a thin skin (typically animal intestine). Not even tiny scraps of meat were wasted a few hundred years ago, and Germans would preserve these scraps to make bratwurst, which they would eat during the long, cold winters. These days, the flavour is similar to what it would have been back then. The only exception is modern sausages are usually made with synthetic casings rather than intestine.
Although there are recipes for brats dating back hundreds of years, some believe the original recipe dates right back to the Celts and was later brought into Europe, via France and Germany.
Smoked Brats in Beer FAQs
There’s no denying smoked brats in beer are good. Make that very good in fact! I love this brat bath (or hot tub) recipe because the smoke adds flavours to the brats. Also, the beer helps tenderize the sausage casings, adding robust flavour too.
There are some recipes calling for brats to be soaked in beer before grilling them, while others call for a beer bath. Historically, they were soaked in hot beer to partially cook them, so the grill master didn’t have to worry about serving a sausage that wasn’t fully cooked through.
To increase the German appeal, you might like to spoon some warmed sauerkraut on to each brat before serving. Other toppings you can add (although they aren’t traditionally German!) include ketchup, mayonnaise, cheese, relish, tomatoes, or even pickled jalapenos.
If you’re still hungry after enjoying the smoked brats in beer, you might also be curious about German desserts. Kaiserschmarrn is popular in Austria, as well as Germany, and this vegan kaiserschmarrn recipe is really good.
Smoked Brats in Beer Recipe
Smoked Brats in Beer
Ingredients
- 9 Bratwurst uncooked
- 1 white onion sliced
- 12 Ounces beer lager or wheat
- ½ Cup unsalted butter
- ½ Teaspoon mustard powder
- ½ Teaspoon chili powder
For Serving:
- Dijon mustard
- Brat buns
Instructions
- Preheat smoker to 225 degrees F with the lid closed for 15 minutes.
- Place brats directly onto the grill grates. Smoke for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, add butter, mustard powder, and chili powder to a saucepan and place into the smoker.
- Turn brats over and smoke for 30 more minutes.
- Remove the brats from the smoker.
- Lower the temperature to 180 degrees F.
- Slice the onions and add to a tin. Pour in the beer and ¼ cup of the smoked butter. Add the brats and place back into the smoker. Smoke for 2 hours. ( Cook the brats to 160 degrees F)
- Brush buns with smoked butter and toast for 10 minutes in the smoker.
- Add brats to the buns. Drizzle with Dijon and top with onions.
Nutrition
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
Although there are many brats on smoker recipes to choose from, these smoked brats in beer boast so much flavour. So if you’re in the mood for smoked bratwurst, get the Traeger grill or pellet smoker fired up and get ready for an authentic German culinary experience!
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Bella Bucchiotti
Bella Bucchiotti is a storyteller, food lover, dog mom and adventure seeker living on the Pacific coast. She shares her passion for food, dogs, fitness, adventures, travel and philanthropy, in hopes of encouraging followers to run the extra mile, try new recipes, visit unfamiliar places and stand for a cause. Bella lives with Type 1 Diabetes and Celiac Disease.
i have never heard of a brat bath. Now i need to try it