Homemade Bratwurst Recipe

This Homemade Bratwurst Recipe is WAY better than store-bought. The amount of flavor in these bratwursts is absolutely incredible, and of course, they are great with beer-braised onions, on a bun, and with some stone-ground mustard. Plus, they're perfect to make in a big batch and then freeze for later. If you like sausage making, check out this recipe for Chicken Breakfast Sausage Patties!

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• Why You'll Love This Recipe
• Ingredients
• Step-by-Step Instructions
• Expert Tips
• Recipe FAQs
• More Recipes You'll Love
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Why You'll Love This Recipe

You see if you tell me that it's Meat cooked in Beer, Butter, and Onions, there's a pretty good chance I'm going to make it, which is exactly why I'm sharing this homemade Sheboygan Bratwurst recipe. The recipe is easy to make and full of flavor, and it's extremely gratifying to make your own sausage.

Ingredients

Meat: I prefer to make a mixture of Ground Veal and Pork (Butt) Shoulder. The two combine very nicely, providing great texture and flavor.

Vegetables: White Sweet Onions are all you'll need when cooking the homemade bratwurst Sheboygan style.

Liquids: Same as above, you'll need some Pilsner Beer and Butter to cook these homemade sausages.

Herbs and Spices: This is what will make these bratwursts stand out from others. You'll need Kosher Salt, Dried Milk, White Pepper, Black Pepper, Ground Mace, Ground Ginger, Dried Marjoram, Mustard Powder, Cardamom, Coriander, Caraway Seed, Crushed Red Pepper, Minced Garlic, and Bay Leaf.

Extras: Sausage Casings are an absolute necessity.

See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities.

Step-by-Step Instructions

The entire process of making this sausage is really simple. The first thing you'll need to do is grind the meat. I used a 10 lb bone-in pork butt shoulder.

Cut all the meat away from the bone in strips using a sharp knife. Be sure to leave the fat cap on the pork. I don't add any additional fat into my recipe, so it's important to keep that on; otherwise, your sausage could end up dry.

Also, I used 2 lbs of ground veal. I couldn't find any other veal besides pre-ground, so I went with that.

Once you have the pork ground up, cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a lid and stick it and your packaged veal in the freezer for about 45 minutes.

Not only will this help the meat stick together nicely, but it is going to keep any of the fat from getting too warm and melting during the stuffing process.

Next, mix the pork and veal with the seasonings in a large bowl. Start by mixing this by hand. Don't worry. It doesn't need to be fully mixed because we are going to be using the stand mixer to combine the ingredients fully.

Mixing in the stand mixer has to be done in two batches, though otherwise, there is going to be meat flinging all over the place, and that's gross.

Now that you have the meats in a bowl, add Kosher Salt, Dried Milk, White Pepper, Black Pepper, Mace, Ground Ginger, Dried Marjoram, Mustard Powder, Cardamom, Coriander, Caraway Seed, and Red Pepper Flakes.

Mix with your hands, then transfer about half of the mixture and transfer to the KitchenAid mixing bowl. Mix the meat with the Coated Flat Beater attachment until it becomes well-mixed, tacky, and sticky-looking.

Repeat that step with the other half of the meat.

Be sure to rinse the inside of the casings you plan to use under the faucet. Simply find the opening and run some cold water through them.

Allow the casings to soak for 30-60 minutes in a bowl of cold water.

Place one end of the casing onto the sausage stuffer tube on your KitchenAid. Turn the mixer on, pressing the ground meat through the feeder until it reaches the tip of the stuffing tube. Once you have fed the casing onto the tube and the meat to the end, tie the end off in a knot.

Now you're ready to start stuffing. Simply turn the mixer on and begin pressing the meat through. Once you have filled a whole casing, take it off, tie off the end, and twist each sausage to the size you want.

Repeat the process until you're out of meat. You can refrigerate for a day or two until you're ready to cook. I also used my Food Saver vacuum sealer and vacuum-sealed about half of my sausage to freeze and use later.

As I said before, this recipe for Homemade Bratwurst is being cooked Sheboygan Style. I am cooking this on my Big Green Egg, but you can cook on any charcoal or gas grill you have. You could cook these on the stove with a frying pan and heavy pot.

Preheat the grill to about 400° F and place a cast Iron pot on the grill. Add pilsner beer, butter, minced garlic, and red pepper flakes to the pot. Once this starts to come to a slow boil, add the Bratwurst to grill off to the side of the pot. At this point, you are just looking to brown the Brats.

Once the Bratwurst has browned, add them to the pot, simmer, and cook for about 30 minutes.

Remove the pot, slice open some rolls, and serve the Brats with the onions, Sauerkraut, and Stone Ground Mustard.

Expert Tips

• Try serving these homemade bratwursts with Crispy Rosemary Air Fryer Potatoes or this Easy Red Skin Potato salad!

• When working with the sausage casings, be sure to rinse them thoroughly and keep them in a shallow bowl of water when working with them. It will make the whole process much easier.

Recipe FAQs

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