Brats Cooked in Beer and Onions

!!!Caution!!!  This is not a healthy recipe....but it is sooo delicious!  I honestly cannot even remember who to give credit to, but  I think I went to a cook-out in Minnesota 20+ years ago and had these brats there.  I'm really not sure.  I'm kind of hoping I just dreamed this recipe up sometime, in which case I'm praying, "Lord, inspire me again, because they are that GOOD!"

This is also one of those recipes where the ingredient amounts are very flexible, meaning you can cook a lot, or a little, and the results will be the same.

The ingredients are really simple: uncooked brats, beer, onions and TIME.  This truly is an easy recipe, but you do need time to let the onions cook down into a paste, so be sure and budget for that.  Also, you can prepare the brats and onions a day ahead and just grill the brats on cook-out day to give them a smoky flavor and reheat them.

To begin, fill a saucepan with chopped onions.  I would estimate about 1 medium onion per brat, but  this is very forgiving.  Please notice I did not chop the onions into a perfect little dice, but ran them through my food processor.  A finer chop will help the onions cook down faster, but "who wants to chop that many onions?".  Do not process too fine or you will have a very strong onion mush, and that is not what you want.

Place your brats on top of the onions, then fill the pan with beer.  Your brats will be about half submerged at this point.  Bring the pot just to boiling, then cover the pan and turn down the heat until the brats are gently simmering.  We are trying to slowly cook the brats and allow the fats to release into the onions, without splitting the brats. 

When the brats and onions have cooked 30-40 minutes and look about like this, remove the brats.  Continue cooking the onions without a lid to allow the liquids to cook off.  If you want to speed up the process, you can turn up the heat which is fine until the onions start to caramelize.  When this happens, watch your heat and adjust to allow your liquids to continue cooking off, without burning the onion paste that is beginning to form.

Notice the fats beginning to cook out of the onions.  We are getting closer!  Continue to cook over medium high heat, stirring frequently to caramelize the onion paste and break down the remaining pieces of onion.  When the paste is thickened and looks like the picture below, it is ready!!! 

 Brown your brats on the grill (or in your pan) and serve with sauerkraut, spicy mustard, the onion paste and whole wheat buns.  I promise, this is the only way to eat brats and no other way will ever satisfy!

Happy 4th of July and thanks for stopping by!


Ellie