In our opinion, here at Cleveland Kitchen, there is no greater food pairing in the world than sausages and sauerkraut. How can you go wrong with tangy, crunchy sauerkraut on top of juicy, smoky sausage? From ballpark brats to homemade hot dogs, these two foods are truly a match made in heaven.
While we understand that not everybody shares our enthusiasm for fermented foods, it’s hard to deny the sausage/kraut connection. To help make our case, we pulled our three favorite sausage and sauerkraut recipes together to show you what you might be missing!
To give us some variety, we’ll look at three different types of sausage; smoked sausage, kielbasa, and bratwurst! While they’re all the same essential kind of food (sausage), each has its own unique flavor that we want to accentuate, so don’t be afraid to experiment. Our recipes are designed to bring out the best in both the kraut and the sausage, but feel free to add, change, remove or edit the recipes to your liking.
Now, unpack your slow cookers, fire up the grills, grab a beer and let’s make some Sauerkraut and Sausage!
Beer-Braised Sausages and Classic Sauerkraut
We’ll start things off with the classic pairing of beer and sausage (and sauerkraut, of course). This recipe is perfect for a family meal night, potluck celebration, or even a tailgate if you have the time and equipment! If you’re looking for the best all-around, everyday sausage recipe, this might just be the one.
The only “unique” piece of kitchen equipment you’ll need is a pressure cooker, such as an Instant Pot. However, a slow cooker or crockpot will also get the job done. This recipe also leaves a number of the ingredients up for interpretation, so don’t hesitate to try a few different variations. Make this recipe your own, and pretty soon, you’ll have people begging you to make these sausages for them!
Ingredients:
- Cleveland Kitchen’s Classic Caraway Kraut
- Smoked bacon
- Onions
- Carrots
- Potatoes
- Lager Beer (of your choosing)
- Smoked Sausage
- Broth
- Bay Leaves, Salt, Black Peppercorns
Recipe:
- Cook your bacon until golden, and add the onions, cooking until softened.
- Combine the carrots, potatoes, beer, broth, and seasonings with the bacon and onions, and cook for a few minutes. Transfer the mixture to a crockpot if not already in one.
- Add Cleveland Kitchen’s Classic Caraway Kraut, cover the crockpot, and cook on high for an hour.
- Meanwhile, brown your sausages in a nonstick pan. Once the crockpot is done cooking, plate the kraut mixture with 1-2 sausages per serving!
Tip: Use this article to learn about the recipes, then check out our recipe page to nail down the specifics! You can find the full version of the above recipe here.
Polish Kielbasa with Roasted Garlic Sauerkraut
Next up on our list is a Polish original, kielbasa! If you’ve never tried kielbasa before, get ready for a treat because there are very few things that go together as well as Polish sausage and sauerkraut. Kielbasa in Polish literally translates to sausage, so there are tons of different varieties for you to choose from.
They can be made with everything from pork and caraway seeds (which we love for our kraut, too!) to venison, salt, and pepper. Once you add in our tasty Roasted Garlic fermented sauerkraut, you’ll see why we love this dish so much. Try this for a cold winter night or your next big family meal!
Ingredients
- Kielbasa
- Cleveland Kitchen’s Roasted Garlic Kraut
- Olive Oil
- Potatoes
Recipe:
- Preheat your oven before you peel and wash your potatoes.
- Dice the potatoes, and add them to a pan on the stove, along with the kielbasa, kraut, and olive oil.
- Simmer for a few minutes before transferring to an oven-safe dish and finishing in the oven!
Tip: This is one of our favorite recipes because of its simplicity! With very few ingredients but packed to the brim with flavor, you should keep this recipe in mind the next time you’re out shopping for groceries!
Crockpot Reuben Brats with Roasted Garlic Sauerkraut
Our final sauerkraut and sausage recipe mixes a deli classic with a ballpark classic! A traditional Reuben sandwich sits on a rye bun with corned beef, but we switched those out for brats and hot dog buns. This dish makes such a good crossover because both hotdogs and Reubens use shredded cabbage (sauerkraut) to tie the plate together!
As always, you could try any of these recipes with your own homemade sauerkraut if you wanted to. Sauerkraut at home is a fun way to learn about the lactic acid fermentation process and can help you ferment vegetables of all sorts in the future! However, to get the specific tastes of these recipes, we still recommend Cleveland Kitchen-made kraut. Fermented cabbage can be tricky to handle, but if you leave that part to us, your recipe will be off the charts!
Ingredients:
- Bratwurst
- Cleveland Kitchen’s Roasted Garlic Kraut
- Yellow Onion
- A bottle of lager or pale ale
- Hotdog Buns
- Swiss Cheese
- Thousand Island Dressing
Recipe:
- Brown the bratwurst on a stovetop, and combine the onions and kraut in the bottom of a crockpot.
- Once browned, place the brats in the crockpot and cover with beer. Cook on low.
- Line your hotdog buns with the cheese, and toast them in the oven until cheese is melted.
- Build your dogs, with the kraut on the bottom, followed by the brat and Thousand Island dressing.
Tip: If you do end up trying your own sauerkraut recipe, make sure that it’s for raw sauerkraut. If the recipe tells you to “boil mason jars of cabbage and salt” with a cup of water, find another recipe. To learn more about why you should choose raw sauerkraut, or to get the full recipe above, simply follow the links!
A Passion For Kraut
Cleveland Kitchen is on a mission to bring fermented foods to everyone’s attention! From our tasty, unique sauerkrauts to our authentic kimchi and fermented dressings, we think everyone on earth should make fermented foods part of their regular diet!
For more recipes like these, check out our recipes page, or catch up on our blog to learn more about fermented foods and what to do with them.