Slow Cooker Beer Brats + VIDEO

This slow cooker beer brats recipe is easy and crowd-pleasing with minimal effort. Using only a few ingredients including your favorite beer, the end result is juicy, flavorful brats. Perfect for game day, picnics, or weeknight dinners! This recipe uses five brats—the standard grocery store pack—but you can easily double it for a larger group. Instructions to make beer brats in the Instant Pot are also included. 

Ingredients For Beer Brats

There are less than 5 ingredients in this easy slow cooker beer brats recipe:

• Beer: 24 ounces of your preferred beer. Of course certain types of beer work better. 
• Brats: This recipe uses 5 brats which is the standard grocery store packaging. Feel free to double the recipe if you have a larger slow cooker.
• Onion: I like to use 1 medium-size onion. If you think you’ll want more onions, use more. Or omit them all together.
• Seasonings: The seasonings are simple – salt, pepper, and garlic powder. 

How To Make Beer Brats In The Slow Cooker

Making beer brats in the slow cooker is very easy. Add all the ingredients and let it cook on low for 6-8 hours. After it’s done cooking, I almost always take the extra step to grill or broil my brats afterwards. This is listed as optional but recommended. 

Slow Cooker

1. Add onion to the slow cooker. Add bratwursts on top.
2. Season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  Pour beer on top.
3. Cook HIGH 3-4 hours or LOW 6-8.

Instant Pot

1. Turn on the pressure cooker and select sauté. Once hot add butter/oil and the brats. Cook 2-4 minutes on each side or until browned to your liking.
2. Remove brats. Add onions and cook 3-5 minutes or until soft. Turn off pressure cooker.
3. Pour in beer and deglaze the bottom of the pressure cooker by scraping all the bits off with a wooden spoon. Stir in garlic powder, salt & pepper. Add bratwursts.
4. Close lid and seal valve. Set high pressure for 6 minutes. When done, quick release the pressure.

AFTER COOKING

1. Remove brats from the slow cooker or Instant Pot.
2. Place on a baking sheet & heat under the broiler for 3-5 minutes OR grill over medium-high heat for a few minutes on each side.

FAQs & Tips

What are brats?

The term ‘brats’ is short for bratwurst. Bratwurst is a type of sausage that originated in Germany but is made around the world. In the United States, Wisconsin in particular is known for not just bratwursts but for creating beer brats. Beer brats are bratwursts that have been simmered in beer with onions and then grilled before serving. Bratwursts are sold in nationwide grocery stores, they should not be hard to find or too expensive.  

What type of beer should you use?

Your preferred beer! I used Rolling Rock because I don’t drink beer so I went with the beer my late Grandfather used to drink. In general lagers are good beers to use with beer brats because their flavor don’t take away from the brat. They’re also affordable & you can pretty much find them anywhere.

Do you grill or broil the brats?

When they’re done cooking in their beer bath, beer brats are then removed and then either grilled or broiled until they’re nice & crisp. Since pressure cookers have a saute function, you pre-cook the sausage directly in the appliance so there’s no need to grill or broil the sausage afterwards. Unless you want to. Sometimes I still find that after the beer bath in the Instant Pot my sausage still need to go under my broiler for a few minutes.

How do you serve beer brats? 

How you serve the beer brats is up to you. The obvious answer is with the onions that are cooked with them. Aside from that, the sky is the limit. My preferred toppings are sauerkraut and mustard. 

How do you store leftovers?

Store leftover slow cooker beer brats in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. 

What size slow cooker did I use?

I use a 3.5-quart slow cooker for this recipe. Feeding a larger crowd? Double the recipe and use a larger slow cooker.

Sausage Recipes

• Bangers & Mash

• Cajun Turkey & Sausage Soup

• Cajun Chicken & Sausage

• Sausage, Potatoes & Green Beans

• Sausage, Onions & Peppers

Slow Cooker Beer Brats

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This slow cooker beer brats recipe is easy and crowd-pleasing with minimal effort. Using only a few ingredients including your favorite beer, the end result is juicy, flavorful brats. Perfect for game day, picnics, or weeknight dinners! This recipe uses five brats—the standard grocery store pack—but you can easily double it for a larger group. Instructions to make beer brats in the Instant Pot are also included.

• Author: Shannon Epstein
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 4 hours
• Total Time: 10 hours 5 mins
• Yield: 5 servings 1x

Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• 5 bratwursts, uncooked
• 1 medium-size onion, sliced
• 24 ounces beer
• 1 /2 teaspoons garlic powder
• Pinch salt & pepper
• 1 tbsp oil or butter (for pressure cooker)

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

Slow Cooker

1. Add onion to the slow cooker. Add bratwursts on top.
2. Season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  Pour beer on top.
3. Cook HIGH 3-4 hours or LOW 6-8.

Instant Pot

1. Turn on the pressure cooker and select sauté. Once hot add butter/oil and the brats. Cook 2-4 minutes on each side or until browned to your liking.
2. Remove brats. Add onions and cook 3-5 minutes or until soft. Turn off pressure cooker.
3. Pour in beer and deglaze the bottom of the pressure cooker by scraping all the bits off with a wooden spoon. Stir in garlic powder, salt & pepper. Add bratwursts.
4. Close lid and seal valve. Set high pressure for 6 minutes. When done, quick release the pressure.

AFTER COOKING

1. Remove brats from the slow cooker or Instant Pot.
2. Place on a baking sheet & heat under the broiler for 3-5 minutes OR grill over medium-high heat for a few minutes on each side.

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