Bratwurst substitutes

The best common swap. Same fat content, same coarse grind, same fresh uncooked behaviour, so it browns, splits and braises exactly like a brat. The seasoning is fennel and garlic instead of marjoram and nutmeg, which makes a beer braise taste faintly Italian, pleasant but noticeably not German.

Best for

beer-braised brats, grilled sausage sandwiches, with sauerkraut, sausage and peppers

Prep

Poach in beer and onions 10 to 15 minutes, then colour on a hot grill or in a pan 3 to 4 minutes.

Add ½ tsp dried marjoram and ¼ tsp ground nutmeg to the braising onions to close the flavour gap.

Arguably closer than Italian sausage, because it is garlicky and marjoram-forward, which lands very near a Thuringian bratwurst. It is uncooked and unsmoked, so it behaves identically in the pan and takes up a beer braise properly. The extra garlic is the only real difference.

Best for

beer-braised brats, grilling, with sauerkraut, roasting with potatoes

Prep

Poach 15 minutes at a bare simmer, then brown. Or roast at 400F/200C for 25 minutes.

This is the pale uncooked kind sold in Polish delis around Easter, not the smoked ring kielbasa.

Right meat, right fat, wrong herbs. American breakfast and country sausage is usually seasoned with sage and black pepper and is often a touch sweeter, so it reads as breakfast rather than beer garden. Links are often thinner too, so they cook noticeably faster and can dry out.

Best for

sausage sandwiches, with potatoes, Nurnberger-style small sausages

Prep

Poach briefly then brown, or pan-fry over medium heat, 12 to 15 minutes total.

Small thin links are the best swap for Nurnberger bratwurst, which are eaten three at a time in a roll.

Much finer in texture and far milder, and both are par-cooked or fully cooked, so they only need warming through rather than cooking. They will not brown the same way and will split if you grill them hard. On a roll with mustard the meal works; on a hot grill it does not.

Best for

sausage in a roll, with sweet mustard, gentle poached dishes

Prep

Warm in water just below a simmer, then colour very briefly in a pan with butter.

Do not use these where the recipe wants a long braise; they turn mushy.

Fully cooked, cured and smoked, so it is firmer, snappier, plainly smoky and considerably saltier. For beer-braised brats it will not absorb the beer and onions the way raw sausage does, so simmer it only 10 minutes rather than 25 or it goes rubbery. The dish becomes a smoked sausage supper, which is good, just different.

Best for

beer and onion braises, with sauerkraut, sheet-pan dinners, soups

Prep

Slice or leave whole, simmer 10 minutes in the beer and onions, then brown.

Cut the salt everywhere else in the dish; smoked sausage typically carries far more sodium than fresh.

The leanest option and the most fragile. With roughly a third of the fat, it dries out and splits over direct heat before it colours, and it will not enrich a braise the way pork does. Poach or braise rather than grill hard, and add a tablespoon of butter to the pan to make up for the missing fat.

Best for

lighter versions, braises, when pork is not an option

Prep

Braise in beer and onions 12 minutes, then colour gently in butter.

Look for a chicken bratwurst specifically if your shop has one; the seasoning will at least be right.

The honest answer when only plain ground pork is available, and it tastes genuinely right because the seasoning is what makes a brat a brat. Per pound of ground pork use 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp dried marjoram, ½ tsp white pepper, ¼ tsp ground nutmeg, ¼ tsp ground ginger and ¼ tsp ground caraway. Without casings you make patties, which is unorthodox but eats well on a roll.

Best for

brat patties on a roll, brat and onion skillet, sausage crumble for casseroles

Prep

Mix, rest 30 minutes in the fridge, form into thick patties or logs, and pan-fry 4 minutes a side to 160F/71C.

Ask for coarse-ground pork shoulder if you can. Very fine ground pork gives a pasty texture.