-in partnership with Johnsonville-
There's nothing better on a hot summer day than brats on the grill.
Beer in hand, of course!
We wanted to amp things up a little, so we made Chicago-Style Beer Brats for dinner. We took Johnsonville Beer Brats, cooked them in beer for some extra flavor, finished them on the grill, and added Chicago-style hot dog toppings on top! YUM!!
If you're familiar with Chicago dogs, you'll know they're typically made with a 100% beef hot dog. But we wanted to change things up a bit this time.
And since a Chicago dog tastes great with a beer, we decided to put the Chicago dog toppings ON a beer (brat, that is) -- and cook it in beer too for even more flavor.
Here's the recipe if you'd like to try! And if you need any motivation, #Bratsgiving is coming up on August 16. 🙂
As always, if you like the recipe, please pin & share this post. Thank you! <3 Erin
Recipe: Chicago-Style Beer Brats
These Chicago-style beer brats are SUPER simple to make at home. You just need these Johnsonville Beer Brats, beer, and Chicago dog toppings!
If you're in Chicago, you may already have a lot of this at home. But if not... now's a good time to start, don't ya think?
See the recipe below for the detailed list of ingredients.
How to Cook Brats in Beer
You can use many different types of beers for this, but I like to keep it simple and use a lager -- we used Old Style. You'll need about 3 beers for 5-8 brats. We used Old Style tallboys, so it was only about 2.5 of those.
Put the brats and beer in the pot, making sure the brats are covered by at least an inch of beer. Bring the beer to a boil with the lid on, then remove the lid and simmer on low heat for 10-12 mins.
The brats will be floating at the top of the pot when they're ready. Now it's time to grill them!
Grilling the Beer Brats
Next, take the beer brats out to the grill and cook on medium heat, turning occasionally, til they're browned to your liking. Your brats are mostly (if not fully) cooked already, so this step will only take about 5-10 minutes.
Chicago Dog Toppings
And finally, top the Johnsonville Beer Brats with all of the Chicago dog toppings!
Chicago dogs have a very specific set of toppings -- and a specific order in which to add them too. The toppings are in order from top to bottom in the first photo here. Just place the brat in a poppy seed bun and add:
- A strip of yellow mustard (we used Plochman's)
- Relish* (we used vlasic sweet relish)
- Diced white onions
- Sliced tomatoes
- A Kosher dill pickle (we used vlasic)
- Two sport peppers (we used Vienna)
- And a sprinkle of celery salt
*Note: true Chicago dogs are made with a NEON green relish. It's fun to eat for a treat, like at a ballgame, but at home I typically substitute a sweet green relish (and avoid the food dye).
