A traditional Bavarian Sauerkraut with Sausage recipe. It's an effortless one-pot meal which you can prepare with either homemade or store-bought Sauerkraut.
This Sauerkraut recipe is as per Bavarian and Austrian customs (we share a culture) and if you have traveled to the area, this is the recipe you are looking for.
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📕 What is Sauerkraut and Sausage?
Sauerkraut is shredded cabbage fermented with salt and juniper berries over a period of 6 weeks in a clay crock pot.
The word comes from German and means sour cabbage. Kraut is just another German word for cabbage, also Kohl means cabbage (depending on the region).
The word sour is an indication that the cabbage gets to ferment, and it does turn a bit sour. This is due to probiotic lactic acid bacteria (the good guys!).
Once your Sauerkraut is done fermenting, it can be used in your food.
The fermented Sauerkraut is then first rinsed and then cooked with sausages and spices.
Instead of adding sausages to your Sauerkraut, you can add pork belly slabs too.
The purpose of adding sausages or pork meat to the Sauerkraut is to season the Sauerkraut with meat flavors and to cook the sausages in one pot, which saves also time.
This dish is most commonly prepared and served in Bavaria (Germany) and parts of neighboring Austria, such as the Tyrol region. Hence why it's called a Bavarian Sauerkraut sausage dish.
You might have come across Sauerkraut and sausages with dumplings on a trip to Munich Bavaria. If you are heading there, I recommend a Sauerkraut and pork meat meal at the famous Hofbräuhaus München.
Resource: Are you searching for a German food word? Use my German and Austrian to English Food translation. Traveling to Austria or Germany? Get the Austrian to English guide and the German to English translation.
🍲 Ingredients
Here is a quick overview of the ingredients that you need to make this dish from scratch at home.
US and metric measurement details can be found further below in the recipe card.
- sauerkraut – see below, the difference between store-bought and homemade Sauerkraut.
- onion – yellow or white
- bay leaf – regular bay leaf
- black pepper – whole spice
- caraway seeds – can be substituted with cumin seeds, but the taste will change a bit
- juniper berries – whole. Do not skip this spice, it adds all the essential flavors!
- water
- beer – your favorite beer, we use wheat beer (aka Weißbier in German).
- sausage and/or pork belly slabs
🆚 Store-bought VS homemade Sauerkraut
If you can make traditional Sauerkraut in a clay crockpot, then this is the best option. Also, Sauerkraut prepared in a jar is fine.
Homemade Sauerkraut not only tastes better, but contains important nutrients. It's a wholesome option.
Store-bought Sauerkraut is rarely real Sauerkraut. They don't ferment it, they enrich it with acidity to make it appear that it's Sauerkraut.
You can use store-bought Sauerkraut, but the flavors are just not the same.
That said, if you buy quality Sauerkraut, your meal will still turn out great. I have used store-bought Sauerkraut for this in the past, and it turned out fine.
The difference between store-bought and homemade Sauerkraut in a meal is the initial preparation and addition of salt.
Homemade Sauerkraut contains a lot of salt, and therefore it needs to be rinsed when you take it out of the crockpot. You don't need to salt your Sausage and Sauerkraut dish during the cooking process.
Thanks to its ease of use, store-bought Sauerkraut doesn't need to be rinsed but you have to season it with salt when you are cooking the dish.
💡 Tips
We traditionally add locally available sausages such as Knacker/Knackwurst, Frankfurter, Wiener (weenies), St.Johanner sausages, and Käsekrainer to just name a few.
Weißwurst sausages (white veal sausages from Munich) need to be cooked separately but are also commonly served along.
You can add sausages that are available in your country. Pork Sausages are your best choice to flavor your Sauerkraut! Bonus if you add smoked sausage.
You can use Italian sausages, Kielbasa sausage, other polish sausage, Andouille, Bratwurst, or simply hot dog sausages!
Using pork belly slabs is also a common way to flavor cooked Sauerkraut. It can be used instead of the sausages or with the sausages. You get to choose!
Don't skip on the spices. Every spice adds flavor to your Sauerkraut, and together they make it an authentic dish with a great flavor profile.
We don't add salt to this dish because homemade fermented Sauerkraut is full of salt already. If you use store-bought Sauerkraut, add salt to taste.
Beer adds so much flavor to a Sauerkraut dish! You can also use white wine instead of beer, but I think it just tastes better with beer.
Adding white wine instead of beer to Sauerkraut is a tradition in a neighboring Alsace region in France. We wrote a detailed post about the Alsace wine route.
Sauerkraut in Alsace is known as Choucroute and the similar Sausage and Sauerkraut dish is called Choucroute garni.
🔪 How to make it?
Here is a quick overview of how to make this at home. The full recipe with US and metric measurements is located in the recipe card further below.
Step 1
Heat oil in a pan. Sauté onion slices until soft.
Stir in the Sauerkraut.
Step 2
Add seasoning, with bay leaf, black peppercorn, juniper berries and caraway seeds.
Pour in the beer and water.
Place sausages into the sauerkraut and submerge.
Step 3
Cook over a slow to medium heat setting, covered, for about 25–30 minutes.
Pick out bay leaf, peppercorn and juniper berries when done cooking. Taste to see if it needs salt.
Plate up.
🍱 Storing
Store leftovers in your refrigerator for up to 2–3 days in an airtight container. Use up within that time frame.
Reheat in the oven in a baking dish, or in the microwave over a low to medium heat setting. It should reheat gradually so that the Sauerkraut doesn't burn.
You can meal prep a larger quantity in advance by placing the cooked sauerkraut with sausage into batches in freezer-friendly baking dishes.
When you want to eat it, just thaw and bake in the oven until hot.
🍴 What to eat with Sausage and Sauerkraut?
Sauerkraut and sausage can be served as is, with no extras.
But we do love eating dumplings with our Sauerkraut and pork meats. Semmelknödel dumplings or potato dumplings are the most commonly added Knödel dumplings.
You can also make and serve this complete meal with Käsepressknödel dumplings to switch up things.
If you are looking for an easy, but suitable and still traditional, side dish, make skillet parsley buttered potatoes. Furthermore, sautéed chanterelle make for a great addition.
In Bavaria, they like to serve soft Bretzels and a beer with that. Think Oktoberfest food in Munich.
Other meats such as ribs and pork loin roast can be served along with this dish too. That said, you can also prepare an oven roasted pork and Sauerkraut meal in a Dutch oven.
Austrian and Bavarian mustard with horseradish are great as a condiment served along with your Sauerkraut and pork dishes. If you can't get that, use French Dijon mustard or homemade whole grainy mustard.
Another condiment idea is tangy sweet lingonberry jam and adding some sharp ground horseradish might be a culinary delight to some.
💭 FAQs
Sausage cooked with Sauerkraut is traditionally eaten in Southern Germany and Austria during the colder months because it's a wholesome and hefty meal and because Sauerkraut is prepared from freshly shredded cabbage in autumn after the harvest. Large quantities of cabbage are preserved and turned into vitamin C enriched and fermented Sauerkraut. Most restaurants will serve it up as a seasonal special in September, October, November, December, January and February.
Only Sauerkraut prepared at home in a crockpot needs to be rinsed. This is because cabbage is fermented with a lot of salt (so that it preserves), and you need to rinse off the excess salt to make it edible.
If you use homemade Sauerkraut, you will have to rinse and drain it. If you use store-bought Sauerkraut, you may choose to drain it, but you don't have to. The juices can enrich your dish.
Follow my seasoning instructions and don't skip adding meat to your sauerkraut as it flavors your Sauerkraut. You may add shredded sweet apples to this recipe during the cooking process, but it will turn into a slight tangy Sauerkraut.
No, you can eat it raw too. We heat it up to infuse it with flavors and to make it taste better.
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📖 Recipe
Bavarian Sauerkraut and Sausage Recipe
Ingredients
- 1-2 Tablespoon Oil or Lard, *see Notes
- 1 Onion sliced
- 1 Pound Sauerkraut *see Notes
- 1 Large Bay leaves
- 5 Piece Black Peppercorns Whole
- 3 Piece Juniper Berries
- 1 Teaspoon Caraway Seeds Whole *See Notes for substitution
- 1 Cup Beer *see Notes
- 1 Cup Water
- 2-4 Sausages *see Notes
- Salt to taste (optional)
Instructions
- Heat up oil into a small pan and sauté sliced onions for a few minutes over a medium heat setting, until the onion slices soften.1-2 Tablespoon Oil, 1 Onion
- Reduce the heat a bit and stir in your Sauerkraut.1 Pound Sauerkraut
- Add the seasoning, the bay leaf, black peppercorn, juniper berries and caraway seeds.1 Large Bay leaves, 5 Piece Black Peppercorns Whole, 3 Piece Juniper Berries, 1 Teaspoon Caraway Seeds Whole
- Pour in your beer and water.1 Cup Beer, 1 Cup Water
- Place your sausages into the sauerkraut. They can be frozen or thawed. Submerge and cover the Sausages with Sauerkraut.2-4 Sausages
- Keep your cooking pot with the sauerkraut over a medium-low heat setting, covered, to cook for about 20 to 30 minutes. Stir occasionally to make sure nothing sticks at the bottom. If it gets too hot, reduce the heat to a lower heat setting. The Sauerkraut should get infused with flavors, the beer, and water should reduce, and the sausages should cook through. If your sauerkraut is too wet looking, cook the last 10 minutes uncovered to reduce the liquids.
- Take out whole spices, bay leaf, peppercorn, and juniper berries. Discard the whole spices. Season with salt to taste.Salt
- Plate up the sauerkraut with sausage. You can serve dumplings or parsley potatoes with that. Mustard and horseradish make for a fine addition as well.
Notes
- Plain flavored oil such as sunflower oil or vegetable oil can be used, but if you really want to add authentic flavors, add and use lard.
- Use store-bought sauerkraut or homemade Sauerkraut.
- Caraway is a main ingredient that will add all the essential flavors. If you can't get caraway, you may use cumin seeds instead, but the flavor will change considerably. Therefore, I highly recommend adding only caraway seeds. They need to be whole and not ground.
- We use wheat beer in the alps, but you can use your favorite beer, even dark ones or craft beer. Just remember, the beer flavor will transfer to the dish, so if you pick a bitter beer, the sauerkraut will turn out a bit more bitter.
- In Austria and Germany, people use local sausages such as wiener, st.johanner, knacker, and käsekrainer. You can use kielbasa too and mini wieners. (see post for ideas). You can also add pork belly slabs instead of sausages in this recipe.
- Season with salt to taste. Only add salt if necessary. Traditionally prepared sauerkraut contains a lot of salt, so tasting your Sauerkraut and Sausage is crucial before adding salt.
- If you intend to add the white Bavarian sausage to your Sauerkraut, then please cook them separately by boiling the sausages in some water.
- Vegetarians can omit adding sausages, or they can use vegan sausages. We add meats because they give flavor to the whole Sauerkraut dish, plus you won't need to take out another pot just to cook the meats.
