You might have come across the Sausage Salad, aka the Wurstsalat, on a trip to a German-speaking country in Europe.
I show you how you can make this traditional salad at home and share the best serving ideas at the end
What is the Sausage Salad?
The sausage salad is quite literally a salad made of luncheon sausage strips that is flavored with thinly cut raw onions and a vinegar-based tart dressing.
Wurstsalat means sausage salad in German, which is the name of the dish.
Slices of deli meat are cut into strips and usually a local sausage variety is used such as Extrawurst or Lyoner. The equivalent in the states is Bologna.
Cheese strips are sometimes added as well, depending on the region.
The Swiss claim this dish as their invention, but so do the Southern Germans. So, sometimes they say that the cheese version is the Swiss Wurstsalat.
Ingredients
I generally saw a shift in the preparation over the years in Bavaria (Southern Germany) and in Austria, where the Wurstsalat is very popular. People add cheese because it balances out the flavors and it adds texture.
Normally, people make this at home, when they have leftover deli sausage, and they need to use it up before it turns bad. Pink sausages don't keep well for long, and nobody wastes food in this part of the world. Therefore, this dish is zero waste!
The dressing of a Wurstsalat is based on vinegar and makes this dish sour, which compliments the sausage and cheese with pungent onion beautifully.
- Onion — A white or yellow onion is normally used. You can play around with purple or red onions and if you like it milder, pick shallots instead.
- Pink Deli Lunch Meat — We use our local pork and beef-based Extrawurst or Lyoner sausages to make this salad, but I have also seen people prepare it with Italian Mortadella, for example. You can also make it with Bologna, or pink ham if that is what you get. In the pictures and video, I also used a paprika Extrawurst version, so flavored luncheon meats can enhance your Wurstsalat even further. Learn more about the different German cold cuts.
- Cheese Slices — A neutral flavored cheese. We use Emmentaler or Appenzeller, but you can use Gouda cheese slices too.
- Bell Pepper — optional. Adds color, juiciness, and flavors. I like orange, red, or yellow bell peppers added.
- Vinegar — A distilled vinegar is fine or white wine vinegar. It can be higher in acidity.
- Oil — We use a neutral flavored oil such as sunflower oil, canola oil or vegetable oil.
- Salt and Black Pepper
- Chives — to use as a topping.
How to make it?
Step 1
Slice your onion very fine with the knife or use a mandoline slicer.
Cut the bell pepper into slices, they can be thin or not, but don't cut them too thick.
Keep all in a bowl.
Step 2
Stack cheese slices over each other, Cut into half along the longer side. Stack over each other again.
Then go ahead and slice your cheese into strips. Separate the cheese strips a bit after you are done cutting them and add to the bowl with the onion and bell pepper.
Step 3
Stack luncheon meat slices over each other and cut into half and stack one of the halves over the other half.
Cut the sausage slices into strips. Separate them a bit from each other and add to the other ingredients in the bowl.
Step 4
Pour vinegar and oil over the Wurstsalat and season with salt and crushed black pepper.
Mix it all very well. The sausage salad needs to be well coated with the dressing.
Step 5
Chop fresh green chives.
To serve, sprinkle chives on your salad.
📖 Recipe
Sausage Salad Recipe (Wurstsalat)
Ingredients
- 1 Onion large
- ⅓ cup Bell Pepper Optional, I like to use yellow, red, and orange
- 4 slices Cheese *see Notes or post
- 1 cup Luncheon Meat i.e cold cuts *see Notes or post
- 3 Tablespoon Vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon Oil
- Salt to taste
- Black Pepper to taste
- ~1 Tablespoon Chives fresh
Instructions
- Slice your onion very fine with a sharp knife or use a mandoline slicer. The onion needs to be cut fine as this adds to the texture experience in this dish. Place the sliced onion into a large mixing bowl.1 Onion
- Slice your bell pepper. These can be a bit thicker cut but don't cut them too thick either. Add the cut bell pepper pieces to your onions.⅓ cup Bell Pepper
- Stack the cheese slices over each other. Cut into half lengthwise and if they are large, cut them to quarter pieces. Pile these all over each other and slice to create small cheese strips (the strips should be about 1 inch/ 2 cm long). Place the cut cheese strips to the onion and bell pepper.4 slices Cheese
- Keep a stack of luncheon meat ready and cut it in the middle into half. Pile the two halves over each other and slice the cold cuts so that you are left with small sausage strips. Add the strips to your bowl with the other ingredients.1 cup Luncheon Meat
- I like to separate the sausage and cheese strips with my fingers a bit so that they mix up better.
- Pour the dressing ingredients and seasoning over the ingredients in the bowl. Pour the vinegar and oil over the onion, etc. Season with a sprinkle of salt and pepper.3 Tablespoon Vinegar, 1 Tablespoon Oil, Salt, Black Pepper
- Mix all the ingredients well. The sausage salad should be well coated with the dressing.
- Chop your fresh chives and sprinkle over the Wurstsalat when you are ready to serve it. I like the salad cooled.~1 Tablespoon Chives
Notes
- In Austria etc, we use Extrawurst or Lyoner sausage cold cuts. The equivalent to that in the US is Bologna luncheon meat. You can also use Italian Mortadella or other deli meat sausages such as turkey breast or chicken sausages.
- The cheese doesn't need to be very flavorful. We like to use Emmentaler and Appenzeller in Europe. Something like Gouda will work well too.
- Bell Peppers are optional, but I think they add nice colors, texture, and flavors to the salad. Makes it more juicy too.
Equipment
- 8" Chef Knife
- Silicone Spatula or spoon to mix it all
Nutrition
Serving
We usually prepare and eat this sausage salad as a snack with pickles and black rye bread. This can be served with shredded or ground horseradish.
Despite that, I have had it as a lunch salad too, especially in the summer months it's cooling.
If you are hosting an Oktoberfest food party, you can make a sausage salad to surprise your guests. This dish is traditionally served at the Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany.
You will encounter this salad on a trip to Austria, Southern Germany and in the German-speaking Swiss areas on Restaurant menus, but also grocery stores sell Wurstsalat in the deli meat section.
As a snack, it goes well with beer. People order it in the Alms (alpine restaurant huts) after a tiring hike up the mountains.
I, personally, love dark wheat beer and when in Bavaria, I'll order that with my Wurstsalat. They make the best dark wheat beers!
By the way, if you are in the area, I recommend that you head to the restaurant Edelweiss next to the Ettal abbey in Bavaria. They make some of the most delicious Wurstsalat, and also Obatzda dip, that we have ever encountered!
Storing
You can prepare this salad in advance and store it in a rectangular glass container cooled in your fridge.
The salad lasts as long as the expiration date on your deli meats, but you need to always refrigerate the salad.
I prefer to keep my sausage to marinate for a day in the fridge before I eat it, that way the raw onions are not as strong and the flavors infuse into the sausage strips.
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