Cider Braised Bratwurst with Onions and Peppers

cider braised sausage onions peppers

Does a gluten-free lifestyle mean you have to miss out on beer braised bratwurst from now until eternity? Of course not. There’s always the gluten-free hard stuff. But either way, gluten-free or not, I’ve never really thought beer braised brats tasted like much more than just…brats. So we’ve decided to amp up the flavor by using hard apple cider in place of the beer. Hard apple cider is naturally gluten-free and full of delicious caramel, fruity flavor, a near perfect compliment to sausage, onions and peppers.

Ingredients

  • 2 T butter
  • 1 yellow onion, sliced thinly
  • 1 red or yellow bell pepper, sliced
  • 1 lb fresh bratwursts
  • 1, 12 oz. bottle hard (or not hard) sparkling apple cider

In a saute pan, melt the butter over medium low heat and sweat out the onions and peppers.

Meanwhile, heat a grill pan (or an outdoor grill) to medium-high.

Add the apple cider and brats to the onions & peppers in the saute pan. Loosely cover the saute pan and let the brats steam in the cider until they’re just about cooked through.

Once the brats have steamed through, place them on the grill and get them nice and charred.

While the brats are grilling, turn up the heat on the saute pan. Simmer the onion, pepper and cider until the juices have reduced to a nice syrupy consistency


Comments

13 responses to “Cider Braised Bratwurst with Onions and Peppers”

  1. Thank you for the reminder to pull out the homemade hard cider for cooking! I just had a suggestion – ever tried Finnriver Hopped Hard Cider? I’ve been GF for 3+ years and I’d take that cider over the best GF beer any day. It is phenomenal – fresh and green tasting and bracing and wonderful with food. I’ve become quite the cider lover since I had to quit gluten, and I’m telling you, this is the stuff I keep coming back to.

  2. haven’t heard of that one…we need to track that down stat!

  3. Will Gant

    This looks delicious. One question though. Does it need to be sparkling hard cider or can it be flat? The reason I’m asking is that I regularly ferment my own cider, but I don’t do sparkling (frankly, it’s more effort than I care to put in). But I have loads of regular cider available.

    I’ll probably try it anyway, but I was wondering if that slight modification would make a huge difference in taste.

    Thanks,
    Will

    1. all the sparkle goes away when you reduce it down anyway…i don’t see how you’d even be able to tell the difference, sparkling is just what we had. thanks and hope you enjoy.

  4. […] Cider-braised bratwurst with onions and peppers […]

  5. These are SOOOO good that I almost feel guilty eating them!! I am new to paleo and I was dreading the change until I happened upon your blog. Thank you!! 🙂

    1. aw, thank you ashley!

  6. I seriously think I just gave myself indigestion eating my leftovers too fast. Ridiculously good. As bell peppers are out of season (literally a red organic pepper was $4 at Kroger) I just used onions and cremini mushrooms. We used Newton’s Folly hard cider, and they were to die for! All of your recipes end up being favorites in our house…butt squash lasagna, pumpkin chili (I subbed mashed sweet potatoes last time) to name a few. I can’t wait to try out some more recipes on superbowl weekend (thought I couldn’t care less about the game itself). 🙂

    1. hahahaha. thank you so much meaghan!

  7. Jessica

    Does anyone have the prep directions handy? the Food Renegade link isn’t working for me and I am really excited about this recipe

    1. In a saute pan, melt the butter over medium low heat and sweat out the onions and peppers.

      Meanwhile, heat a grill pan (or an outdoor grill) to medium-high.

      Add the apple cider and brats to the onions & peppers in the saute pan. Loosely cover the saute pan and let the brats steam in the cider until they’re just about cooked through.

      Once the brats have steamed through, place them on the grill and get them nice and charred.

      While the brats are grilling, turn up the heat on the saute pan. Simmer the onion, pepper and cider until the juices have reduced to a nice syrupy consistency.

      Add the grilled brats back in and serve.

  8. Susan Hazel

    Holy monkey. I have just picked up about 30 brats from our local German restaurant deli on a “group coupon”. (Deal was expiring, and it was all they had left!) I froze them before I went on a trip, and I’ve been reluctant to defrost because I had NO IDEA what I was going to do with so many brats…UNTIL NOW!!! Thank you for saving my week! 😀

  9. […] Like brats? Like cider? You’ll love cider braised bratwurst. […]

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