📍 Wisconsin

Sheboygan-style bratwurst

Name: Sheboygan-style bratwurst
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 4 fresh pork bratwurst sausages; 2 bottles light beer; 1 sliced onion; 2 tablespoons butter; 4 firm semmel or kaiser rolls; Brown mustard; Sliced pickles

· Lunch

A charcoal-grilled pork sausage served on a semmel roll with mustard, onion, and pickles, typical of Wisconsin's fry-outs.

Editorial content by WorldBites · 2026-10-04 · Contact

Sheboygan-style bratwurst: A charcoal-grilled pork sausage served on a semmel roll with mustard, onion, and pickles, typical of Wisconsin's fry-outs. — Photo: Dominik Schwind · CC BY 2.0 · via Wikimedia CommonsPhoto resized, converted to WebP and cropped for display.

⏱ 40 min🍽 4 servings📊 Easy🏷 Commonly associated

Preparation: 15 min
Cooking: 25 min
Waiting and resting: 0 min

History

German immigrants brought the bratwurst to Wisconsin, and Sheboygan proclaimed itself the sausage's world capital. The local custom is to grill it slowly over charcoal and sometimes soak it in beer and onion. It is served on a firm semmel-style roll, often doubled up, at outdoor gatherings called 'brat frys.'

Ingredients

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Preparation

1
Heat the beer with the onion and butter in a wide pot.
2
Parboil the bratwurst in that beer over gentle heat without bursting the skin.
3
Grill, turning, until browned and the center reaches 71 °C; keep the beer bath hot.
4
Return them to the beer and onion bath to keep them juicy.
5
Serve each bratwurst on its roll with mustard, onion from the bath, and pickles.