“How to grill brats and how long to grill brats” are two of the most sought-after questions for barbecue novices. If done properly, brats are nothing less than heaven on your plate.
However, if you mess up anything during the cooking process, be prepared to receive the utmost scornful looks from everyone at the dining table.
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What is a brats?
A brat is a type of sausage that is traditionally made from pork and beef. It can be grilled or fried, but most people grill them to achieve the perfect crispy outside with juicy inside.
There are other ways to cook a brat, such as boiling or microwaving it. In this blog post you will learn how to prepare your own personal grill master’s favorite dish!
READ ALSO: 5 easiest meat to smoke in electric smoker + steps
How To Grill Brats: 5 Tips From Grillmasters
#1: Buy Your Brats From Reputable Sources
It is an enormous must-not-do to purchase your bratwursts in a package. Pre-made bratwursts tend to fall off in terms of flavor. Most of the time, the packaged wursts are cheap and generic in quality.
The only place where seasoned grillmasters would buy their sausages is the local butcher shop. These facilities make bratwursts fresh everyday and usually incorporate their signature flair into the products, with different seasonings and meat mixtures.
#2: Choose The Right Type Of Oil
It is extremely important to brush your grill with oil to prevent the wursts from sticking to the grates. However, choosing the wrong type of oil or applying too much can lead to undesired smoke clouds and uninviting smoke flavor entering your brats.
To prevent this, choose oil with a high burning and smoking point such as peanut, sunflower or canola oil.
#3: Set Up And Organize Your Grill
After you have fired up your charcoals, it is extremely important to pour your charcoals in on one side of the grill, and leave the other side totally charcoal-free.
By doing so, you are dividing your grill into 2 areas: the high heat area and the low heat one. This method is called zone heating. This technique allows you to better monitor the cooking process of your brats. For example, if your brats are burning too quickly on the high heat area, simply move them to the low heat one.
This technique applies similarly to a propane stove. You simply need to fire up one of the two main stoves to create the two different heat zones.
#4: Prepare Your Brats
Despite many recipes out there encouraging you to puncture the brats’ casing slightly, I suggest that you refrain completely from doing so. Poking holes on your wursts will allow the brats’ juice to escape easily during the cooking process. Consequently, you are left with a dry and disappointing end product.
Unless you are into drinking brats-flavored water, stop boiling your sausages before grilling. This method does not enhance the flavor of your wursts whatsoever.
#5: Let’s Get Grilling
Do you love brats but don’t know how to grill them? We have the perfect recipe for you. Follow these steps and you’ll be a pro in no time:
- Get out your grill and turn it on high heat.
- Slice two onions thinly into rings, place inside of aluminum foil and seal tightly with the edges. Place directly onto the hot grates, cooking for about 10 minutes or until they are browned and crispy looking around the edges; set aside once done.
- Grab some potatoes (we like red ones), wash thoroughly, cut in half lengthwise, then slice crosswise so that each piece is 1/4 inch thick; toss with olive oil and sprinkle with salt & pepper.
You need to pamper your brats when you are cooking them. For the best results, place it slow or medium-low heat (between 300 and 350°F) for about 20 minutes until they reach 160 degrees Fahrenheit which should take between 15 – 25 minutes depending on thickness of meats. Be sure to turn often so each side gets caramelized and succulent!
My Final
How to grill brats and how long to grill brats are two deceivingly difficult skills to acquire, as there are so many margins for errors. However, by applying the 5 steps above, it is almost guaranteed that your brats will come out of the grill a superstar. So what are you waiting for? Grill your brats like a true master right now!
