Name: Slow-Cooker Beer Brats
Total time: 4 h
Cuisine: US & Canada
Ingredients: 1 pound onions , sliced into 1/4-inch-thick rings; 1/4 cup soy sauce; 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar; 2 1/2 pounds bratwurst (10 sausages); 3 cups beer; 1/4 cup Dijon mustard , plus extra for serving; 1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds; 1 cup sauerkraut; 10 hoagie rolls

Why This Recipe Works

For those times when tailgating isn’t an option, we wanted traditional beer brats from the slow cooker. When it came to beer, clean, light American lager was the winner—other brews turned bitter after hours of cooking. Microwaving sliced onions with soy sauce and sugar means they’re tender and sweet by the time they come out of the cooker, and waiting until the end to stir in the sauerkraut preserves its tang. Gentle cooking proved essential to keeping the brats moist, so we elevate them above the simmering liquid on a raft of onions; as a bonus, this helps the casings keep their snap.

Before You Begin

Light-bodied American lagers, such as Budweiser, work best for this recipe. Standard-size hot dog buns will be too small for the brats, so buy larger hoagie rolls.

Instructions

Combine onions, soy sauce, and sugar in bowl and microwave until just softened, about 5 minutes, stirring halfway through cooking. Spread onions and their liquid in bottom of slow cooker. Arrange bratwursts in single layer on top of onions.

Whisk beer, mustard, and caraway seeds together in bowl and add to slow cooker. Cover and cook until bratwursts are tender, 6 to 8 hours on low or 4 hours on high.

Transfer bratwursts to platter and tent loosely with aluminum foil. Stir sauerkraut into onion mixture in slow cooker and let sit until warmed through, about 5 minutes. Strain onion-sauerkraut mixture through colander, discarding liquid, and transfer to serving bowl. Serve bratwursts on rolls, topped with onion-sauerkraut mixture and mustard.