Cooking brats in the oven is a quick and easy way to cook bratwurst when you don't want to pull out your grill. Oven-baked brats are even faster than grilled sausages and they turn out amazing!
We show you how to bake them on their own or cook brats with peppers and onions. It's a WHOLE LOTTA YUM!
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Baked Brats
Serve the baked brats with fried cabbage, sauerkraut, a bun, German potato salad, cucumber salad, roasted vegetables, broccoli cheese soup, your favorite kind of mustard, and beer of course!
If you love cooking brats as much as we do then you'll want to check out our posts on instant pot beer brats and air fryer bratwurst too.
If you're used to grilling brats you might even be wondering can you bake brats indoors? And how exactly do they compare? My husband is of German heritage and eating brats is a common menu item in our home. Here's a little secret I'll let you in on early in the post...making uncooked fresh brats in the oven makes the BEST bratwurst! So similar to the look and taste you'd get from grilled brats without going out in potentially bad weather.
Ever since he bought a Big Green Egg a couple of years ago that I still don't know how to use (or maybe am not allowed to get near?) I've been perfecting all of the indoor ways to cook brats, especially when it's not summertime!
Why you'll love this recipe for cooking Bratwurst in Oven
- Cooking brats in the oven only takes less than 20 minutes
- Baked brats still get a nice char line you're used to from grilled brats
- This method means it's easy to enjoy brats year-round, regardless of the weather
- The brats turn out so plump and juicy in the oven
- It's an easy method to cook vegetables like roasted peppers and onions in the same pan
Ingredients needed for Bratwurst in Oven
- 1 pkg uncooked bratwurst (5 brats)
- Optional toppings- red or green bell peppers, onions, sauerkraut, pickles, or stone ground mustard
- Optional Beer - for soaking the brats before cooking
Cooking Johnsonville brats in the oven is one of our go-to brands (and no we were not paid to say that), there's just something about their seasoning that makes them our go-to brand just about every time we want to cook brats in the oven. We also love to buy the Costco pack to serve a crowd.
A standard-sized package of uncooked brats comes with 5 sausages, feel free to double the recipe and get two packages. They make great leftovers!
NOTE: If you buy the larger deli size brats, they will take longer to cook than our recipe states. We used standard size bratwurst.
How to make Brats in Oven
If you want to cook beer brats in oven, it’s super simple to do. One option is to buy beer brats that are already marinated in beer, there is usually numerous pre-flavored bratwurst on the market these days.
That being said, if you have a favorite beer you love you’d rather bake your bratwurst, here’s how to do that:
In a shallow smaller pan, add one can or bottle of beer. Add the raw bratwurst to the beer and marinate for 30 minutes. Remove the bratwurst after 30 mins and continue cooking with the bratwurst in the oven instructions. You can also make beer boiled brats and then give them a quick broil to finish cooking them through.
How to Cook Brats in the Oven
You truly won't believe how quickly it takes to cook bratwurst in the oven!
Turn your oven to 400 F.
Lay the uncooked fresh bratwurst on a baking sheet or in a cast-iron skillet, making sure to spread the sausages out and give them plenty of space.
How Long to Cook Brats in Oven?
Bake the bratwurst on one side for 10 minutes.
Flip the sausages over with a spatula or tongs, and continue cooking for 8-10 more minutes until the oven-baked brats are cooked through and have an internal temperature of at least 160 F.
If the bratwurst in oven isn't yet browned to your liking but are cooked on the inside, you can broil them for 1-2 minutes until golden brown.
How to Cook Brats With Peppers and Onions
Cooking bratwurst with peppers and onions is super easy!
Thinly slice 1-2 bell peppers and one onion. Lay on the large baking sheet that the bratwurst will also be cooked on.
Drizzle with 1+ tablespoon olive oil, and sprinkle with ½ teaspoon salt (or garlic salt) and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Mix the peppers and onions together in the pan.
Lay the bratwurst on the pan with the vegetables. After the brats get cooked in the oven for 10 minutes and get flipped, also stir the vegetables in the pan.
The vegetables should be done at the same time as the baked bratwurst. Sometimes we like to drizzle a little balsamic glaze over the peppers to add an extra punch of flavor.
How to serve Baked Brats
If you're wondering what to serve with brats, there's a variety of classic recipes and German-inspired ideas you'll love. Many people serve bratwurst on a bun like a fancy hot dog, but it's also often served as the main dish without a bun and a variety of sides. Here are a few ideas!
- A bun
- cooked peppers and onions
- Fried cabbage
- Sauerkraut
- Roasted vegetables like broccoli or Brussels sprouts
- Cucumber salad
- German potato salad
- Potato pancakes
- Mustards
- Corn on the Cob
- And beer of course!
How to store Baked Brats
Store: Store cooked and baked brats in the fridge for up to 4-5 days.
Freeze: You can freeze bratwurst for up to 3 months, wrap them in plastic wrap first and then in foil or put them in a Ziplock freezer bag.
Reheat: The quickest way to reheat bratwurst is to pan fry them in a skillet for a couple minutes per side or air fry them on 370 F until heated through.
Brats in Oven FAQs
You should not poke holes in bratwurst before baking them, to do so causes valuable moisture loss. People often believed that if you don’t poke holes in brats they can burst or split during cooking, but as long as you don’t overcook the sausages, they’ll stay whole.
The best way to know when brats are done in the oven is to use a digital meat thermometer, according to the USDA cook the bratwurst to an internal temperature of at least 160 F. Brats won’t be fully browned at 160 F but you can cook them up to 200 F and still have them be juicy inside or you can broil them for 1-2 minutes to get that just grilled look.
Bratwurst sausages are a quick cooking item so all of the cooking methods like grilling, air frying, pan frying, and baking are considered fast. Air frying, pan frying, and grilling are the fastest ways to cook brats, smoking bratwurst is the only slow cooking method.
More Pork Recipes
- Crockpot Italian sausage and peppers
- air fryer brats
- instant pot brats
- air fryer boneless pork chops
- instant pot country style ribs
- baby back ribs in the oven
- crock pot bratwurst with sauerkraut
- 21 best sausage casseroles
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Brats in Oven
Cooking brats in the oven is a quick and easy way to cook bratwurst when you don't want to pull out your grill. Oven-baked brats are even faster than grilled sausages and turn out amazing!
Serve with fried cabbage, sauerkraut, a bun, German potato salad, cucumber salad, roasted vegetables, broccoli cheese soup, your favorite kind of mustard, and beer of course!
Ingredients
- 5 uncooked bratwurst (1 pkg)- standard size
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Lay the uncooked bratwurst on a baking sheet or in a cast-iron skillet, making sure to spread the sausages out and give them plenty of space.
- Bake the bratwurst on one side for 10 minutes. Flip the sausages over with a spatula or tongs, and continue cooking for 8-10 more minutes until the oven-baked brats have an internal temperature of 160 F+ when checked with a digital meat thermometer.
- If you want the brats a little more brown, just pop them under the broiler for 1-2 minutes, with the heating element 4" away from the sausages.
How to Cook Brats With Peppers and Onions
- Cooking bratwurst with peppers and onions is super easy! Thinly slice 1-2 bell peppers and one onion. Lay on the large baking sheet that the bratwurst will also be cooked on.
- Drizzle with 1+ tablespoon olive oil, and sprinkle with ½ teaspoon salt (or garlic salt) and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Mix the peppers and onions together on the pan.
- Lay the bratwurst on the pan with the vegetables. After the brats cook in the oven for 10 minutes and get flipped, also stir the vegetables.
- Cook until the sausage is browned, which could take 20-25 minutes. The more veggies you're cooking on the pan with the bratwurst, the longer it will take for them to brown due to the increased moisture content.
Notes
To make beer-infused baked brats, marinate the uncooked bratwurst in one can or bottle of beer for 30 minutes before cooking. Don't marinate longer than that since they could turn mushy.
Brats are cooked through at 160 F when you test the internal temperature with a meat thermometer, but they might not be perfectly golden brown on the outside yet. Continue cooking until they're brown or broil them to finish if you're in a hurry. Brats stay juicy up until about 185-190 F so it's perfectly fine to cook them past 160 F.
If you add vegetables to the pan with the brats, they will take LONGER to brown. 15+ minutes if cooked alone, 20-25 if cooked with other veggies.
Don't overcrowd the sausage and/or veggies, it'll take them longer to cook and they won't brown.
Serve with sauerkraut, mustard, and beer for a classic German-style meal.
The recipe uses standard size brats, if you buy the jumbo meat counter brats they'll take longer to cook.
Nutrition Information
Yield 5 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 283Total Fat 25gSaturated Fat 9gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 15gCholesterol 63mgSodium 719mgCarbohydrates 2gFiber 0gSugar 0gProtein 12g
Becky says
THE BEST....PERIOD!!
J. Boddie says
Wow dude. It must be tough being part of the grammar police. Pretty sure you knew what she meant but you JUST had to call her out on the typo. Good job-hopefully your grammar police team gives you kudos the next time you meet to show what you do in response to someone, who by the way is just trying to help, and makes a minute mistake in a recipe. Good job amigo!
Brenda says
Tried them last evening for dinner. Turned out great! Will definitely prepare them this way again.
WholeLottaYum says
Thank you for your feedback, Brenda! Baked brats are so easy!
Diana Rosalind says
Um, maybe you have a super-hot oven or something but in mine there is NO WAY to cook bratwurst for 20 minutes and have them be done, nicely brown and crispy. They've been in the oven at 400 on the center rack for nearly 40 minutes as I write this and still need more time. I may have to finish them off under the broiler or I'll be here for hours. I do not have oven temperature issues in general and bake all the time so I'm sorry to have to say this but I think your timing is way off for this method of cooking! Thanks anyway for letting me know that Brats could indeed be cooked in the oven as I did not want to fry them in a pan and the grill is broken! Most recipes act like you cannot cook them in the oven - wrong!
Lee says
I never thought about making brats in the oven before. I had to make them for a family party with 18 people and it was raining. These turned out great! Thank you!!! (I'm making them again tonight.)
Pamela Lester says
We love these baked BRATS!! Making them again tonight. Thanks again they are so good and simple!
David STAIT says
I like to cook Brats in the oven at 400 degrees - 40 minutes then flip over for 20 minutes. In your suggested method you don't recommend a temperature setting?
WholeLottaYum says
Hi David, The post includes the brats oven temp at 400F, it was the first line of the recipe card. Aren't brats the best??
Adam Keith Bowen-Burrell-Holmes says
Hi there! I did mine at 400 for 10 and 7. They weren’t done. Should probably be 15 and 10
Jennifer says
If I don't have parchment paper, can I use foil?
WholeLottaYum says
Yes! You can use foil or even cook them without lining the pan. A liner makes for easy clean-up.
Mark says
Kind of a bad typo... in the 'Why this recipe works' section first line. "Cooking rats in the oven only take less than 20 minutes"
WholeLottaYum says
Oh my! That is a bad typo..... brats not rats! I'll get that fixed asap
Marina Hastings says
Holy yum!!! Why didn't I do this years ago??!!! Thanks for the great recipe. Yum!!