Instant Pot Brats

Name: Easy Instant Pot Brats With Beer
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 6 min
Total time: 21 min
Ingredients: 2 T butter; 5-7 bratwurst (uncooked (regular size, see note below for large deli size)); 1 bottle of beer (mild flavor like a lager or even a light beer like Michelob Lite for low carb)

Modified: Aug 24, 2025 · Published: Oct 14, 2018 by WholeLottaYum · This post may contain affiliate links · 72 Comments

Jump to Recipe Jump to Video

Get the juiciest most flavorful Instant Pot brats in no time. First, you'll sear them in a bit of melted butter and then pressure cook to get tender on the inside, golden brown on the outside sausages. Make these with beer or without, either way, they're a Whole Lotta Yum!

Easy and delicious. The best bratwurst. I used an island lager and I will always use this recipe in the future. ~ Lori on Pinterest

This recipe was delicious and easy! I used an angry orchard hard cider in place of the beer. My family loved it! ~ Courtney on Pinterest

very easy and tasty way to cook not just brats. I use it for all the other types of sausage I cook. ~ Timothy on Pinterest

Brats in the Instant Pot are perfection!

Since my husband's family is German, we have a TON of bratwurst and sausage recipes on our website and cook sausages every week. Cooking brats in an Instant Pot in beer is hands down our favorite way of cooking bratwurst sausages. No other method can keep the moisture as well as a pressure cooking can do. This even works great with low carb beer (which we first used back in 2018 during recipe testing).

We love cooking the sausages in beer (and I'm not even a beer drinker), the added bottle or can of beer just adds a punch of flavor that's super delicious. Even kids will love these and they don't taste beer-y. We've also made these in chicken broth and they're super yummy too!

We recommend serving these with a side of sauerkraut or cooked cabbage for a quick and easy dinner idea.

What you'll need

Butter - you could use oil instead, but it's hard to beat that delicious buttery flavor.
Uncooked standard size bratwurst - We used a 7 pack of Costco brats, most grocery stores sell packages of 5. Either work great! We usually buy either the Costco brats or Johnsonville brats for our regular grocery store, any brand you love will work. Large raw meat counter brats will also work, see the recipe notes for adjusting the cooking time.
Liquid- 1 bottle or can of beer, we recommend something like an Ale. We used Michelob Ultra back in 2018 when we wrote this (2.6 net carbs per serving), any mild beer, chicken broth, beef broth, alcohol free beer, apple juice, or water will work. We've even had readers use Angry Orchard hard cider (hello? Yum!) or Dr Pepper!

How to cook Instant Pot bratwurst

Turn your pot to Saute High and melt the butter.
Sear the brats for 2-3 minutes on each side, or until lightly browned. You might need to cook them in 2 batches.
Remove the sausages and set aside. Insert the Instant Pot rack and set the bratwurst on the rack. Pour the beer or other liquid like chicken broth over the sausages.
Pressure cook on Manual High for 6 minutes. Do a slow release of the remaining pressure.

Enjoy! Serve with sauerkraut, buns, cooked sausage and peppers, mustard, ketchup, and beer.

Recipe notes

This recipe is meant for the standard size bratwurst, not the larger meat counter size. If you have the jumbo uncooked brats, cook these for 8 minutes, instead of 6.
This same technique works for cooking any uncooked sausages like Italian sausage links.
Other than searing the sausages in a single layer in batches to brown them, it's fine to stack them on top of each other during cooking time. We've cooked as many as 7 at one time and I'd feel comfortable recommending you could cook 2 regular packages at once (so a total of 10 sausages).
Feel free to add onions or cabbage wedges like some of our readers have done for a one pot meal! Put the veggies under the meat.
For a stronger beer flavor, you can marinate the sausages in beer overnight.
If you have precooked ones, my best guess is to cook them for 2-3 minutes after browning them first. I have not made precooked brats in the Instant Pot.

Cooking Instant Pot Frozen Brats?

If you have frozen bratwurst, you'll be happy to know you can cook those as well without defrosting them first. You'll need to modify the recipe slightly by skipping the saute step.

Pressure cook for 7 minutes, then do a 10 minute natural release before releasing the remaining pressure. Drizzle the sausages with melted butter and broil the brats in the oven for 2-3 minutes to get that "just grilled" appearance.

READER TIP: We had a reader say she WAS able to saute the frozen brats and just follow the recipe as written. We haven't tested this but wanted to pass on that info!

Reader questions

Why didn't they brown?

You'll want to make you're sauting on High and not Low. Also, make sure the sausages aren't crowded in the pan. When all else fails, you can give them a quick saute after pressure cooking.

Can I use fresh brats from the butcher?

This is actually our most frequently asked question we get! The fresh bratwurst from the butcher are larger in size than regular size Johnsonville brand. You'll want to pressure cook them for 8 minutes instead of 6 minutes.

How do I add veggies?

Add sliced onions, sauerkraut, bell peppers, or cabbage wedges to the bottom of the pot. Put the brats on top of the vegetables. The recipe cooking time stays the same.

If you loved our recipe, please leave us a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review and leave us a comment too! Connect with us on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube!

Recipe

Easy Instant Pot Brats With Beer

Jenni Cole

An easy Instant Pot brats recipe for the best ever bratwurst recipe simmered in butter and beer, yet made in your pressure cooker! Feel free to use other liquids if preferred!

4.50 from 90 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 6

Additional Time 10

Total Time 21

Course Pressure Cooker

Cuisine German

Servings servings

Calories 468 kcal

Equipment

Instant Pot

Ingredients

2 T butter
5-7 bratwurst uncooked (regular size, see note below for large deli size)
1 bottle of beer mild flavor like a lager or even a light beer like Michelob Lite for low carb

Instructions

Turn on the Instant Pot and set to Saute High.
Brown the bratwurst lightly in the butter on both sides, about 2-3 minutes per side. You might need to brown these in two batches, depending on how many you're cooking and the size of your pressure cooker.
Remove all of the brats from the Instant Pot and set them aside on a plate.
Place a rack on the bottom, put the sausages on top of the rack. It's fine if some are stacked on top of the others. Pour the beer over the bratwurst.
Set your Instant Pot to Manual or Pressure Cook (depending on your model) and cook for 6 minutes. Once done, do a Natural Release for 10 minutes and then release any remaining pressure. Enjoy!

Video

Notes

If you have the jumbo meat counter variety, suggest pressure cooking them for 8 minutes before doing a Natural Release of 10 minutes.

Chicken broth, beef broth, apple juice, water, Angry Orchard cider, or even Dr Pepper (both of those are reader tips). Whatever flavor you add will be slightly infused into the meat.

Feel free to add vegetables to the pot, add them under the sausages. Onions, sliced cabbage, bell pepper slices, or sauerkraut are all great options.

Nutrition

Serving: 1gCalories: 468kcalCarbohydrates: 1gProtein: 17gFat: 39gSaturated Fat: 15gPolyunsaturated Fat: 22gCholesterol: 100mgSodium: 1046mg