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
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.
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.
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
Equipment
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!
Camelle says
Have you ever done more than one package at a time? If so did you adjust anything? Thanks.
WholeLottaYum says
I've made 2 packages at a time and they turned out with the same cooking instructions.
Bob van zandt says
love brats especially brazed with beer. ref cooking from frozen, never. Old rules make sense.
Anna Wilson says
I absolutely love this recipe. Savory, juicy and full of flavor. It is such an easy preparation with consistent results every time. Even my 9 year old that doesn’t typically care for sausage can’t get enough. I won’t do bratwurst any other way! 😋
Lynn bauman says
I tried this reciepe and the brats were amazing! I put some onions on the bottom of the instapot with the beer and those also came out amazing! Since I have an older instapot the lowest the timer is 10 minutes, so I cook them on low pressure for 10 minutes. I did not peirce the brats, and they came out amazing!
Poooooop says
Honestly followed the recipe to a T and for some reason my beats came out entirely raw through the center. Will not use this recipe again.
WholeLottaYum says
Hi, I debated whether or not to post this since you put your name down as Pooooop...but I wanted to include a couple of tips for other readers. This is a well tested recipe with tons of feedback from readers saying a pressure cook time of 6 minutes turns out perfect brats...if you're using the larger fresh brats from the deli they could take longer, if your brats are frozen, or possibly the type of pressure cooker you're using can change the cook time. As long as the brats are at 160F for internal temperature, they're cooked through even if they're a little pink inside. We always suggest using our recipes as a guide so if you follow it to a T and it still isn't cooked through, then simply put the lid back on and pressure cook for 1-2 more minutes.
Craig says
Although our bockwurst, which is made in-house at the local grocer, did end up with split skins, the browning was more predictable than either the grill or broiler method.
We cooked the kraut separately (an old Austrian family recipe), but a great meal.
Prosit!
WholeLottaYum says
We LOVE bockwurst and wish it was readily available here.
Heather says
I tried this last night and my brats were still pink in the middle. I re-cooked for another minute, then another two minutes, then another minute....still pink. I ended up slicing them and finishing them on my cast iron grill. I guess mine were just thicker than the ones others have tried?
WholeLottaYum says
Hi Heather,
That's what it sounds like! Deli brats are often larger than the packaged variety. I've also noticed that some brands still look pink in the middle even when they're over 160F. I'll test the large Deli brats sometime soon and update the recipe to include a modification.
Nicolette says
This is awesome and a go to in my family. We have it at least twice a month. I usually use Coors Gold but any beer is fine! I’ve even done frozen brats and it browns fine and cooks just fine. Of course fresh is best but in a pinch it’ll work. Love this recipe!
Jessi says
I am not on a keto diet so I am doing this with diced potatoes in the pot with my brats. The beer mixed with some beef broth.
We did all beef broth last time but found they were missing that rich flavor. So we are going to try the beer. I do the brats on the bottom with the rack to get the full flavor and the potatoes on top in my basket with my butter and herbs which then also runs down over my brats🤤
So yummy. Glad I found your site for how to do the beer 😊
WholeLottaYum says
The beer has a TON of flavor even if you aren't a beer drinker (like me). I highly recommend using beer!
mike says
Sounds great but I really want to see one explode....probably have to eat it with a spoon however....🌭🍺
Jill Kerber says
Easy! Made them with the beer. Wil do again. Thanks for the others that gave some ideas.
Tom says
Great instructions. Just got my IP today and did the brats. Never bbqing them again.
WholeLottaYum says
Right haha? Instant pot brats are seriously so easy! It's secretly our favorite method too.
Shellsys says
I have made these from frozen and found they browned just fine in the butter. This is a great way to cook brats quickly! They are plump and juicy.
WholeLottaYum says
That's good to know! Thank you for sharing!
Miranda Sofer says
Yep! I just did the same thing. I didn’t see the “skip the sauté step” until after I was done sautéing them, and they look beautifully brown. They are currently cooking so we’ll see - but I’m expecting awesome results. Thanks for putting these recipes together! Exactly what I was googling for. 🙂
Robertjm says
I’m confused. Unless you’re drinking the cooking fluid why does it matter if the beer is low carb, or not?
Does the pressure force that much into the brats?
WholeLottaYum says
Someone following a strict keto diet might prefer just to keep the whole recipe as low carb as possible, definitely use whatever beer you prefer!
Nessa says
If we have no rack, can we just cook the brats with the beer?
WholeLottaYum says
Yep! Just skip the rack if you don’t have one or use a metal fold-up vegetable strainer.