The 1 Ingredient You Can’t Skip for the Best Oktoberfest Bratwurst

The brat stand is as ubiquitous in Wisconsin as hot dog carts are in New York City. Throughout summer and into fall, freshly cooked bratwursts are sandwiched in fluffy, sesame-seeded brat buns and topped with warm sauerkraut, mustard, and ketchup.

But it’s arguably the end of September when Wisconsinites reach peak brat enjoyment at the hundreds of Oktoberfest celebrations across the state. Whether at an Oktoberfest party at home, watching an Oktoberfest parade, or at the fest grounds themselves, brats are always on offer and usually part of the main attraction.

If you aren’t reading this from Wisconsin, however, you might not be clued in to what makes a Wisconsin Oktoberfest brat so great. I’m here to share the #1 secret to the most delicious, flavorful, and juiciest bratwursts you’ve ever made. The secret is not only in an ingredient, but a crucial step before cooking.

The One Ingredient to Level-Up Bratwurst

As the original home to breweries like Miller, Pabst, Old Style, and Schlitz — and a Major League Baseball team named after the people who worked at them — it’s probably no surprise that the secret ingredient to a true Wisconsin brat is beer. You can use almost any lager you have on hand and it need not be fancy or of the “craft” variety. A cool can of PBR or Miller Lite, for example, will do the trick quite nicely.

But it’s not only the beer: It’s also the method of cooking the bratwurst in beer that makes Sconnie brats so great.

The Little-Known Cooking Step You Can’t Skip

Beer… sounds simple enough! Nowadays we can even buy brats at the grocery store with beer infused right in. But any beer brat purist knows that the real deal is achieved only one way: by simmering fresh brats (never pre-cooked) in beer before pan frying (or grilling).

That’s right, cooking brats in Wisconsin is a two-step process: To make the most authentic Wisconsin beer brats worthy of any Oktoberfest celebration, you need to par-boil your brats in your beer of choice, then finish them off by browning in a frying pan or on the grill. Or if you have one, an air fryer is a great option, too.

Get the Best Recipes for Beer Brats

Luckily, we have all of the resources you need to reach brat perfection this fall. Check out this handy guide to cooking beer brats the Wisconsin way, as well as our top-rated recipes: