Are you ready to learn one of life’s most important skills – how to grill brats like a pro?
Good! And it gets even better, as grilling up the perfect brat is actually really easy.
Stop sitting on the sidelines and admiring masters of the grill and take your rightful place among them by following the simple steps below.
And we’ll even throw in a few bonus tips, such as the best mustard for brats and how to cook brats on the stove or in the oven if no grill is available.
How to Grill Brats Like a Pro
WisconsinMade.com specializes in shipping genuine Wisconsin brats to every U.S. state.
Your first pro tip is an obvious one but often overlooked.
If you want a great grilled brat, start with a great brat.
Kewauskum, Klements, and Usingers are some of the hallowed names among bratwurst makers but they can be impossible to find locally if you live outside the Bratwurst belt of the Midwest.
Wisconsinmade.com is one of your best bets to buy genuine Wisconsin bratwurst online for those poor souls living outside of prime brat territory.
You can also make your own homemade brats or check with local butchers to see if they make fresh brats for customers.
If you do shop in the pre-packaged meat aisle at your grocery store for brats to grill, Johnsonville brats will likely be your best bet.
Mmm, Beer
Inglehoffer stone ground mustard is the mustard of choice for many bratwurst purists.
Once you have your brats, don’t fire up the grill just yet.
The real secret of how to grill brats perfectly lies in beer, glorious beer.
Always simmer your brats in beer before grilling, as it does most of the heavy lifting of cooking your brats and helps keep all the plump, juicy goodness locked inside.
The sign of a perfectly grilled brat is one with just the right amount of char and crispness on the outside but with all the tasty, juicy goodness still on the inside.
If you just toss your brats straight on the grill and cook them for 15 or 20 minutes the odds are great that they’ll burst or split, with all those juices running out and leaving you with dried out, tasteless bratwurst.
Simmering your brats in beer first before the grill helps you avoid that sad fate, as it keeps time on the grill to a minimum.
Go Easy on the Grill
The Char-Broil Classic is one of the best grills around for brats.
After you simmer your brats for 15 to 20 minutes in your beer bath, it’s time for the grill.
But keep in mind that your brats are mostly cooked at this stage, so you’ll want them to spend very little time on the grill.
Our last important how to grill brats like a pro tip: finish your brats off on the grill by cooking them for just 5 to 10 minutes.
Some rookies assume they need to grill for twenty minutes or more but that’s a recipe for disaster and dry, tasteless brats.
Grill on low to medium heat for, just long enough to get a nice, crisp char on your brats.
Remove from the grill — always use tongs to make sure your brats don’t puncture or split — and serve immediately on a hard roll with a good stone ground mustard.
That’s it! Now you know how to grill brats like a pro.