How to make Instant Pot brats with beer and sauerkraut that taste amazing! Easy way to steam bratwurst in pressure cooker or Ninja Foodi sausage turns out tender for dinner.
If you love your pressure cooker and steaming in your Instant Pot, this easy Instant Pot brats recipe is for you! It’s one of my husband’s favorite Instant Pot recipes because it is a fast one pot meal with 1 ingredient. (affiliate links present)
Instant Pot Brats with Beer
Whether you’re watching the Super Bowl with friends, having people over to celebrate Oktoberfest, or just looking for a new meal, try this with our homemade mustard sauce.
Steamed bratwurst that maintains it’s “snap” while cooking, and absorbs the flavors of the liquid inside the pot are a fantastic dinner idea. Topped with overnight sauerkraut it is an easy meal we love, oh my right?!! Doesn’t this look so yummy?!!
If you are new to pressure cooking we have a lot of easy one pot meal recipes for you here. To begin with let’s start with a few basic tips:
- Make sure to Bookmark our InstaPot recipes page. We add new ones each week!
- Then PRINT this —–> Instant Pot cooking times cheat sheet that will help you understand how long meat, vegetables and beans take to cook in your pressure cooker.
- I HIGHLY recommend you buy this non stick pot.
- You should know how to deglaze a pressure cooker after sautéing but it won’t have as many issues with this better liner.
For reference, this is the model I have (a 6 quart) and use for all recipe creations.
Instant Pot bratwurst
We made Instant Pot hot dogs for the kids but we wanted something heartier one night. I grew up going to Octoberfest with my German grandfather and remember enjoying this larger weiner with lots of spicy dijon mustard on a bun we all enjoyed together on those nights in California.
Smoked brats are amazing too but if it’s chilly outside is nice to skip the grill and this way is the answer y’all!!
Your Instant Pot or Ninja Foodi grill are the answer! Now you can create tender insides with a crisp outside in no time at all. This is a game changer y’all.
I am not a connoisseur at all so I usually just grab what I have in the fridge to make beer bread etc… Enjoying a light flavor I tend to veer away from dark brands like Guinness but others swear by that.
It is totally up to you depending on your taste buds, use your favorite I say.
5 minutes is usually perfect if using uncooked pork sausages straight out of the package. If precooked it would be closer to 2 depending on their thickness.
This is how easy these bratwurst are to cook in your pressure cooker…….
Pressure Cooker Brats
It is totally up to you whether you want to make your own sauerkraut or buy it ready made in the store, either way these taste delicious.
I had some ready made small french style rolls just the right size for sausages in my freezer so I used those this time but you could use hot dog buns or hoagie style rolls too….or go bunless!
Instant Pot brats
Perfect for the big game get togethers or just a yummy Instant Pot dinner idea. You can put the brats directly in the liquid, beer, but I find they keep their snap and don’t get as soft if I use a steamer basket so I usually go that route but totally up to you.
- Vegetable steamer works well to keep them out of the liquid below
- Bratwurst
- Beer (or other liquid such as water)
- Sauerkraut
- Spicy mustard
- Hoagie rolls or hot dog buns
- Onion gravy is great to lather it with when done
If you make mashed potatoes with it you’ll need potatoes. Recipe for that method below as well.
How long to cook frozen sausage in the Instant Pot
When making these Instant Pot bratwurst and other recipes you’d like to steam it is really handy to have a basket like this one that has an extendable handle to lift things out without your fingers getting too hot. A Vegetable steamer comes in this variety as well as this two tiered vegetable steamer basket I used here.
- If your brats or large sausage similar to these are frozen cook for the same amount of time
- You can put them under your broiler for 4-5 minutes until the outsides crisp up too if you wish
- When using a Cosori follow these air fryer sausage directions
But WAIT!! We have a second way to make Instant Pot bangers and mash!
Instant Pot Frozen Brats
Instant Pot Beer Brats
If you love this you should try our pressure cooker jambalaya made with sausage links too, the rice comes out amazingly flavorful. Whether you make Ninja Foodi brats using the air fryer method or the one below you’re going to have an amazing meal for sure.
Yes you can make these in a few hours in your slow cooker but we are all about fast meals. Here are quick instructions but there is a printable recipe card at the bottom of this post as well:
Brats in the Instant Pot
- Open your beer bottle. You can add a fresh can or if it is left over and flat that is fine too.
- Pour it into your Instant Pot and open your vegetable steamer basket, put on bottom of the pot. Put bratwurst pieces on top of steamer rack and close lid. Put steam valve at sealed position.
- Set to manual, pressure cook, high for 5 minutes. (if yours are really large they may need more time but this should be just right)
- Do a quick release. Since this is pork always make sure to check that they reach the proper internal temperature. Put bratwurst on top of bun and add sauerkraut and mustard, and other favorite toppings.
Instant Pot Bangers and Mash
If you want to crisp outsides you can put into an air fryer or Ninja Foodi at 400 degrees F for a few minutes, under the broiler, or sear outsides in a pan on your stovetop. If making with mashed potatoes follow these directions:
- Put 6 washed, partially peeled and diced potatoes into pot with 1/2 c. broth.
- Place 5-6 frozen or defrosted brats and/or sausages right on top of them.
- Close lid and steam valve and set to high pressure for 6 minutes with a 3 minute natural pressure release. Then release rest of steam.
- Remove brats and set aside to keep warm.
Use potato masher in pot to mash potatoes then add fixin’s like: 1/2 c sour cream, 1/4 c. bacon bits, chives, 1 tsp. garlic salt, 1/4 c. shredded cheese, pinch of pepper, and thin mixture with as much milk as you desire.
Instant Pot Brats
Equipment
- 1 pressure cooker
- 1 trivet
Ingredients
- 6 brats, or sausage links of your choosing
- 6 rolls or buns
- 1 c sauerkraut
- 1/4 c spicy mustard, or regular mustard
- 1 pint beer
- If making with mashed potatoes follow recipe starting at step 6
Instructions
- Open your beer bottle. You can add a fresh can or if it is left over and flat that is fine too.
- Pour it into your Instant Pot and open your Kitchen Deluxe vegetable steamer basket, lower inside your pot.
- Put brats on steamer rack and close lid. Close steam valve and set to manual, pressure, high for 5 minutes. (if yours are really large they may need more time but this should be just right)
- Do a quick release. Since this is pork always make sure to check that they are cooked completely (can cut one in half to ensure or use thermometer)
- Put in a bun and add sauerkraut and mustard on top…and other favorite toppings.
- If making with mashed potatoes follow these directions: Put 6 washed, partially peeled and diced potatoes into pot with 1/2 c. broth. Place 5-6 frozen or defrosted brats and/or sausages right on top of them.
- Close lid and steam valve and set to high pressure for 6 minutes with a 3 minute natural pressure release. Then release rest of steam.
- Remove brats and set aside to keep warm. If you want to crisp outsides you can put into an air fryer at 400 degrees for a few minutes, under the broiler, or sear outsides in a pan on your stovetop.
- Use potato masher in pot to mash potatoes then add fixin's like: 1/2 c sour cream, 1/4 c. bacon bits, chives, 1 tsp. garlic salt, 1/4 c. shredded cheese, pinch of pepper, and thin mixture with as much milk as you desire until it is the right consistency for you.
- Serve brats and mashed potatoes together.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
We love brats in my family and I love my instant pot so making it this way is heaven to me!
5 stars for all your recipes! Thank you! Could quartered potatoes & sliced onions be added to the steamer? Or, add potatoes then add sauerkraut & sliced onions maybe at the 1-2 minute mark?
Would sauteing the brats in the Instant Pot first be better? I will be cooking mine tomorrow night.
This sounds so good! Do you think it would be okay to use spicy bratwursts?
Of course.
Wonderful taste, but I’m thinking brats may be one thing that’s not meant for the Instant Pot. They were cooked according to the recipe but the skin was so tough they were impossible to bite into. It wasn’t the brats. I used the same brand I always use. Never had trouble with tough skin on the stove or grill. Anyone else have this problem?
Typically when we cook casing sausage or brats in the Instant Pot the skin is more tender than when we cook on the grill, we almost don’t even notice the skin when cooked in the Instant Pot. We don’t use a steam basket though, we just put it directly on the bottom of the pot in the liquid…
just like a soda you can pour a beer back and forth between two glasses until there is no more fizz. voila! it is flat and ready to go in very short order! gonna try recipe in an hour or two so no rating yet. what is to not like? sounds good.
Warm up the beer in microwave to take out fizz
Is it bad to use a carbonated beer (meaning I didn’t let it sit overnight)? Will the IP explode?
It is okay to use as far as I have researched, I just typically leave it out overnight.
Can you put the brats in frozen?
Yes, you may want to add another minute.
Can you put the sauerkraut in the instant pot at the same time?
I haven’t done that.
I just did and it was delicious! I was in a hurry so I dumped in a bag of boar head sauerkraut and put the bratwurst on top. Yum!