Bratwurst Sliders

A bratwurst slider on a pretzel bun with cheese sauce and fried onions on a cutting board.

Course: BBQ

Cuisine: American / German

Prep Time: 20

Cook Time: 10

Beer Cheese Sauce Prep: 15

Total Time: 45

Servings:

Calories: 410kcal

Author: Kris Longwell

Bratwurst Sliders are a little piece of heaven. Grilled to perfection and made even better with the addition of fried onion strips and homemade beer cheese sauce. All on pretzel buns. Amazing!

Print Recipe

Equipment

Gas or charcoal grill

Ingredients

Make-Ahead

2 cups beer cheese sauce click link for easy recipe

For the Fried Onion Strips

1 cup buttermilk
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper freshly ground
1 cup onion cut into 1-inch strips
vegetable oil for frying

For the Sliders

16 oz Bratwursts all pork, links
Salt and pepper
5 pretzel buns slider size
2 tablespoon unsalted butter optional

Instructions

Prepare the Beer Cheese Sauce

Click here for the easy 15-minute recipe
2 cups beer cheese sauce

Make the Fried Onion Strips

Set up a dredging station by adding the buttermilk to one medium-sized bowl and then the flour mixed with the salt and pepper in a 2nd bowl.
1 cup buttermilk, 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1 tsp salt, ½ tsp black pepper
Add the onion strips to the buttermilk and toss to coat. Transfer to the seasoned flour and toss again until fully coated. Shake off excess and set aside on a plate.
1 cup onion
Heat oil to 350°F. Drop the breaded onion strips into the hot oil and cook until golden brown, about 4 to 5 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon on a plate lined with paper towels. Sprinkle with a little more salt, if desired. Set aside.
vegetable oil

Make the Sliders

Carefully use a sharp knife to remove the casings from the bratwurst links. Use a 3-inch cookie cutter, or the lid of a jar, or just your hands, to form a patty from each link. Season lightly on both sides with salt and pepper.
16 oz Bratwursts, Salt and pepper
Heat your grill to medium-high heat. Use a spatula to place the sliders on the grill over direct heat. Cook for 5 minutes and then flip. The sliders are ready when juices run clear and internal temperature reaches 160°F.
While the sliders are cooking, butter the pretzel buns (if desired) and place them on the grill, cut side down, during the last 5 minutes of grilling the sliders.
5 pretzel buns, 2 tbsp unsalted butter
Remove the sliders and buns from the grill and serve with fried onions and warmed beer cheese dip. Let guests build their own sliders if desired.

Video

Notes

NOTE: Watch the video in the recipe card for visual guidance.

Be sure to seek out all-pork bratwursts. Bratwurst links can be found in the meat department of most well-stocked supermarkets or at your local butcher. Sometimes they are frozen.

The beer cheese dip can be made up to 2 days in advance. Gently reheat over medium-low heat until the desired consistency is reached. The sauce is also excellent at room temperature. Reminder: The warmed sauce will thicken somewhat as it cools.

The fried onion strips can be made up to 4 hours in advance. You can make them a day in advance, and store them in an air-tight container, but they will lose some of their crispiness.

If you prefer to make regular-sized burgers instead of sliders, no problem. Just use 1½ links for each patty.

The recipe can easily be doubled or tripled for feeding a group.

Nutrition