Don't have time to make your own sauerkraut, follow these tips to make store-bought sauerkraut the star ingredient of your next meal.
Prep Time10 minutesmins
Cook Time1 hourhr
Total Time1 hourhr10 minutesmins
Course: Condiment, Side Dish
Cuisine: American, German
Servings: 8servings
Ingredients
2lbbag sauerkraut
3tbspreserved bacon fat
1mediumVidalia oniondiced
1cupapplesauce
3tbspbrown sugar
1 tspcaraway seeds
1 tspfresh ground pepper
8Polish sausages
8buns
1 jalepeñosliced (optional)
Instructions
Light your grill or smoker and set up for indirect heat. Set temperature to 300 °F.
While grill is preheating, melt reserved bacon fat in a large sauté pan over medium heat until melted. Add diced onion to the bacon drippings. Stirring occasionally, cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Then add applesauce, brown sugar, caraway seeds, and black pepper.
Stir to combine all the ingredients thoroughly and remove from the heat.
Drain about one-half of the sauerkraut liquid off the sauerkraut. Add the drained sauerkraut to the onions. Stir until fully incorporated.
Spread sauerkraut mixture out evenly on a medium-sized baking sheet. The idea is to form just a thin layer to ensure maximum exposure to your smoke or charcoal.
Place baking sheet on the grill or smoker over indirect heat for one hour and allow the wood chunks, pellets, or charcoal to go to work. I prefer the flavor of a mild pecan smoke with sauerkraut, but use what you prefer. Add the sausages to indirect heat for the last 10 minutes of cooking time just to warm them up.
Remove sauerkraut from grill or smoker. You’ll notice that all the water has evaporated and the edges of your sauerkraut are slightly crunchy.
Place the sausages over direct high heat, cooking each side for about 90 seconds. You’ll see these links come alive over the fire. The color and smell are just incredible. You can also toast the buns here if you like, I prefer a little char on the bread personally.
Place your grilled Polish sausages on a bun with a generous portion of our smoked sauerkraut, top with some optional mustard, and add a jalepeño slice or two if you’re up for it.
Notes
Many people love the strong sour note from sauerkraut, others not so much. By following my technique you’ll get the best of two worlds. A slight sourness but with a smoky sweetness that goes perfectly with the cabbage.