Authentic German Rheinischer Sauerbraten Recipe

This German Rheinischer Sauerbraten recipe has been a hit ever since I introduced it to my family. A slow-cooked marinated beef roast served with a delicious sweet and sour sauce. Yes, you need to marinate it for a minimum of four days and it takes about 2.5 hours in the oven, but apart from that the recipe is actually really easy to make!

This recipe was brought to me by my friend Dana who comes from Düsseldorf, which lies in the Rhineland - one of the regions associated with Sauerbraten.

By popular demand, this reader-favorite recipe made it into my debut cookbook, German Kitchen-Classic Dishes!

What is Sauerbraten?

Sauerbraten is a traditional German dish, where the meat is marinated in vinegar and wine marinade for up to 10 days. The meat is slowly roasted in the marinade which is thinned with broth. Once the meat is cooked, the roasting juices and marinade are boiled down to a delicious sauce. To achieve the sweet and sour taste it is additionally sweetened with sugar, honey, or lebkuchen (gingerbread cake).

The name "Sauerbraten" literally translates as "Sour Roast", where "Sauer" is the word for "sour" in German and "Braten" is the word for "roast meat".

Origin

The origin of the Sauerbraten recipe is believed to have a Roman influence. According to a popular legend, no one less but Julius Cesar came up with the idea. During their march from Bonn and Cologne to Aachen, his army encountered unexpected hot weather. So he asked to conserve his meat in vinegar. The raisins for the sauce he already had in his pockets, as he brought them with him from Tuscany. Locals loved this dish and so the Rheinische Sauerbraten was born.

Originally they used horsemeat or game for this dish. However nowadays beef is the cut of meat of choice. [source: Landservice.de]

Regional Differences

Although the Rheinische Sauerbraten is the most famous dish, it is not the only way to prepare it. Similar recipes can be found in Baden, Bavaria, Westfalia, and Saxony. Not only are differences in the recipes but also differences in the sides that are served with the Sauerbraten.

Rheinische Sauerbraten: It is probably the sweetest of the recipes. The meat is marinated in vinegar and red wine, and the sauce is sweetened with raisins and often also with beet syrup (affiliate link). They like to serve their Sauerbraten with potato dumplings and apple sauce. A favorite lebkuchen for the sauce to use is Aachener Printen.

Badische Sauerbraten: (Swabia) Here the recipe is less sweet but a little spicier. The dish often includes garlic and very dry wine. Instead of thickening the sauce with biscuits or gingerbread cake, they often use rye bread. I also found a lot of recipes using sour cream. Of course, here they like to serve their Sauerbraten with Spätzle and Red Cabbage.

Fränkischer Sauerbraten: (Bavaria - Franconia) In the Franconian recipe the star ingredient is the Lebkuchen Sauce. Here the famous Nürenberger Elisenlebkuchen is used. You will also find sometimes some dried fruit or cranberry sauce (affiliate link) in the recipe. Apart from dumplings, they also like to serve some noodles with their pot roast.

Vogtländer Sauerbraten (Saxony)

Here the Sauerbraten is served with red cabbage and "Grünen Kößen" (which translates as Green Dumplings) These are potato dumplings made from raw potatoes. I have found some Sauerbraten recipes from "Dresden" that marinate their meat in soured buttermilk, instead of vinegar.

How to cook Sauerbraten

Ingredients

Which cut of beef for Sauerbraten

There are several cuts of beef that are suitable for this dish. First of all some Beef Brisket or Beef Thick Rib. When slow-cooked the meat becomes very soft and falls apart wonderfully.

The other cuts of meat that work well are the rump of the cow or beef round. (Topside or Silverside Cut in the UK)

For the marinade

• onions
• carrots
• celeriac
• parsley
• brown sugar (to add a little caramelized flavor to the marinade)
• vinegar (I like to use red wine vinegar, but you can also use cider vinegar or balsamic vinegar).
• allspice
• juniper berries
• black peppercorns
• cloves
• bay leaves
• dry red wine (it does not have to be expensive, but use a wine that you would be happy to drink yourself. Dry wine is best, as it is the most aromatic. Do not use sweet wine, as it will be hard to regulate the sweetness of the sauce afterward.

For the Sauce

• flour
• tomato paste
• beef stock
• lebkuchen or biscoff biscuits - for Rheinischer Sauerbraten - Aachener Printen are traditional. You can also use a slice of my lebkuchen cake. I made this recipe in March so could not find Lebkuchen in Bremen. So I used Biscoff biscuits instead.
• raisins (this adds extra sweetness and some texture to the sauce - this is typical of the regional Rheinischer Sauerbraten recipe variation)

Sauerbraten Recipe - Step by Step

Marinade

1. Peel the onion, carrots, and celeriac and chop them into rough (1.5 cm) cubes. Roughly chop the parsley
2. Add the vegetables to a saucepan. Add the sugar and spices (allspice, juniper berries (affiliate link), peppercorns, and bay leaves), and pour over the red wine. Bring to a boil and leave to simmer on medium to low heat for 5 minutes. This is to bring the flavors of the vegetables into the marinade.

3. Now leave to cool down completely to room temperature. Pour in the red wine vinegar and stir. Place the beef into a deep container with a lid. Pour the marinade over the beef. Ideally, the beef should be completely covered by the marinade. You can top it up with a little water if small parts still remain uncovered. If you have the ability to vacuum pack the beef, you can also marinade it that way.
4. Place the beef in the fridge to marinade for at least 4 days. 7 days is ideal, but 4 days is sufficient. Turn the beef once or twice, to ensure that the marinade absorbs evenly.

To cook

5. To cook the beef roast, remove it from the marinade. Pat the meat dry with some paper towels. Pour the marinade through a fine sieve. Keep the liquid and set it aside. In a separate bowl set aside the vegetables and spices.

6. Now season the beef from all sides with salt and pepper. Dust with the flour.
7. In a large saucepan heat up the vegetable oil and sear the beef on all sides at a high temperature for about 2 minutes on each side. Remove it from the pot and set it aside.
8. Preheat your oven to 170°C/338°F top-to-bottom heat

1. Add the drained vegetables and spices to the pot and start frying them for about 2 minutes. Then add the tomato paste and fry it with the vegetables for a further 2 minutes. This will release the roasting flavors of the paste, but also give the sauce a lovely brown color later.
2. Deglaze the vegetables with a little marinade juice, just enough to cover the base of the pot. Cook until almost all liquid has evaporated and then repeat the process and cook for a further 5 minutes.

9. Fill up the pot with the beef stock/ broth and the remaining marinade. Place the meat into the ovenproof pot. Crumble in the gingerbread or spiced biscuits (I used biscoff biscuits but you can use ginger snaps).
10. Cover the pot with a lid and place it into the oven for about 2 hours. Turn the meat at least once. The meat should end up being really soft when you pick a fork into it.

To make the sauce

1. Remove the meat from the pot, wrap it in some foil, and set aside to rest.
2. Pass the sauce through a fine sieve. Then place back onto the hob and boil for approximately 5 minutes. Then add the raisins to the sauce and cook for another 10 minutes until the sauce has reduced and is thick.
3. To serve, slice the beef into 1.5 cm thick slices and pour over the sauce. It goes well with red cabbage and potato dumplings or spätzle.

Lebkuchen Sauce - Sauerbraten Gravy

We cannot talk about Sauerbraten and miss out the characteristic sweet and sour gravy. In most recipes, the sauce for Sauerbraten is made with gingerbread (in German called Lebkuchen). The vinegar and wine add sourness to the sauce, and to counterbalance it, you add sweeteners such as beet syrup (affiliate link), honey, or sugar. Gingerbread is one of the sweeteners. Because it is made with aromatic spices such as cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and cardamom it adds a special note to the sauce.

Even in Germany, Lebkuchen is not readily available all year round. (I live in Bremen, not a traditional Lebkuchen town). So you can just replace them with similar spiced cookies such as Speculaas, ginger cookies, or ginger snaps, or Basler Leckerli. I used Lotus Biscoff biscuits, as I know that they are an international brand.

However, if you are in the mood for Lebkuchen, I have these recipes available on my site.

If you do not like the sauce too sweet, you can just add regular bread to the sauce. The cookies or bread thicken the sauce.

The type of Lebkuchen used depends on which region of Germany you find yourself in. In the Rheinischer Sauerbraten, they use Aachener Printen. In the Bavarian Sauerbraten, they use Elisenlebkuchen and in Saxony, they would use Pulsnitzer Pfefferkuchen.

What to serve with Sauerbraten?

Traditional side dishes to sauerbraten depend on where in Germany you are.

Rheinischer Sauerbraten often gets served with potato dumplings, beet syrup (affiliate link), apple sauce, and red cabbage. Whereas in Bavaria spätzle or bread dumplings are common. The vegetable side dish of choice is German red cabbage and other boiled vegetables such as Brussels sprouts, carrots, and broccoli.

Storage Instructions

You can store the cooked Sauerbraten in the fridge for up to 4 days. Simply reheat the sauce and the meat separately.

You can also freeze Sauerbraten, but do not freeze it with the sauce. Freeze both separately and use within 3 weeks.

If you already marinated the meat but decided you are not ready to cook the roast yet, you can also freeze the uncooked meat. Remove it from the marinade and pat dry, freeze in an airtight bag. Pour the marinade into a separate freezer bag and cook both once defrosted at room temperature.

Recipe