Quick, easy, and satisfyingly delicious comford food. This German bratwurst casserole is guaranteed to be a crowd-pleaser. Braised cabbage with bratwurst, potatoes, bacon, and peppers is a hearty meal for the whole family.
This recipe is also great if you have leftover grilled brats, as you can just chop them up for this dish.
By popular demand, this reader-favorite recipe made it into my debut cookbook, German Kitchen-Classic Dishes!
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About this Cabbage and Brats Casserole (Smorkohl)
The recipe is a variation of a German braised cabbage dish called Schmorkohl. Schmorkohl translated means "braised cabbage" which is the method of first frying the cabbage and then cooking it with liquid.
I have another variation of a Schmorkohl Recipe on the blog, which is made with Ground beef instead of sausage.
How to make Bratwurst Casserole
Key Ingredients
- Bratwurst - you can also use a smoked sausage such as Kielbasa as a substitute
- Potato - use waxy potatoes that do not lose shape too much when cooked. Yukon Gold is a great choice.
- cabbage - white cabbage, green cabbage, or savoy cabbage will work for this dish.
- red pepper
- smoked bacon lardons - brings a smokey taste to the dish
- seasonings: sage (affiliate link), caraway seeds (optional, but these are to aid the digestion) salt and pepper to taste
Bratwurst Casserole Recipe Steps:
- Preheat the oven to 200°C or 392°F top to bottom heat.
- Prepare the vegetables: Peel the potatoes. Wash the cabbage, and remove the hard stem. Deseed the pepper. Chop all into rough about 2 cm/4-inch large cubes.
- Sautee the brats and bacon: In a large skillet, heat the oil and fry the bacon until crispy. Set aside. In the same pan, fry the sausages until browned from all sides.
- Remove and place on the plate with the bacon. Add the cabbage and potatoes to the pan and saute the cabbage for 5-7 minutes in the sausage/bacon fat.
- Season with sage (affiliate link), caraway seeds (if using), salt and pepper. Add the bacon, and red peppers to the cabbage and deglaze with ½ cup of water.
- Transfer the mixture to an ovenproof casserole dish and place the bratwurst on top. (Alternatively, slice the bratwurst and mix in the brat bits)
- Bake in the preheated oven for about 60 minutes.
- To serve sprinkle with some chopped spring onions (optional).
Brat Casserole Recipe Variations
- make it vegetarian - this German casserole recipe is super easy to make it vegetarian by substituting the sausages with vegetarian sausages. Also, leave out the bacon and use some mushrooms with a little sweet paprika powder to get the smoky flavour.
- subsitute the bratwurst - with another German sausage such as Frankfurters or Kielbasea works
- make it low-carb - by leaving out the potatoes.
- make it cheesy - if you like add some grated cheddar cheese on top before adding it into the oven.
What to serve with this Brats and Potato Casserole
This one-pot bratwurst dinner goes well with a light green salad. Here are some German Salad suggestions.
How to store Bratwurst casserole.
This bratwurst and cabbage casserole will keep in the fridge, in an airtight container up to 4 days. You may even find it tastes better the next day when the flavors had time to infuse.
You can also freeze it, and warm it up in a skillet after.
More Bratwurst Dinner Ideas
Recipe
Bratwurst Casserole
Equipment
- caserrole dish with lid
- frying pan
Ingredients
- 4-6 bratwurst
- 500 gr (1 lb) potatoes
- ½ white cabbage head about 800 kg, 2lbs
- 1 red pepper
- 2 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 75 g (3 oz) smoked bacon lardons
- 1 ½ teaspoon dried sage (affiliate link)
- ½ teaspoon caraway seeds optional
- 125 ml (½ cups) water
- salt and pepper to taste
To serve
- 2 spring onions chopped (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200°C or 392°F top to bottom heat.
- Peel the potatoes. Wash the cabbage and pepper. Deseed the pepper. Chop all into rough about 2 cm large cubes.500 gr potatoes, ½ white cabbage head, 1 red pepper
- Heat the oil up on a frying pan and fry the bacon lardons until crispy. Then remove and rest in a separate plate.75 g smoked bacon lardons, 2 tablespoon vegetable oil
- Take the sausages and fry on each site until browned. Remove and place on the plate with the bacon. Add the cabbage and potatoes to the pan and fry for 5-7 minutes in the sausage/bacon fat.4-6 bratwurst
- Spice with sage (affiliate link), caraway seeds (if using), salt and pepper. Mix well and then add ½ cup of water to the dish.1 ½ teaspoon dried sage (affiliate link), ½ teaspoon caraway seeds, 125 ml water, salt and pepper to taste
- In an oven-proof casserole dish, combine the red pepper, bacon and the cabbage and potato mixture.
- Place the sausages on top and cover with a lid.
- Bake in the preheated oven for about 60 minutes.
- To serve sprinkle with some chopped spring onions (optional).
- A complementing side dish could be a green salad.2 spring onions
Notes
Storage
This dish will keep in the fridge, in an airtight container up to 4 days. You may even find it tastes even better the next day when the flavours had time to infuse.Vegetarian Option
You can substitute the Bratwurst with a vegetarian alternative. Instead of bacon you can use mushrooms.Nutrition
Love this authentic German recipe?
This is one of 65 traditional dishes featured in my cookbook, German Kitchen-Classic Dishes - all tested, perfected, and handpicked by readers like you!
Sandra Vick says
I made this Bratwurst Casserole for the first time tonight. My husband and I love cabbage, so I thought I’d try this recipe. It’s simply delicious. My husband kept saying “It’s so good” every 2 minutes. Marita, you made me look good. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Marita Sinden says
Yay thank you do much for your feedback! I am glad your husband liked it 🙂
Bryant Schoenherr says
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We just pulled it out of the oven. It smells delicious! We used a little white wine to scrape off browned bacon and brats from the bottom of the cast iron dutch oven during the braising of the cabbage, potatoes, and leeks (added) stage. We also used beer instead of water.
Marita Sinden says
Thanks Bryant hope you enjoy the dish 🙂
Mary says
I am getting ready to make this for supper for this evening so it will be ready to pop in the oven. What though are bacon lardons, have never heard of that.
Marita says
Hi Mary, I guess its a British Term. They are thin, short strips of bacon.
Angela says
Made this tonight and it turned out so well. Swapped a sweet onion for the red pepper. Next time I make it, I’m going to put sliced Granny Smith apple in it, and possibly carrots or parsnips.
Marita says
Thanks Angela, I am glad it worked out and those are great ideas on ow to modify the recipe!
John says
I followed this recipe pretty much as instructed and it turned out to be a great meal. Fairly humble ingredients of bratwurst, potato and cabbage turned into a delicious meal, which is the sign of a good recipe.
Marita says
Hi John, thanks so much for your feedback! I am glad you enjoyed it!
Susan Bass says
I love this! I used all Aldi ingredients. Thank you, I will fix it again.
Marita says
Hi Susann, I am glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thanks for your comment! Marita
Sisley White says
This looks so delicious. It is a lot easier than I thought to make too.
Thank you for linking up to #CookBlogShare x
Cat | Curly's Cooking says
This looks so delicious. I love Bratwurst but don’t buy them – now I have to!
Marita says
you will love them.
Chloe Edges says
Looks delicious, I never think to buy Bratwurst but I'll keep my eye out next time I'm shopping!
Carrie Carvalho says
Love bratwurst! This sounds so delicious and a nice change to the usual sausage casserole recipes.
Julia says
Love this easy Bratwurst casserole. So easy and full of European flavours, we loved it so much!
Marita says
thanks
Kacie Morgan says
I love Bratwurst but I’m never sure of what to serve them with. I love the idea of pairing them with a casserole. This sounds full of goodness and so hearty – ideal comfort food for the winter season!
Marita says
thank you x
Rebecca - Glutarama says
What a lovely dinner to have that’s different from our usual sausage casserole, my family love the casserole so I’m going to try them on this and see what they think – fingers crossed.
Karen Burns-Booth says
That looks absolutely FABULOUS 😊 we love Bratties here at Chez Lavender & Lovage and a bratwurst casserole sounds brilliant for this winter weather we’re having too. Thanks for linking up to Cook Blog Share - Karen
Lindsay says
I like that this could be keto friendly! I'm going to bookmark to try next week!
Marita says
Great! I would love you to report back on how it goes x
Katherine says
looks great. Will try
Marita says
Let me know if your family likes it x