“More Brats in the Toaster Oven,” is, as you might guess, a follow-up to an earlier brat post. This one produces something fancy – a caramelized onion-sauerkraut mix – and dresses up the brats with a spicy aioli. It’s easy, everyday cooking that won’t heat up the house, and yet doesn’t require a grill.

Social Learning

Finding a skillet that will fit into your toaster oven may be a challenge. If you love using your toaster oven, it might be worth your while to source one: a skillet with “loop” handles, a skillet with a removable handle, etc. There are also some types of baking dishes that you can use on a stovetop; that’d work just as well.

Although this recipe is for two-to-four brats, you can cook as many as will fit in your skillet in a single layer, without having to snuggle them in too tightly against one another. It might be difficult to make more than four at once in a toaster oven via this method, but of course you could do this in a full-sized oven with a large skillet if you were feeding a crowd.

I use cast iron for this recipe, without any pan prep; I just lay the brats into it, and slide it into the oven. When I turn the brats, I get the tiniest hint of sticking, but not to the point that it tears at the brats’ skins. That’s because a well seasoned cast-iron pan has nonstick properties. Depending on your pan, you may need to add a bit of oil first. This is why I love cast iron: it has non-stick properties, and yet it can go into the oven and onto the stovetop at any temperature and is practically indestructable.

One of things I like about this recipe is how flexible it is. Depending on the thickness of the brats, and what they’re made of, they may be ready or nearly ready when they come out of the oven, or they may be only half-way done at that point. But the onions and kraut are so flexible, that you can cook them for barely three minutes, or more than twenty, and they’ll be fine. They’ll be ready very early on, but if you continue cooking them, they’ll caramelize, which is nice. You’ll know the brats are done when you slice one and find no pink in the center. Or you can take its internal temperature with a quick-read thermometer, aiming for 160°F.

The Backstory

I got the brats at Paulina Market. If you live on Chicago’s north side, of course you’ve been there. I also got the buns, kraut, and aioli there, and all were stellar quality. Sometimes I dream that I had what looked like a built-in, Sub-Zero fridge, but it was actually a hidden door that led directly into Pauline Market, where I was always the only customer, and everything was free and available 24/7. OK, snap out of it … this is important: if you get your sausage from a luxury butcher, you should ask if the sausages are fully cooked or not. If they are pre-cooked, this recipe is going to overcook them.

I’ve used Paulina’s tomato-basil brats in this recipe, and they were fantastic. I also tried it with their “Italian Beef Combo,” and … good, but the onion and kraut are less of a match there.

More Brats in the Toaster Oven

Credit for images on this page: Make It Like a Man! unless otherwise credited. This content was not solicited by anyone, nor was it written in exchange for anything. Thank you, Kesor. 

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