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This is an easy German sauerkraut side dish, with bacon, onions, beer, herbs, and a little applesauce to sweeten it up. It’s great with boiled potatoes and most meats, and even fish.
I’ve been making this sauerkraut side dish a lot lately, and I find that it goes perfectly with a ton of other foods. Plus, it’s super easy to make and keeps well in the fridge for a week.
I’ve eaten German sauerkraut dishes similar to this for decades, but I settled on using a recipe outlined in the quirky Pine to Prairie Cookbook, which is a fantastic resource for all things Minnesotan and North Dakotan. The book was compiled in the early 1980s by the Telephone Pioneers of America, and it (and its sequel) form a vast compendium of recipes from home cooks in both states.
This one is just labeled German Sauerkraut, and the original is credited to Don Billadeau of St. Cloud, Minnesota. My version is inpired by his.
It couldn’t be easier. Fry some bacon crispy. Eat a piece because duh. Chop the rest, drain off about half the fat and use it another day. Brown sliced onions in the remaining fat, then dump in a quart of drained sauerkraut, add some herbs and beer and let this simmer a while. Finish it up with applessauce and add back the bacon.
If you really need something green in there, chop some parsley. Black pepper is nice, too.
Serve your German sauerkraut dish alongside a beef or venison steak, any kind of pork, or a roast pheasant or chicken, or slow roasted duck, or even with salmon. Sounds weird, but I seared a piece of sockeye salmon in butter and served that atop this kraut and it was shockingly good. And it would be even better with a heartier fish like sturgeon, tuna steaks, or grouper. Smoked fish would awesome here.
I like simple boiled potatoes as a starch for this. There’s so much flavor in the German sauerkraut you don’t need anything fancy.
Once, made your kraut will keep a week in the fridge.
If you liked this recipe, please leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating and a comment below; I’d love to hear how everything went. If you’re on Instagram, share a picture and tag me at huntgathercook.
German Sauerkraut with Applesauce
Ingredients
- 5 slices bacon
- 2 cups sliced yellow onion
- 1 quart sauerkraut, drained
- 1 cup lager beer
- 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
- 2 teaspoons caraway seeds
- 1/3 cup applesauce
- 1/4 cup malt or cider vinegar (optional)
Instructions
- Fry the bacon in a pan over medium-low heat until it's crispy. Remove and drain half the fat; reserve the rest for another dish. Eat a piece of bacon because it's delicious. Chop the rest and set aside.
- Brown the onions in the bacon fat over medium-high heat. Stir them around as they cook so their moisture lifts up any browned bits in the pan.
- When the onions are nicely browned, 8 to 10 minutes, add the drained sauerkraut, the beer, marjoram and caraway. Bring it to a simmer and use a wooden spoon to scrape up any more browned bits in the pan. Let this cook until the liquid has almost boiled away, then stir in the applesauce.
- Taste it and add the vinegar if you want. Some freshly ground black pepper is a good addition, too.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hi Hank. Love your sauerkraut recipes. I have been making sauerkraut for the past 56 years and was taught by a German immigrant, Hans who was a certified butcher and sausage maker. The past two years I have been making it out of red cabbage and all the sauerkraut snobs that I have created over the past ten years give me a double thumbs up. Give it a try if you haven’t already. Han’s brat recipe is second to none. Let me know if you’re interested in it.
Hank,
Yum, great recipe even with that much beer! Very robust side dish on a cold Minnesota day. Love this
kind of food.
Great recipe! So many people are turned off by sauerkraut because they’ve been served kraut straight out of the jar with no preparation. This a great foundation recipe. Like it a little more sweet, add some brown sugar. More sour, add some vinegar. Mom added a few juniper berries and a couple of bay leaves. Good thing about kraut is that it gets better with age.
Hank,
Another great recipe – fanciest version of Sauerkraut I have seen.
Had some friends over this last weekend for your Green Chile Stew. Big hit – everyone loved it.
Have a great week!
Tad
My kinda food; childhood comfort 😀 My family’s heritage is Slavic; my childhood neighborhood had Germans and Italians. I learned early about the crossover of dishes – it’s a wonderful thing. And aren’t those regional cookbooks the most wonderful resources? Just love them! Thanks for sharing (again and as always).
“Eat a piece because duh,” You are my food animal, 😉
Sounds so good, that I am going to make this later today, alongside some elk steak.
This sounds amazing! My husband’s heritage is half German, we will definitely be trying this.
Love the idea of the applesauce to compliment it.
This sounds wonderful! I might add a bit more bacon.