How To Grill Brats On A Gas Grill{Tips+ Easy technique}
If you want to know how to grill brats on a gas grill, then you have come to the right place.
This guide will help you get the best out of your grill and the brats that you are about to cook.
I prefer grilling brats on a blackstone griddle or pellet grill like the Traeger grill because of the extra flavor the pellets put on the brats. However, this is only a preference and you can use your gas grill.
There is nothing wrong with grating brats on a gas grill with a powerful burner like the Weber grills, and I will share the different ways to cook brats on the grill in this post.
There are a lot of frequently asked questions about grilling bratwurst or brats on a gas grill.
Whether or not you grill brats without boiling or grilling brats with the grill lid open or closed.
We will be answering all those questions along with the simple guide that will leave no undercooked sausage inside the grill to make sure you have a great barbecue at home.
Having a fresh perspective on the different ways of grilling brats on the gas grill will help you make your recipes even better and more versatile, so follow and read on to know the ways.
Selecting Your Brats
It is best if you select fresh brats for cooking. This goes with any type of cuts of meat as the fresher the cut of meat, the better and juicier the finished product will be when you grill it.
I recommend you grill Johnsonville brats on your gas grill as the company provides one of the best brats in the industry.
If you grill Johnsonville brats, you are sure to have a nice meal.
One of the most important parts of cooking is selecting the brats with the highest quality.
You should be able to find some in your local butcher shops or grocery stores near you.
There are authentic sausages that you can find like the Johnsonville brats. If you decide to grill Johnsonville brats or authentic German sausages at home, make sure to follow the instructions below.
Preparing The Grill For Grilling Brats
You can get your Weber grill or any gas grill for this part.
You just need to make sure that the grill you will be using is up to the challenge and can cook the brats on the grill properly.
Once you have set up your Weber grill, make sure that you clean it first.
Keeping the grill clean before you grill brats is essential as it will help cook the brats better on the gas grill.
Get yourself a good grill brush and start cleaning your gas grill.
There might be some food residues left on the grill from your last cookout so make sure to clean them off.
The first step to cleaning your grill is to crank up the heat.
This will allow you to burn off the food residues on the grill grates and kill any bacteria that might have settled on any part of the grill.
Allow the grill to heat up with the lid closed until the cooking grates turn ash white in color. Brush off the residues and get your brats recipes ready while the grill is still hot.
You can also brush the grill grates with a thin layer of olive oil. Ready your tools like aluminum pans, grill spatula, meat thermometer, main dish for serving, butter or oil, and other things you will need.
Turn the burners on one side of the Weber grill to medium-low heat while keeping the other side scorching hot. This will set up a two-zone grilling setup for creating the best results.
Preparing Your Brats Before Grilling (Do You Grill Johnsonville Brats Without Boiling Or Not?)
There is a debate on whether or not grilling brats without boiling is better or not.
Undercooked bratwursts inside are the worst as you cannot enjoy the entire food because of this.
Boiling brats before grilling them can help, but all do not recommend it.
Boiling brats before grilling can start the cooking process, so you need to cook them right away.
You have to keep in mind that brats are a thick type of pork sausages, and this means that you risk burning the outer part of the sausage when you use high heat while leaving the interior raw.
The best way to counter this is to pre-cook the brats.
Grilling brats without boiling beforehand can be challenging especially if the brats are frozen and are not thawed properly before cooking.
There is nothing wrong with grilling brats without boiling them first, but you will get a more even result when they are cooked.
Boiling brats before grilling will help you attain a cooked interior.
The key is to use the bratwurst recipe for beer brats.
That is where you use beer and onions to pre-cook the brats instead of just plain water as the brats will just lose some of their flavors in the water.
The beer bath will not add too much flavor to the brats so you can season the brats with black pepper, salt, and other spices if you want to restore the extra flavors on the bratwurst sausages.
Grilling Brats On The Gas Grill
There are two methods that I will be showing you here. These two methods are effective at cooking the brats properly, but there are some disadvantages from each.
You can choose which method you use and I will be telling you which method I use to cook bratwurst sausages on the gas grill by the end.
Just keep in mind that cooking brats will take a long time depending on the thickness of the brats. So follow the cooking process that you want and start cooking.
Cooking Method 1:
This is a pretty easy method usually used if you do not want to spend too much time cooking.
First, place the brats on the hot side of the grill and let them cook for a few minutes.
This will allow the brats to crisp up the sausage casing and outer parts and have nice sears.
After that, you can place the delicious bratwursts on the indirect heat side of the grill for them to finish cooking.
This is an effective method for thick bratwurst sausages.
It will leave the middle of the sausage a little pink, but as long as it reaches the recommended internal temperature, it will be safe to eat.
The problem with this method is that it can rip open the skin of the sausage, and this is because it will heat the interior of the brats after the outer parts have crisped up.
As the heat builds up inside the sausage, the higher temperature will vaporize some of the juices inside and make the sausage expand until it bursts open.
This grilling process is good but it can be risky.
You need to know how long it takes to cook brats at 400 degrees Fahrenheit or lower to ensure they do not burst open.
The good thing about this method is that you get to grill the brats with the grill lid open since you are using high temperatures at first to see when the sausages are about to burst.
Cooking Method 2:
Speaking of how long it takes to grill brats at 400 degrees Fahrenheit, I do not recommend this high temperature for cooking brats, and it is better to go with low temperatures at least in the initial grilling process.
This method is how I cook brats on the grill as it is a great way to be safer.
I mean safe because the delicious brats will not burst as long as you cook them properly with this method.
You just reverser the first method. That means that you will be cooking the brats first on the indirect side of your grill and bring them up close to the recommended temperature.
It takes only about 20 minutes to grill brats at 400 degrees Fahrenheit, but this grilling process will take a little longer, which is the only disadvantage of this cooking method.
You can grill brats with the lid open or closed with this method as long as you have a meat probe or a meat thermometer inside the sausages to check the internal temperature.
The recommended internal temperature for pork sausages is 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
So once the brats reach an internal temperature of 150 degrees Fahrenheit, place them on the hot side of the grill.
Leave them there for 1 minute on each side just to make the outer parts crispier and then put them back to the indirect side of your grill. Do not leave the brats unattended at this point.
The delicious juices in the brats might get out and cause flare-ups, so you will need to move and flip them when needed.
Once the brats reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit, you can remove them from the grill.
Make your grilled sausage brats with black pepper and onions or any recipe you want.
Tips And Recommendations
No matter what method you choose, one pro tip I can give you is to never poke the uncooked fresh sausages.
It is crucial not to make flare-ups that might burn the brats.
The grill’s heat can cook the brats, so you need actual flames to burn them.
I also put some wet wood chips on the side to create a smoked sausage flavor on the brats.
You can do this without the wood chips if you use a Traeger pellet grill or charcoal grills but cooking on the gas grill will also do the trick, with a few adjustments.
Grilled beer brats are the main dish for this recipe as they go well with the beverage.
Just make sure to let the cooked bratwursts rest on a foil pan or a serving dish before you serve them.
Uncooked bratwurst sausages need defrosting too so that you do not leave the interior raw.
The defrosting time will not take a long time, especially under warm weather so make sure to do it.
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