How To Cook Bratwurst In An Air Fryer

Oftentimes when you’re looking up how to cook something, you’ll get recipes that utilize grills, ovens, stovetops, and microwaves. However, you may also notice a lot of recipes that have been using the air fryer. 

In fact, this cooking device is quickly becoming one of the more popular cooking appliances because it’s convenient and easy to use.

The air fryer allows you to cook things without actually frying in grease or oil, which means less mess and less fat in your food. 

How do you cook bratwurst in an air fryer? To cook bratwurst in an air fryer, set your air fryer to 350°F and place the sausage on a parchment-lined air fryer tray for around 15 minutes. Different air fryers may cook slightly faster or slower, so make sure to account for any differences in temperature or time accordingly. 

In this guide, we will share with you step-by-step instructions on how to cook bratwursts in the air fryer. We’ve got all of the details and the tips and tricks that will help you get the very best bratwursts.

Whether you use a basket air fryer or one that resembles a mini oven with racks and trays, we’ve got you covered! 

Stick with us to learn about cooking bratwursts in an air fryer and more. 

Instructions For Cooking Bratwurst In An Air Fryer

Do you have an air fryer that you’re looking to use more or perhaps you’re thinking of trying new things in the air fryer? Foods like bratwursts are super easy to cook in the air fryer and they come out absolutely delicious. 

They will have a crisp outside with an inside that is still juicy and savory. This method rivals the traditional means of frying in a skillet, just without all the added grease!

Here are basic step-by-step instructions for cooking bratwurst in an air fryer. 

• Set up the brats in your air fryer. Most brat packages have 5 in them, which should fit perfectly side by side in a basket or a rack air fryer. Try to space them just a tiny bit but it’s ok if they are touching as long as you can lay them flat. 
• Set your air fryer temperature to 350°F.
• Set your time on the air fryer to 15 minutes (or you can start with 6 and then start a new timer when you turn them).
• Start the cooking process and let the brats cook for 6 minutes without touching them. 
• At the 6-minute mark, turn all of the brats over to their other side. 
• Put the brats back in at the same temperature and cook for another 6 minutes. 
• Check the brats to see if they are done. If you want to cook them a little bit longer, just toss them back in for another 2-3 minutes. 

At this interval, your brats should be cooked to the perfect golden brown and have some crisp places almost like a grill would cook them. They will be juicy and flavorful as well. 

You can use coverings in your air fryer if you’re worried about the natural grease of the meat as well. We recommend that you let the brats rest for 3-5 minutes after air frying them. Then, you can serve them however you like and enjoy them! 

The great thing about bratwursts is that once you’ve cooked them, you can save them in the fridge for 2-3 days.

You can use these for any meal or any snack and they work fine. Some people like to use them for breakfast.

If you need a way to determine if your bratwursts are thoroughly cooked, you can always test the internal temperature, which should be 160°F. 

Is The Air Fryer Better Than A Grill Or Oven? 

So, why would people want to make their bratwursts in the air fryer anyway? There are several different reasons that bratwursts are perfect for cooking in an air fryer. 

Let’s look at these reasons you may want to try the air fryer for cooking your bratwursts and what you can expect. 

Time

One of the biggest things you will notice when you cook bratwursts in the air fryer is the time.

If you think about prep time and “rest” time (which is totally optional, but you should always rest your meats after cooking!), you’re looking at dinner being ready in less than 30 minutes. 

It takes very little time to unpack your bratwursts from whatever type of packaging they are in and line them up in the air fryer. From there, you’ve got just a couple buttons to press to start them cooking. 

At the end of 12-15 minutes, you have perfectly cooked brats and they are delicious!

While we recommend letting them rest a few minutes prior to serving, this is optional. You can usually use that 5 minutes of rest time to finish getting things put together for serving. 

If you think this sounds too easy to be true, think again! It’s fast, it’s easy, and it’s all true! 

Now, what about other cooking methods? When you cook bratwursts in the oven, they take at least 20 minutes to cook and sometimes longer so your timeframe is double and possibly triple if you think about the whole process. 

For example, when you preheat your oven you can plan on probably about 10 minutes for pre-heating time.

When you add in cooking time, you’re adding 20-30 minutes to that. And then if you let your bratwursts rest, that’s another 5 minutes on the end.

While bratwursts don’t necessarily take a long time to cook in the oven, they do take longer than the air fryer. 

In the oven, your pre-heating needs take almost as long as the cooking processes for items like this that simply don’t take all that long to cook really.

In total, you should plan on a minimum of about 40 minutes for oven cooking of bratwursts. 

So what about the grill? It’s a similar story. Your grill will have to be pre-heated. How long that process takes will probably depend on your grill.

Some grills can take quite a while to pre-heat, especially grills like the charcoal grill where you have to prep the charcoal to get the grill nice and hot. 

Recipes for grilling brats recommend grilling them slowly, which will take somewhere around 20 minutes to grill them to perfection. Of course, don’t forget that 5-minute rest at the end. 

You will notice again that the cooking time really doesn’t take a long time but preheating the grill takes almost as much time as cooking on the grill.

This is where the air fryer becomes convenient. It’s so much faster when you consider total time. 

That is one of the biggest draws to the air fryer. 

Flavor

There really is nothing like a grill-cooked bratwurst. The grill caramelizes them and makes them flavorful and juicy. The good news is that the air fryer can do something very similar.

While the air fryer will not perfectly mimic the smoky flavor of a grill, we don’t think you will miss the flavor too much because the flavor in the air fryer is truly just as good as when you cook them on the grill. 

With the juiciness and fried flavor, it will be very close to the grilled flavor as well. It’s incredible just how flavorful bratwursts are in the air fryer when you compare them to grilled flavor. 

The unique air frying process pulls out the juices and what you will find is that the end result is very similar to grilling bratwursts.

When you make bratwursts in the oven, you still get the juicy flavor but it’s not quite comparable to air frying or the grill. If you want our opinion, the air fryer is superior and we think the flavor is something you will appreciate too. 

Convenience

Finally, one of the reasons that the air fryer makes a great option is because it is convenient.

It’s a simple appliance that you can use for so many things. It just sits on your countertop at home. You don’t have to worry about warming up the house as with an oven and you don’t have to worry about messing with a grill. 

It’s fast and it’s simple with just a few buttons and turn of the bratwursts halfway through the cooking process. 

It really doesn’t get much easier than that when you think about it! 

Air Fryer Liners

Some people like to use air fryer liners because it helps cut down on some of the mess and just makes cleanup easier. This is totally optional. 

We do recommend either purchasing liners made for this purpose or being very careful to create holes in your paper. Most of these are silicone mats with vent holes or parchment paper that has round vent holes. 

The holes are there to allow the air to flow through so you don’t want to avoid or skip that addition.

You can use your own parchment paper but make sure it isn’t going to prevent or hinder airflow as this could affect the outcome of your food. 

If you need a good option for liners, check out this one. 

Related Questions

We hope that you found this guide to cooking bratwursts in the air fryer to be a valuable resource. It’s so easy and we think you will find that your brats come out delicious in the end. 

Take a look at the following question and answer section to see if there is anything that might be useful to you there! 

Can you reheat brats in the air fryer? 

Yes, you sure can! If your brats are already cooked and you just want to heat them up without them getting soggy, toss them in the air fryer.

We recommend cooking them at 350°F for about 7 minutes. You can flip them halfway through as well. 

Can you use aluminum foil in the air fryer? 

You can use aluminum foil but it’s not really recommended. You are better off using something like parchment paper in the air fryer as it works much better for the cooking process and won’t pose any risks. 

Can you cook frozen brats in the air fryer? 

Yep! You can cook the bratwursts frozen or thawed out and it won’t really change your process that much.

It will probably take 2-5 minutes longer to cook them when they are frozen but you can follow the same process as long as you flip them in the middle. You can flip them an extra time as well but it’s not required. 

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