Beer and Kraut Brats

Beer and Kraut Brats by Campbell's Kitchen
1/2 pound thick-cut bacon, diced

1 pound bratwurst, cut into 2-inch pieces
1 can (12 fluid ounces) beer
1 can (10 1/2 ounces) Campbell's® Condensed French Onion Soup
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 package (16 ounces) fresh sauerkraut, drained (about 3 cups)
Hot mashed potatoes or egg noodles

Directions:  Cook bacon in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat for 5 minutes or until the bacon is crisp. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Pour off drippings.  Add the bratwurst and cook until it's well browned.  Add the beer, soup, brown sugar, sauerkraut and bacon. Heat to a boil. Reduce the heat to low.  Cook for 15 minutes or until the bratwurst reaches an internal temperature of 160°F. stirring the mixture a few times while it's cooking. Serve over potatoes or noodles.

Modifications:
-I used beef sausage instead of bratwurst.
-I used turkey bacon instead of pork bacon.
-I used instant mashed potatoes instead of "real" potatoes
-I cut the bacon into little pieces and added them to the mashed potatoes.

Here's what I started with:

Here's how I did it:

#1 I cooked a few pieces of turkey bacon in some olive oil until it was crispy.

#2 Once finished, I pulled the bacon and put the cut up pieces of sausages in the same grease.

#3 I put the bacon on paper towels to drain.

#4 I added the French onion soup, saurkraut, beer and brown sugar.

#5 While the mixture was cooking down, I cut up the bacon into little pieces.

#6 I made the instant mashed potatoes according to directions and added the cut up pieces of bacon bits into them.

The Finished Product:

Review:

This dish was so good.  Polish sausage and saurkraut is one of my family's meals anyway but this sausage with the kraut added with the mashed potatoes made it feel more authentic.

The recipe called for a beer to be added but then said to only cook for about 15 minutes.  I let this simmer for about 25 minutes because the beer flavor was still too strong after 15 minutes and hadn't cooked off enough.  The French onion soup, though, was a nice surprise and I will definitely use it again.

This dish was supposed to be in honor of Germany making it into the final game of the World Cup and even though that didn't happen, I decided to make it anyway.  LOL

Hope you enjoy!

April

*****(5 Stars)--This dish was fantastic!