Slow Cooker Beer and Garlic Brats
69 Comments Jul 29, 2025
Updated Oct 24, 2025
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Slow Cooker Beer and Garlic Brats are great for game day or for a fall dinner. The brats are slow cooked with plenty of flavors that all meld together.
Featured Comment
These are DELICIOUS! I have made these over 20 times and we still can’t get enough of them! They are in my regular rotation and have been for a couple of years now.
– Rhonda
Don’t settle for boring hot dogs and make my flavorful slow cooker brats! These are always a hit at parties and they smell AMAZING while cooking. The slow cooker keeps them warm during the gameday festivities, and great for potlucks.
Key Ingredients
- Bratwurst – These are raw sausages – Look for raw brats in the meat section of your grocery store.
- Beer – Use your favorite beer, we prefer a light beer.
- Garlic – I use 10 whole cloves, leaving them whole will keep the flavor mild.
- Onion – These will soften up and go great with the brats
- Butter – Butter isn’t a usual ingredient, but it pairs perfectly with the onions and garlic.
How to make Slow Cooker Beer Brats
- Add the brats, butter, onions and other ingredients to the crockpot.
- Add the beer to cover.
- Cook until the brats are melt in your mouth tender.
Tips & Variations
No Beer: You can leave out the beer – if you do so, use chicken broth for the liquid.
Peppers: Some of my readers like to add green bell pepper and/or jalapenos.
Other Sausages: You can use pre-cooked brats, hot dogs or even kielbasa in this crockpot brats recipe.
Try different beers: A light lager like Coors works great, but you can experiment with amber ales or even a stout for deeper flavor.
Do Brats get browned in the slow cooker?
Not really, though they do get a little toasty on the edges and that adds some flavor. You can put them under the broiler in the oven (on a sheet pan) if you want toasty brats.
How to Serve Brats
Pile the brats onto toasted buns and spoon some of the tender garlic and onions right on top.
Add classic toppings like mustard, sauerkraut, or pickles for a deli-style feel (and of course ketchup).
Pair with potato salad, coleslaw, or baked beans for a summer style meal.
Serve them on pretzel rolls and topped with beer cheese for a game day twist.
Try the leftover beer brats over mashed potatoes, tastes similar to bangers and mash!
Slow Cooker Beer and Garlic Brats Recipe
How to Video
Ingredients
- 38 oz. brats, (two 19 oz. packages) I find these in the meat section, raw
- 1 large white onion, sliced and divided
- 10 garlic cloves, peeled
- 1/4 tsp. black pepper
- 1/4 cup butter
- 12 oz. bottle beer, (I used Coors banquet)
Instructions
- Add half of the onion in the slow cooker, add the brats in 2 layers.
- Add the rest of the onions, garlic, pepper and place the butter on top.
- Pour the beer into the slow cooker.
- Cover and cook on low for 6 hours without opening the lid during the cooking time.
- Serve the brats, garlic and onions on buns topped with desired toppings.
Nutrition
Nutrition info is auto-generated. This information is an estimate; if you are on a special diet, please use your own calculations.
Other hot dog and brat recipes to try
Slow Cooker Hot Dogs and Hot Tub Beer Brats are easy crowd-pleasers that work great for cookouts or game day.
Bourbon Hot Dogs and my Lil Smokies Recipe make the perfect sweet-and-savory appetizers, and Hot Dog Chili is a must-have topping for a loaded dog. Or try my Brats & Sauerkraut for a ocktober-fest style dinner.
sounds a lot like one my mother did in the oven where would brown them in a skillet with butter and cover with a can of sauerkraut and sliced onion and bake for an hour or so until the kraut was lightly browned about an hour or so at about 325-350 (kraut juice and all) the slow cook would take the bite out of the kraut and leave tender and juicy to be served with boiled potato or on a good sturdy hardroll with whatever topping desired onion mustard ketchup or whatever
I made this..Its a Keeper.Next time , I’m gonna brown up first and use a dark beer..
Thank you…Mmmmm
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Sorry, I take that back. The second photo clearly shows 4T butter. Great recipe!
It appears from the photos that 1/4 stick of butter (2T) was used rather than 1/4 cup (4T.) Which is correct? Thanks.
Making a half-order of this right now.
Would 3 hours on slow work as well?
I meant 3 hours on high.
I’m trying now and will reply to this tomorrow. We have to speed it up because I forgot to turn on the crockpot.
What was the verdict on cooking this in high??
I’m curious as well!
I think 3 hours on high would do fine!
Hi there! Gonna make these today – super excited! How would you store them after cooking? Would you keep some of the juice and put them in a tupperware? No juice? Would freezing them get weird?
I don’t think I added much juice when I stored them in the fridge. I don’t know how they would freeze. I apologize.
Give em a try with kraut it is amazing…the way it’s intended : ) , though we don’t do the beer and the kraut … generally either or up here in the far north woods of Michigan’s upper peninsula. Large German & Finnish heritage here , sausage is one of the food groups lol.
Sounds good, I will try.
I made this recipe yesterday…it was a hit with the family! So delicious and perfect for the season!
Do you think you could add sauerkraut to the recipe?
It may be good! I searched google and found quite a few recipes with brats and sauerkraut cooked together. I think it would be fine.