One of my favorite soups is French Onion Soup. I love the cheese on the top, the flavor of the onions, the crispy bread holding the cheese. Just the smell of it makes me smile and the warm gooey goodness isn’t bad either. For some reason, the flavors in this recipe remind me of French onion soup.
The recipe happened totally by accident. I found those big Italian turkey sausage links on sale at the grocery store. These are the big ones that come 5 to a package, not those tiny breakfast sausage sized ones. I fully intended to grill and slice them for a pasta sauce, but then I saw an Oktoberfest commercial with bratwurst. Sheesh, apparently the power of suggestion works well with me.
I remembered the sausages in the fridge and got to thinking up a plan. No, they aren’t bratwurst but they are similar in size so I figured it was worth a try. I went for it and came up with beer braised turkey sausages! Not just any beer though. No, silly readers, that would be so unlike me. I have a mass assortment of fancy pants craft stouts and ales on hand to choose from.
I went with Voodoo Doughnut Pretzel, Raspberry, and Chocolate Ale. That’s how I roll in my house. Stick that in your beer and braise it, eh? LOL. You can use any dark beer, ale or stout in this recipe. The more flavor the better, but probably plain ole Budweiser would also work.
Beer Braised Turkey Sausage 
- 1 cup (100g) sliced yellow onion
- 5 sweet Italian turkey sausage links
- 1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp dark ale or stout, like Guinness
- 1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp chicken broth
- 1 tsp dried thyme
Slice your onion into thin slices. Spray a skillet with a lid with non-stick spray and add the onions. Saute over medium heat for about 5 minutes until the onions soften a bit and become translucent. Prick the sausages with a fork so they don’t burst, and lay them on top of the onions. Like a warm toasty onion bed.
Add the beer and chicken broth, and sprinkle the thyme over top. Bring the liquid to a boil and cover with the lid. Steam the sausages for about 30 minutes covered. Check on them and turn them occasionally so each side gets some cooking time in the beer. After 30 minutes when the sausages are completely cooked, remove the lid and simmer uncovered for another 5 minutes or so while the sauce thickens.
Remove from heat and serve.
Makes 5 servings at approximately 202 calories each – 20g protein, 8g carbs, and 10g fat.
The beer and onion “gravy” was amazing over top of mashed potatoes by the way. You can eat the sausages with a knife and fork, or you can serve them hot dog style in a bun with the onions on top. These were seriously simple to make and were so good. Let me know what kind of beer you end up using.
Do you get crazy with your beer? Ha, I rarely drink but when I do, I figure I’ll have a little fun with it. These craft beers come in huge bottles and I only have about 4 oz at a time. The bottle lasts forever and usually ends up in a few recipes before it’s gone. I also made pumpkin ale waffles the other night. Not bad. 🙂
Speak Your Mind