We love cooking bratwurst in the air fryer! The brats cook perfectly throughout and leave the outside just a little crispy. As a huge bonus, the beer cheese sauce takes these brats over the top!
Having brats on the grill is a summer favorite of course. But what do you do when you plan on grilling and the weather gets in the way? Bust out the air fryer.
This bratwurst recipe is even easier in the air fryer! No need to wait for the grill to heat up, brave the weather, or scrape things down after cooking. Just pop them in the air fryer and devour them!
Take these air fryer brats over the top with a special topping: Beer Cheese Sauce!
The beer cheese gives a nice thick cheesy sauce to put on the sausage and the combo just works great!
As a bonus, if you are making brats with air fryer hot dogs, the cheese works great with the dogs too!
Ingredient Notes
For the brats– Grab some fresh hot dog buns and the bratwurst. To pair with the volume of beer cheese sauce, and to fit your air fryer nicely, five is a good number of each.
For the beer cheese sauce– You will need butter, flour, beer, milk, shredded cheddar, smoked paprika, and chives.
Skip the chives if you hate them, but I love them.
Your milk for the beer cheese sauce can be pretty much any type of milk.
For the shredded cheddar, freshly shredded cheddar will melt much better and make a slightly better sauce than a pre-shredded packaged cheddar. Consider shredding yourself if you want a little improvement to the recipe!
How to Cook the Brats in an Air Fryer:
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There isn’t much to this! Preheat your air fryer to 360 degrees Fahrenheit.
Put your brats in the air fryer. Be sure to use uncooked brats for this recipe, not the pre-cooked kind that you can just microwave. 😉
Don’t stack them, and leave room around the brats for air to move around them.
Then cook them for 15 minutes flipping halfway through. When done cooking the internal temp should be 160 degrees Fahrenheit.
How to Make Beer Cheese Sauce:
Add the butter to a saucepan and let it melt over medium heat.
Next whisk in the flour and continue to cook for one minute.
Now whisk in the milk and beer and keep whisking over medium heat as the sauce thickens. It should be the consistency of a thin gravy and take about 5 minutes.
After that, turn off the heat and stir in your cheddar and paprika.
Adding the cheese to the sauce while it’s still on the heat is what contributes to a grainy, gritty cheese sauce. No bueno.
We Love Beer Cheese!
This beer cheese sauce is good for so many other dishes too! I love to dip my French fries in it or pour it over roasted potatoes. It is great with hot dogs too if you are serving hot dogs alongside your brats like we usually do.
Comments & Reviews
Tom and Arlene Sevey says
Hi, my question is, can you use nonalcoholic beer in this recipe or something else instead of beer?
Thank you.
Karly Campbell says
Non-alcoholic beer or chicken stock should work fine. 🙂
bob tremblay says
Made cheese brats in my air fryer today,with sauteed onions I fried seperately.OH SO GOOD.
Karly says
Sounds delicious!!
Crystal Lazewski says
i just love this blog
Karly says
Thanks, Crystal!
Lee says
When making the cheese sauce avoid the pre-shredded cheese in a pouch, that also will give you a grainy, nasty sauce. It’s always best to use cheese freshly grated from a block.
Viola DuBay says
What could be used instead of beer ? Would a soda of some type work ? Coke or Dr Pepper or Sprite or 7up? Just asking
Karly says
I’d just double the milk and you’ll have a thicker, creamier cheese sauce. Soda would make the cheese sauce sweet and that doesn’t sound super appealing. 🙂
Alicia says
Hi! Have you tried these with skinless brats, by chance? We love the skinless from our local grocery store but wonder if they would make a huge mess. Love your new website!
Karly says
Hi Alicia! I’ve actually never cooked a skinless brat, so I’m not sure how the process differs. If you grill them the same, I think they’d cook in the air fryer the same. 🙂
Alicia says
That’s what I was thinking too. Thanks for responding! Can’t wait to give these a try!
Karly says
Let us know how they turn out! 🙂
Alicia says
We made the skinless tonight and they were SO good!! We cooked them the exact same and they were perfect!
Karly says
Oh, awesome! Thanks for letting us know! 🙂