Currywurst with fries
Germany’s favorite street food at home: sliced bratwurst smothered in a warm, tangy curry ketchup sauce with a pile of crispy fries.
- 45 min total
- 20 min hands-on
- A little more hands-on
- Serves 2
- About $2.39 a serving
- 720 calories
- Gluten-free
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Most of the time here is hands-off, so you can sit down while it cooks.
Ingredients
For 2 servings.
- 2 bratwurst, raw links
- 12 oz frozen French fries
- ½ yellow onion
- 2 tsp curry powder, plus a pinch to finish
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- ½ cup ketchup
From your pantry
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tsp paprika
- ¼ cup water
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
Each serving has about 720 calories, 20 g protein, 68 g carbs and 43 g fat, and costs about $2.39 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Heat the air fryer to 370°F.
Air fry the brats 12 to 14 minutes, turning halfway, until and 160°F in the middle.
Brown. Browning means cooking until the outside turns brown, which is where a lot of savory flavor comes from. Give food room and time without stirring, or it steams and stays gray.
How you’ll know: The food looks brown rather than gray, and the kitchen smells toasty and savory.
Timer: 13 min
Food safety: Raw pork sausage is done at 160°F and raw chicken or turkey sausage at 165°F. Precooked sausage just needs heating until hot all the way through.
Set them on a board.
Turn the air fryer to 400°F, add the fries, and air fry 14 to 16 minutes, shaking every 5 minutes, until and . Lay the brats on top for the last 2 minutes to rewarm.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Crispy. Crispy means the outside is dry, firm and crunchy. It comes from high heat, a little oil and room in the pan, because crowded food steams and goes soft.
How you’ll know: It sounds crunchy when you tap or bite it, and it doesn’t flop when you lift it.
Timer: 15 min
While the fries cook, the onion.
Finely chop. Finely chopping means cutting food into small pieces, a little bigger than minced, about the size of a lentil. Small pieces spread their flavor through the dish and cook quickly.
How you’ll know: Nothing is bigger than a lentil, and the pile looks like confetti rather than paste.
Heat the oil in a small over medium and cook the onion 3 to 4 minutes, until soft.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
Medium heatTimer: 4 min
Stir in the curry powder and paprika for 30 seconds to them, .
Bloom. Blooming means warming spices in hot oil for a few seconds before the other ingredients go in. The heat wakes up their flavor, so the whole dish tastes fuller.
How you’ll know: They smell strong and toasty within 30 seconds; a dark color or bitter smell means they went too far.
Fragrant. Fragrant means cooking until you can clearly smell it, usually garlic or spices, often in about 30 seconds. That’s the moment the flavor is ready, just before it can burn.
How you’ll know: You can smell it from a step back, and garlic is pale gold, not brown.
Medium heat
Dolly’s tip: Warming spices in oil is called blooming. It wakes up their flavor.Add the tomato paste, ketchup, water and vinegar and on low 5 minutes, stirring, until thick and glossy.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Low heatTimer: 5 min
the brats into ½-inch pieces, spoon the warm sauce over them, and dust with a pinch more curry powder. Serve with the fries.
Slice. Slicing means cutting food into flat pieces of about the same thickness. Even slices cook evenly, so none are raw while others burn.
How you’ll know: Lay a few side by side: they’re close to the same thickness from one end to the other.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
