Onion Sausage (Zwiebelwurst) – Spreadable Or Sliceable Always Delicious
- Type
- Pre-cooked sausage
- Level
- Easy
- Rating
- Rate this recipe
In this article you will learn how to make your own onion sausage.
You’ll get a complete list of ingredients, materials and a simple recipe that you can copy immediately.
Onion sausage is easy and quick to make. Depending on whether you use a casing, a can or a jar, the preparation takes between 2 – 3.5 hours.
But first let’s answer the question: What is onion sausage?
Onion sausage (Zwiebelwurst in German) often gets mistaken with Zwiebelmettwurst.
The difference between those two is that Zwiebelmettwurst is a raw sausage and the onion sausage in this article is precooked and thus belongs to the category of cooked sausages.
You can watch the complete onion sausage recipe as video or read it here.
I wish you a lot of fun and success!
Table of Contents
Onion sausage – What do you need to make it?
Ingredients per 1 kg
| Ingredient | Grams | Percent |
|---|---|---|
| onion sausage | ||
| pork belly | 750 g | 75 % |
| lean pork meat | 250 g | 25 % |
Spices per 1 kg
| Ingredient | Grams |
|---|---|
| caramelized onions | 150 g |
| salt | 22 g |
| white pepper | 2 g |
| paprika, sweet | 1 g |
| sugar | 1 g |
| mace | 0.5 g |
| marjoram | 0.5 g |
The equipment to make onion sausage
You need a meat grinder to “grind” the meat. The meat is chopped into small chunks with it.
Thermometer & Cooking Pot
Use a saucepan and heat the water. To reach the exact temperature, you will need a thermometer.
Preserving jars / casings
Since I fill the onion sausage into jars, I used jars for this purpose. Alternatively you can fill the mixture into a casing or a can. You can find more information about this in this article.
Homemade onion sausage – Step-By-Step Instruction
Cut the meat and fat into pieces. The size varies depending on how big your meat grinder is. The bigger the grinder, the bigger your pieces of meat can be. Store the belly and lean meat seperately
Put the pork belly pieces in a pot with water. The water should just about cover the pork belly.
Cook the pork belly pieces at around 80 degrees Celsius (176 Fahrenheit) for 60 – 90 minutes.
Grind the spices into a fine powder.
Cut the onions into strips and slowly simmer in a buttered pan until golden brown for up to 10 min.
When the belly is cooked through, you can take it out of the water. The easiest way to do this is with a sieve. Be careful not to pour away the broth. You will need it later.
Add the onions to the meat.
Now it’s time to grind the cooked meat, onions and uncooked lean meat. I used the smallest perforated disc for this.
Add the spices to the mixture.
Mix and knead the mass for a few minutes, so it has a nice binding.
Now gradually add some leftover broth to the mixture. The consistency should be a little thinner than you might think. It will continue to thicken as it cooks. The more broth you add the more spreadable it becomes afterwards. Less broth means sliceable sausage afterwards.
Fill the mass into jars or natural casings (caliber 38 for example). Make sure that as little air as possible gets into the jars.
Close the jars, put them in your pot with water and boil them for about 2 hours. In the casing you can alternatively poach them at 80 degrees Celsius (176 Fahrenheit) for 45 minutes.
Your onion sausage is ready. I wish you good luck and have fun making it 🙂 .
Frequently asked questions
What does onion sausage taste like, and how is it eaten?
What does onion sausage taste like, and how is it eaten?
The onions are the point, and they are cooked before they ever meet the meat. Step 5 takes them slowly to golden brown in a buttered pan, so what you taste in the finished sausage is sweet, soft, caramelised onion rather than the sharp bite of a raw one. Around that sits a mild, belly-led sausage seasoned lightly with white pepper, mace, marjoram and a little sweet paprika, and every one of those is there to stay behind the onions rather than to compete with them.
It is eaten cold and it is eaten as it comes. This is a cooked sausage rather than a frying one, so nothing happens to it after the jar or the casing: it goes onto fresh bread with a knife, or onto a board in slices, depending on which of the two textures the recipe left you with. It belongs on a Brotzeit plate next to bread, mustard and a pickle, and it is the sort of thing that stands on a table for an evening.
How long does the onion sausage keep?
How long does the onion sausage keep?
Keep the jars in the fridge and use the onion sausage within 2–3 weeks.
When opening, the rule is:
See it, smell it, taste it! If you use a casing, you should store the onion sausage in the refrigerator and consume it within a maximum of 10 days.
Wonderful recipe can’t wait to try it as always love your way
Thanks Gregory
Looks fantastic!
About to make this for my Father.
He said he hasn’t been able to find a decent Zwiebelwurst since moving to Canada 50 yrs ago……
One question though…
How many onions?
Nevermind…..
I just noticed the amount of onions.
150 grams
In my excitement, I must have missed it…..
Thanks!
will definitely make this !