Sauerkraut and Weenies
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This is an old-fashioned Southern main dish. As the name suggests, all you need is sauerkraut and weenies to make this tangy yet delicious dish.
This sauerkraut and weenies recipe was one of my dear favorite meals as a girl and still is. It is a prime example of a budget meal (very common in the South back in the day) and so very good! Oh goodness, I’m getting hungry.
Now, I realize some folks are just not sauerkraut fans. Chances are, I lost about half of you in the title of this post. But I know some folks saw that photo and your stomach started growling, and chances are pretty darn good that you’ll be having this for supper tonight. Those who don’t fit into this category, feel free to think of the rest of us as weird. We won’t mind and there will be more sauerkraut for us! Everyone has their preferences and it’s all good either way.
This is one of those meals that is great with slices of polish sausage. But I still like to cook it how Mama did growing up; just by chopping up a few weenies and cooking until the sauerkraut and weenies brown a bit. That’s all there is to it. You can add as many weenies or sausage as you like and if you’re vegetarian, just get some vegan hot dogs and keep on keeping on. If you want to take it up a notch, you can make your own sauerkraut as I do in this post. Put it on your Classic Reuben Sandwich and you will crave it every day.
Recipe Ingredients
- Sauerkraut
- Weenies
- Salt and pepper
Helpful Kitchen Tools
How to Make Sauerkraut and Weenies
Slice your weenies and put them in a large skillet.
Add in about two cups of sauerkraut.
Cook this over medium to medium-high heat, stirring often.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
You can start with 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/8 teaspoon of pepper and then adjust to make it just right for you.
Cook this until your weenies and sauerkraut get a little brown or you can just cook it until everything is heated through.
Now here is a supper from the old days!
Storage
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. I recommend reheating on the stovetop on low heat until heated through.
Recipe Notes
- How many weenies you use is up to you. We used to have to determine this based on how many we had, so to be able to use as many as you want is a big step up nowadays.
- I have a friend from Germany ~waves to Gudrun~ who swears by the bagged sauerkraut so I started buying it and now I’m a convert, too. You can get it in the refrigerated section near the weenies usually and sometimes near the deli if they have a refrigerated section there as well. Mama likes the kind you get in a glass jar and we’ve both used the kind that comes in a can (which you get on the vegetable aisle). Overall, they are all good and there isn’t a lot of price difference so it is up to you to pick your favorite.
- As mentioned, you can use a different type of sausage with the sauerkraut. For example, sauerkraut and brats (bratwurst) is a popular dish in Germany. Kielbasa or franks also work.
- For extra flavor, add 1 diced apple to the skillet as well.
Recipe FAQs
What goes well with sauerkraut and weenies?
Here are some serving suggestions for your sauerkraut and weenies:
- Dinner rolls (with mustard)
- German potato salad
- Mashed potatoes
- Fried potatoes
- Freshly fried corn (or creamed corn or baked corn on the cob).
- Baked beans
- Broccoli salad
- Fresh green beans
- Cornbread
Do you drain sauerkraut before cooking?
If you’re using jarred sauerkraut, you’ll want to drain it before using it.
What condiment goes well with sauerkraut?
Mustard, ketchup, green tomato relish, and hot sauce (like sriracha or tabasco sauce) all pair perfectly with sauerkraut.
How do you season sauerkraut?
Besides salt and black pepper, if you want a touch of sweetness add up to a tablespoon of brown sugar. If you want a more savory flavor, add a teaspoon of caraway seeds. Alternatively, for a kick, add a dash of red pepper flakes or a teaspoon of paprika.
What food goes well with sauerkraut?
Here are some other dishes that pair well with sauerkraut:
- Hot dogs or hot dog chili
- Pork chops
- Reuben sandwich
- Grilled cheese sandwich
- Polish sausage or kielbasa sausage
You may also like these recipes:
Southern Fried Cabbage With Bacon
Ingredients
- 2-4 weenies or polish sausage
- 2 cups sauerkraut
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Slice weenies into small pieces and place them in a skillet over medium to medium-high heat.2-4 weenies or polish sausage
- Add sauerkraut. Cook, stirring often until kraut and weenies brown slightly. Salt and pepper to taste.2 cups sauerkraut, salt and pepper to taste
- Serve hot.
Nutrition
This was originally published in 2010. I updated the post and photos in 2020.
Life is really simple,
but we insist on making it complicated.
My mom used to make this with fried potatoes and “light” bread (white bread) on the side. Also grew up eating cornbread and milk. My grandmother used to serve cornbread and milk in big goblets decorated with a white frosty glaze on them. Every time I see one of those beautiful old glasses my mouth waters. Thanks for the memories!
My favorite po’ folks food is neck bones and taters. My mom grew up eating it and she loved it so much she made it for me (only child). I still love it to this day. The meat was cooked with the taters and it made for a wonderful flavor and one-dish meal.
I never grew up with this type of food and have only been exposed to the sauerkraut and sausage in the last 12 years or so. I love it with mashed potatoes. My mom really likes it too but, as my father could not tolerate the smell in the house, it was not on the menu. Couldn’t even make it when he wasn’t around because the odour lingered and he did not react favourably.
I love sauerkraut and potatoes but, to be quite truthful, I am not that fond of the sausage or weenies with it. So, I just pick around them and leave them in the pot. I also like fried cabbage (sliced cabbage, sauteed with water in a fry pan and once it is soft, let it brown a bit and carmelize)
We did however enjoy the weenies and beans. This is my sisters favourite meal to this day. Beans, salad and buns or bread……. need I say more.
Delta Joy (Sept 2010) said don’t ever apologize for the food you make and eat.
I agree completely. I make what we like and what we can afford. I also save the left overs, even if it is only a bit… that is why they make storage containers in many sizes isn’t it ! Then one night a week I make a small casserole or just “buffet” type supper. My friend thinks it is disgusting that I eat all of the “garbage” out of the fridge. I think that if I ate it the first time, it is okay even combined with other stuff to form a different menu. As I wasn’t home a lot of times to sit and eat with the family, I would have a tin plate filled with little bits of what had been served for supper and it would be in the oven waiting for me when I did get home. I was the last to eat so got what was left over. We weren’t poor, and never were hungry. Some meals may have seemed to be weird combinations but Mom often fed 3 or 4 other kids in the neighbourhood too and never got any complaints (unless there was no raw onion – one boy ate raw onion on EVERYTHING) We ate well. The rule was if you don’t like it then don’t eat it – will just be more for the next guy – but what is on the table is all that is being served.
The foods listed by all those posting here are a lot of my favourites. People think I am nuts for eating beans, weenies and mac and cheese together. I could just cook up a big pot of veggies and greens and eat that with potatoes
Christy I love receiving your emails and seeing what other folks are enjoying on a daily basis. I have no Southern Roots at all. But I have eaten all, or many, of these dishes and do have a lot of recipes in my collection that are word for word, or very similar. I am over 60 years old and have been cooking for over 50 years.
PS – Salmon patties and salad was the lunch menu every Saturday for years. I spent weekends with my grandparents and Saturday lunch was for entertaining ladies in the valley – home made biscuits, jam, wild honey and home churned butter were also on the menu.
I like it this way and also with Kielbasa and sauteed onions with it!
My Mama would fry white meat until it was crispy and then cook cabbage in the grease left from the white meat. She’d make potato salad and those big, dry lima beans. A “pone” of cornbread and some green onions and we were all set! Oh my mouth is watering now!!
I remember this meal well, LOVED it! Unfortunately my DH and kids don’t have the same tastes I do so I seldom get a meal like this any more. My mom also use to brown chopped weiners and wild green onions then scramble eggs in with ’em… mmm now my mouth really is waterin’!
MMMM! My daughter & I are real sauerkraut people, my husband, son-in-law and granddaughters, not so much! Here is how I cook it with pork.
Pork & Sauerkraut
1 Boston Butt pork roast
1-2 bags of sauerkraut
Place roast in an black enamel roaster. Pour sauerkraut (with the juice) around the roast, pressing it down so the kraut is in the liquid. Place on lide and roast in a 300º oven for about 3-4 hours, or until the roast is tender. Slice roast and serve with the sauerkraut along with mashed potatoes and a veggie. Real Pennsylvania Dutch eating.
No salt, pepper, onion or other seasoning needed.
Linda