The Best Air Fryer Cheddar Brats

Name: The Best Air Fryer Cheddar Brats
Prep time: 1 min
Cook time: 9 min
Total time: 10 min
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 5 Cheddar Brats; 5 Sausage Buns; Condiments of choice

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Air fryer cheddar brats are a quick, hearty, delicious, and fuss-free meal. Get dinner on the table in just minutes.

Serves: 3-4 Time: 9-11 minutes Cookbook: Johnsonville Brats Online

We love a good sausage dinner in our house. When it’s one of those days where we’ve both been nose to the grindstone and doing more cooking for the blog than for ourselves, we enjoy a nice easy meal. Enter one of my favorite ways to eat meat: brats.

I love all kinds of brats: regular brats, beer brats, Italian sausage in all forms, and of course cheddar brats. If you asked me to name my favorite brats, I’d be in trouble. They’re all my children. Whether you put them in a bun, mix them up with bell peppers, or serve them alongside french fries, I’m going to enjoy them.

Though these are easy enough to cook on the stovetop, by using the air fryer to cook up your delicious brats, you get a quick meal in less time than it takes you to set the table. They’re an easy low carb meal and the best part is that clean up is a breeze. You don’t even need aluminum foil or parchment paper.

So, without further ado, let’s get cooking with this recipe straight from the Johnsononville Brat people themselves.

Jump Ahead:

❤️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe
🌭 Ingredients Needed to Make Cheddar Brats in the Air Fryer
🍴 Equipment You’ll Need in the Kitchen
🥄 How to Make Cheddar Brats in the Air Fryer
♾️ Variations on Air Fryer Cheddar Brats
❓ Air Fryer Cheddar Brats: Tips, Tricks, and FAQs

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Easy: Few things are easier than placing thawed brats in the air fryer and cooking them to perfection. Air frying is such an easy way to make dinner!

Fast: Using an air fryer is the best way to go from uncooked to ready-to-eat in just minutes.

Versatile: Brats are hearty, delicious, and pair with a lot of different dishes. Once you have cooked, ready-to-eat air fryer bratwurst, you can use them in everything from stand-alone dinners to mix-ins for omelets.

Ingredients Needed to Make Cheddar Brats in the Air Fryer

Cheddar Brats: You can go with any brand of uncooked brats, here. Cheddar Johnsonville brats are a classic option but other brands offer unique flavors like smoked apple gouda. If you have some family members who don’t want a cheesy brat, then pick up a pack of beer brats or plain sausage, instead.
Hot Dog Buns: If enjoying these sausages as hot dogs, then you’ll want a heftier bun that can hold up to the sausage. Most sausages are larger and thicker than standard hot dogs, so typical hot dog buns may not be large enough or sturdy enough to hold up. Hoagie rolls are a good option for brat buns.
Condiments: If you plan to serve these hot dog-style, choose your favorite toppings like mustard, sauerkraut, ketchup, relish, chili, and more cheddar cheese.

Equipment Needed In the Kitchen

Air Fryer

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Tongs

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Instant Read Thermometer (w/ extendable probe)

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Air Fryer: The air fryer is a wonderful little invention that gets a ton of use in our kitchen. We have the Ninja Foodi air fryer featured here and love it. It air fries, dehydrates, bakes, and roasts, making it a solid multi-purpose kitchen tool. And all the inserts are non-stick and dishwasher safe. Yes, please.
Tongs: You’ll want a good pair of tongs to easily flip the sausages over mid-way through the cook time. You can do this with a fork, but tongs keep you a bit safer since the brats can tend to splatter a bit.
Instant Read Thermometer (Meat Thermometer): We like using a thermometer with an extendable probe because this lets us keep the probe in the chicken while the air fryer lid is closed at the same time.

How to Make Cheddar Brats in the Air Fryer

Ready to go from “what do we eat tonight?” to “dinner is on the table!” in just a few minutes flat? Buckle up – it’s time to cook those cheddar brats!

Preheat your air fryer

First, set your air fryer to preheat to 390 degrees F. While the air fryer preheats, take your raw brats out of the fridge. If they aren’t fully thawed, take this time to quickly defrost them in the microwave.

Air fry the brats

Once the air fryer is preheated, lay the thawed brats in a single layer in the air fryer basket.

Cook for 9-11 minutes, flipping the brats once half-way through cooking time.

Once the sausages are golden brown and the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees F, they’re ready to serve. Use an instant-read thermometer to make sure the inside of the sausage hits 160 degrees before you pull them out. At this temperature, you’ll have fully cooked juicy brats that taste as good as they look.

Note: We recommend cooking for 4 minutes, then flipping, then cooking for an additional 5, then checking the temperature. Depending on how powerful your air fryer model is, you’ll find that the shorter cooking time is more than adequate.

Variations on Air Fryer Cheddar Brats

These brats are so simple to cook up, and they go great with a wide variety of dishes. Here are our favorites ways to enjoy them.

Chili Cheese Dogs: Johnsonville cheddar brats already have cheese in them, so add a scoop of your favorite chili on top and voila – you have chili cheese dogs.

Sausage and Bell Peppers: Sausage and peppers is one of our go-to comfort meals when we have sausages cooked and ready.

Cheese and Sausage Omelet: Chop some of the cooked sausages and add them as a filling to your omelet for a delish breakfast.

German Sausage and Sauerkraut: A classic German meal, serve a bratwurst sausage or two alongside boiled potatoes and sauerkraut.

Air Fryer Cheddar Brats: Tips, Tricks, and FAQs

Can I air fry these from frozen?

You can! If they’re frozen, stick with the recipe as written above, but cook them for 18-20 minutes, flipping halfway, and checking the internal temperature around the 15-minute mark.

Will the brats stick to the air fryer basket?

Most air fryer baskets are non-stick, so the sausages should lift right off, even though some residual grease and fat is left behind.

Will this recipe work for other types of brats?

Absolutely! As long as the brats are thawed, you can follow the directions above and you’ll have ready-to-eat perfectly cooked brats time after time.

How do I store leftovers?

When we air fry brats, we cook up an entire package of brats and then freeze what we don’t eat so we have ready-to-eat brats when we need them. If you plan to eat the leftovers in a day or two, then store them in an airtight container in the fridge.

More Air Fryer Recipes

Looking for more fast meal ideas? Here are several recipes we know you’ll love.

Easy Air Fryer Chicken in Three Ways: Crispy chicken strips served with sauce, in a salad, or a taco.
Air Fryer Smashed Potatoes: Crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside, and loved by all.
Quick and Easy Air Fryer Zucchini: A perfect side dish for nearly any meal.