Honey Jalapeno Glazed Beer Brat Kebabs flavor your summer grilling with Yuengling® Lager inside Smithfield® fresh bratwurst sausages.
Honey Jalapeno Glazed Beer Brat Kebabs
By Sue Lau | Palatable Pastime
Jump to Recipe
Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Smithfield®. The opinions and text are all mine.
Print Recipe
We are in the Dog Days of Summer now. The star Sirius has risen in the night sky, bringing with it the usual hot and sultry weather. As well, grills and backyard barbecues are firing up everywhere, with all sorts of dogs and sausages sizzling away on the grill.
My husband is from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and I learned early on to enjoy the fresh bratwursts available there. It is pretty much a state pastime, especially during summer and tailgate season. I had grown up much further south, and was only used to cooked brats. Imagine my delight when I went up there and had a sizzling fresh bratwurst for the first time!
As is typical, Wisconsinites like to simmer their fresh brats in beer first along with aromatics, then finish on the grill. Beer, especially lager such as Yuengling Traditional Lager, pairs perfectly with the flavor of these brats, and cooks right in! The flavor of the lager is lightly sweet with a roasted caramel malt (for all you beer aficionados out there, like Bill). It’s not overly bitter with a light amber hue, and works great for combining with your summer cooking and grilling.
My husband and I are also a bit notorious for enjoying spicy foods, chileheads that we are. Jalapeno is always a favorite, especially when they are grilled as Mexican chilies toreados (fresh peppers grilled blistering hot and delicious!)
So when I had a chance to do a recipe for Smithfield Yuengling Bratwurst, I knew right away that I wanted to grill them, using a made from scratch jalapeno grilling glaze I made with Yuengling lager. Then I thought to pair that on skewers with fresh vegetables such as the abundant summer corn and squash we so frequently eat during the months of July and August.
The flavors of Smithfield’s pork bratwurst (infused with even more Yuengling flavor) are from premium cuts and have a special blend of sweet and savory spices (and no MSG! Yay!), which give them that trademark flavor. As opposed to other flavors you might find in breakfast sausage or Italian sausages. It goes great with the sweet and spicy glaze I made.
As years have gone by, I have watched the popularity of bratwurst grow across the country, as everyone has come to enjoy these little sausages. When Smithfield foods, out of Smithfield Virginia (the ham capital of the world), teamed with Yuengling out of Pottsville Pennsylvania to combine their flavors, you get something truly American. Slower paced, full of our shared family values for good eats, good beer, good value and good grilling that we can share in our backyards all summer long.
Yuengling is the oldest brewery in the USA, operating since 1829 by the Jüngling family (they later anglicized the name) – back when towns in my state of Ohio were still in their infancy, so you know the country was still very young. From those slower traditional times we move forward to today when Yuengling produces more than 2.8 million barrels of beer annually.
That’s a lot of beer! And now we can get it combined with Smithfield® Craft Collection™ brats, (Smithfield operates the largest meat-processing plant in the world). That’s a whole lot of grilling going on!
You can find Yuengling and Smithfield Yuengling Bratwurst in the meat case locally at Kroger or Kroger banner stores like Dillon’s, Food 4 Less, or Ralph’s.
Honey Jalapeno Glazed Beer Brat Kebabs
Honey Jalapeno Glazed Beer Brat Kebabs
Ingredients
Honey Jalapeno Glaze
- 12 ounces Yuengling Traditional Lager beer
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon green pepper/jalapeno hot sauce
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon ground jalapeno pepper
- salt and black pepper to taste
Brat Braise
- 12 ounces Smithfield Yuengling Bratwurst
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium sweet onion chopped
- 3 cloves garlic
- 12 ounces Yuengling Traditional Lager beer
Kebabs
- 5 braised Smithfield Yuengling Bratwurst see above
- 3 medium sweet onions
- 3 summer squash mixed yellow and/or zucchini
- 5 small creamer potatoes
- 5 fresh jalapeno peppers
- 2 fresh ears corn shucked
- prepared honey-jalapeno glaze see above
Instructions
- Whisk together ingredients in a saucepan, and cook over med-low heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture becomes lightly syrupy and reduces to one cup, about 10-15 minutes.
- Set aside while preparing kebabs.
- Heat oil in large skillet and brown bratwursts with onion and garlic.
- Add lager beer to skillet and bring to a boil; cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
- Slice braised bratwurst on the diagonal and set aside.
- Quarter onions, leaving stem end intact; halve potatoes.
- Using a large serrated knife, slice corn into pieces.
- Slice squash using an oblique cut, making the first slice diagonal, then turning the vegetable halfway and making another diagonal cut, until it is completely cut. This gives the rustic country shape which exposes more vegetable surface for better caramelization.
- I set up one large blanching pot and bring water to a boil; as vegetables blanch, I remove them with a spider or strainer and drop into very cold water to stop the cooking, then drain and set aside. I just add the new vegetable to the emptied boiling water pot.
- Blanch potatoes for 8 minutes then place in cool water, then drain.
- Blanch onions for 2 minutes, then place in cool water and drain.
- Blanch peppers for 1 minutes, then place in cool water and drain.
- Do not blanch the corn or squash.
- Place meat and vegetables on metal skewers, alternating them as you like. Be careful with the corn, and drive a pilot hole into the cob if you need to with a paring knife.
- Heat grill for direct grilling and grill kebabs over an oiled grate, brushing them with glaze as they cook, until corn and potatoes are tender. If they start cooking too fast, move them to indirect heat for more control.
Notes
Nutrition
Join my recipe group on Facebook for more recipes from blogger friends around the world!
Love the sweet and spicy addition to the beer brats! Such a great idea, and kabobs are always a perfect summertime meal. YUM!