Chef Klaus
Berlin Currywurst
The Berlin Imbiss counter on a plate: fried sausage cut thick, a tomato curry sauce cooked until glossy, and enough fries or bread to chase every bit.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Wurstgulasch
Created by
The eastern weeknight pan: sliced Jagdwurst browned hard, onion and paprika in the fat, tomato loosened to a sauce, and noodles waiting for it.
Sandwiches & Wraps
German
Weeknight
Budget Friendly
Quick Meal
15 min
Active Time
25 min cook•40 min total
Yield4 servings
Wurstgulasch is not a feast dish. It's the eastern weeknight rescue, strongest in the old DDR kitchens, where a ring of Jagdwurst, an onion, a little tomato, and a bag of noodles fed the table without ceremony. Saxony, Thuringia, Berlin, Brandenburg: everyone knows the idea. Some make it sweeter with ketchup, some sharper with mustard, some stretch it with peppers. Im Norden anders, im Süden anders, but here the eastern school-kitchen memory is the centre.
The dish works only if the sausage is browned before the sauce goes in. Jagdwurst is already cooked, so if you boil it in tomato it turns soft and sulky. Brown it first and you get edges, salt, fat, and the flavour the onion and paprika need. That fat is not waste. Weggeworfen wird nichts.
I keep the sauce plain: onion, tomato paste, sweet paprika, a little broth or noodle water, and sour cream only at the end if you want the old canteen softness. Nicht aus dem Glas. A jarred red sauce makes it taste like tired pasta with sausage in it, and that isn't the dish.
Watch the paprika. It wants ten seconds in the fat, not a minute on a hard flame, because burned paprika goes bitter and nothing fixes it. Erst verstehen, dann kochen.
Wurstgulasch became closely tied to everyday cooking in the German Democratic Republic after 1949, when canteens, school kitchens, and home cooks leaned on available cured sausage such as Jagdwurst or Fleischwurst to make fast, filling meals. It sits beside the better-known DDR dish Jägerschnitzel, where breaded slices of Jagdwurst were served with tomato sauce and noodles, a name that confused western Germans who expected mushroom sauce and veal or pork. The regional split is still clear: eastern versions often use Jagdwurst and short noodles, while western and southern cooks more often reach for Fleischwurst, Lyoner, or frankfurters and may push the sauce toward peppers and broth.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
Jagdwurst or Fleischwurst
Quantity
400g
peeled if needed and cut into thick strips or half-moons
neutral oil or lard
Quantity
2 tablespoons
onion
Quantity
1 large
finely diced
red bell pepper
Quantity
1
diced
tomato paste
Quantity
2 tablespoons
sweet paprika
Quantity
2 teaspoons
hot paprika (optional)
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
mild German mustard
Quantity
1 teaspoon
passata or strained tomatoes
Quantity
250ml
light beef broth, vegetable broth, or noodle cooking water
Quantity
250ml
sugar (optional)
Quantity
1 teaspoon
cider vinegar or pickle brine
Quantity
1 teaspoon
sour cream or Schmand (optional)
Quantity
100ml
salt and black pepper
Quantity
to taste
short noodles, such as Hörnchen, spirals, or macaroni
Quantity
350g
chives or parsley (optional)
Quantity
2 tablespoons
chopped
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Jagdwurst or Fleischwurstpeeled if needed and cut into thick strips or half-moons | 400g |
| neutral oil or lard | 2 tablespoons |
| onionfinely diced | 1 large |
| red bell pepperdiced | 1 |
| tomato paste | 2 tablespoons |
| sweet paprika | 2 teaspoons |
| hot paprika (optional) | 1/2 teaspoon |
| mild German mustard | 1 teaspoon |
| passata or strained tomatoes | 250ml |
| light beef broth, vegetable broth, or noodle cooking water | 250ml |
| sugar (optional) | 1 teaspoon |
| cider vinegar or pickle brine | 1 teaspoon |
| sour cream or Schmand (optional) | 100ml |
| salt and black pepper | to taste |
| short noodles, such as Hörnchen, spirals, or macaroni | 350g |
| chives or parsley (optional)chopped | 2 tablespoons |
Equipment Needed
- •Wide heavy frying pan or sauté pan, 28cm
- •Large pot for noodles
- •Wooden spoon or flat spatula
Instructions
- 1
Cut the sausage
Cut the Jagdwurst into thick strips or half-moons, not thin shavings. Thick pieces brown on the outside and stay juicy inside; thin ones curl, dry out, and give you more pan drama than supper.
- 2
Brown it hard
Heat the oil or lard in a wide pan over medium-high heat and brown the sausage in one layer, 3 to 4 minutes, turning once or twice. Do this before any liquid goes in. The browned edges give the sauce its base, and boiled sausage has nothing to say.
If the pan is crowded, brown in two batches. Crowding traps moisture, and moisture gives you grey sausage instead of browned edges. - 3
Cook the onion
Lift the sausage to a plate and put the onion and pepper into the fat left in the pan. Cook 5 minutes with a pinch of salt until the onion turns glossy and soft, because raw onion in a quick sauce stays sharp and never becomes part of the dish.
- 4
Bloom the paprika
Stir in the tomato paste, sweet paprika, hot paprika if using, and mustard. Cook for about 30 seconds, scraping the pan, then stop. Tomato paste needs the fat to lose its raw tin taste, but paprika burns fast and bitter, so this is a short step, not a phone call.
- 5
Build the sauce
Pour in the passata and broth, stirring up the browned bits from the pan. Simmer 10 minutes until the sauce thickens enough to coat a spoon. If it tastes sharp, add the sugar; if it tastes flat, add the vinegar or pickle brine. Würzen, Fett, Salz zum Schluss.
- 6
Cook the noodles
While the sauce simmers, cook the noodles in well-salted water until just tender. Save a cup of the cooking water before draining, because its starch loosens the sauce without making it watery.
- 7
Return the sausage
Put the browned sausage back into the sauce and simmer 3 minutes only, just long enough to heat it through and let the edges take the tomato. Longer cooking makes cooked sausage tired. Runter mit der Temperatur, then stir in the sour cream or Schmand off the hard boil if you're using it, so it softens the sauce without splitting.
- 8
Serve with noodles
Fold the drained noodles into the pan with a splash of noodle water until the sauce clings, or spoon the Wurstgulasch over the noodles at the table. Finish with chives or parsley if you have them. Schön ist, was schmeckt.
Chef Tips
- •Jagdwurst is the eastern choice. Fleischwurst or Lyoner works, but use a good cooked sausage with a firm bite, not a soft hot dog that collapses in the pan.
- •Use tomato paste and passata, not a jarred pasta sauce. Nicht aus dem Glas. The sauce should taste of browned sausage fat, onion, paprika, and tomato, not oregano from a factory.
- •A spoon of pickle brine is right here. It brightens the tomato and cuts the fat, and the pickle jar was already in the German fridge.
- •Serve it with short noodles, rice, or boiled potatoes. Noodles are the DDR canteen plate; potatoes push it closer to a family pan supper.
Advance Preparation
- •Cut the sausage, onion, and pepper up to a day ahead and keep them covered in the refrigerator.
- •The finished sauce keeps 2 days chilled. Reheat it gently and add a splash of water or noodle water, because tomato sauce tightens as it sits.
- •Cook fresh noodles when serving. Stored noodles drink the sauce and turn soft, and that is how a quick meal becomes a sad one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 410g)
Calories
755 calories
Total Fat
35 g
Saturated Fat
11 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
21 g
Cholesterol
70 mg
Sodium
1580 mg
Total Carbohydrates
85 g
Dietary Fiber
6 g
Sugars
13 g
Protein
27 g
Where cooking meets culture.
Culinary guides, cultural storytelling, and the editorial depth that makes cooking meaningful.
Discover Culinary ExplorerMore from Wurst: Cookable Sausage Dishes
Browse the full collection
Chef Klaus
Blaue Zipfel (Saure Zipfel)
Franconia's sour-poached bratwurst skips the grill: raw sausages, onion, vinegar, wine, and one quiet rule, keep the sud below the boil.
Chef Klaus
Bockwurst im Brötchen
A Berlin Brühwurst belongs in hot water, not boiling water: warm it gently, keep the skin tight, then eat it in a roll with sharp mustard.
Chef Klaus
Fränkische Bratwurst
Franconia's everyday sausage lives by a gentle poach and a slow brown, so the casing snaps, the pork stays juicy, and the marjoram comes through clean.