Germany is often said to have more than 1,500 kinds of sausage. The exact number depends on how you count, but the principle holds: sausage is not a novelty food in Germany, it is everyday food, and the range reflects that. This guide explains the main types of German sausage, what separates them, and which ones are worth knowing before you order.
What Does Wurst Mean?
Wurst is simply the German word for sausage. Almost every German sausage name ends in it, and the first half of the word tells you what makes that sausage distinctive. Bratwurst comes from braten, to fry. Bockwurst was originally eaten with Bock beer. Leberwurst contains liver. Weisswurst is white. Once you know that, most German sausage names decode themselves.
The plural is Würste, though you will also see Würstchen for the smaller varieties. If you are looking for the German name for sausage in general, Wurst is the answer.
How Germans Actually Classify Sausage
English-language guides tend to sort German sausages by region or by size. German butchers do not. They use three categories based on how the sausage is made, and this is the single most useful thing to understand about German wurst varieties:
- Brühwurst — scalded sausage. Finely emulsified, gently cooked in hot water, then usually reheated rather than cooked. Bockwurst, Weisswurst, Frankfurter and Wiener all belong here.
- Rohwurst — raw sausage. Cured, air-dried or smoked rather than cooked, and eaten as-is. Landjäger, Mettwurst and salami belong here.
- Kochwurst — cooked sausage. Made from pre-cooked ingredients, often including offal, and set by cooling. Leberwurst, Blutwurst and Saumlägen belong here.
Bratwurst sits slightly outside the system, because it is defined by how it is eaten — fried or grilled — rather than how it is made.
What Is Bratwurst?
Bratwurst is a fresh sausage meant to be fried or grilled, not boiled. It is usually pork, sometimes pork and veal, seasoned with white pepper, nutmeg, mace, marjoram or caraway depending on where it comes from. It is not one sausage but a whole family, and the regional versions differ more than most people expect.
The best known types of bratwurst are:
- Bratwurst in the standard style — pork and veal, mild, with white pepper and nutmeg.
- Nürnberger Bratwurst — the smallest bratwurst in Germany, barely finger-length, all pork with marjoram, traditionally eaten three at a time in a hard roll.
- Thüringer Bratwurst — from Thuringia, all pork, distinguished by whole caraway seed and marjoram.
German Sausage vs Bratwurst: What Is the Difference?
This one causes constant confusion, and the answer is straightforward. Bratwurst is a type of German sausage, not a synonym for it. Every bratwurst is a German sausage; most German sausages are not bratwurst. In the United States the two words are often used interchangeably because bratwurst is the variety that travelled best, but in Germany asking for "a sausage" and asking for "a bratwurst" are different requests.
Knockwurst vs Bratwurst
These are frequently confused and they are genuinely different sausages.
Knockwurst — also spelled Knackwurst — is a short, plump, fully cooked pork and beef sausage. The name comes from the audible snap the casing makes when you bite it. Because it arrives cooked, it only needs reheating in hot water or a quick sear.
Bratwurst is fresh and uncooked. It has to be properly cooked through, it is longer and thinner, and it is milder and less garlicky. The short version: knockwurst is cured, cooked and snappy; bratwurst is fresh, fried and mild.
Bockwurst vs Bratwurst
Bockwurst is a Brühwurst — finely ground veal and pork, gently poached rather than grilled, and much milder in both texture and seasoning. It is smooth where a bratwurst is coarse, and it is served warmed through in water rather than browned in a pan. Traditionally it is eaten with potato salad and mustard.
Weisswurst, the Bavarian Exception
Weisswurst is a pale veal and pork sausage from Munich, flavoured with parsley, lemon zest, mace and cardamom. It is unsmoked, which is why it stays white. It is also the sausage with the strictest rules attached: it is eaten before noon, never grilled or boiled but gently simmered, and the casing is slit and left on the plate rather than eaten. It is served with sweet Bavarian mustard.
Sausages Eaten Cold
A large part of the German sausage repertoire is never cooked at all. These are the cold cuts that go on bread at breakfast and at Abendbrot, the cold evening meal.
- Liverwurst — Leberwurst, a soft pork liver sausage. The smoked version is what Americans usually know as Braunschweiger.
- Liverwurst spread — Schmierleberwurst, the same idea but soft enough to spread like pâté.
- Leberkäse — Bavarian liver cheese, a smooth baked meat loaf that, despite the name, contains no liver at all. In some regions it is called Fleischkäse for exactly that reason.
- Gelbwurst — a mild veal and pork bologna, the sausage most German children grow up on.
- Jagdwurst — hunter's sausage, a coarser cold cut with caraway and white pepper.
- Landjäger — a flat, air-dried, smoked snack sausage that needs no refrigeration.
Hearty and Everyday Varieties
- Bauernwurst — farmer's sausage, coarse pork and beef with whole mustard seed, built for sauerkraut and stews.
- Frankfurter — lightly smoked, slender, heated in hot water. The ancestor of the American hot dog, but milder and less salty.
- Deutschländer — jarred Wiener Würstchen, shelf-stable and ready in minutes.
How to Cook German Sausage
The rule that matters most: match the method to the category. Fresh sausages such as bratwurst, Nürnberger and Thüringer are fried or grilled over medium heat until browned — high heat splits the casing before the middle is done. Brühwurst such as bockwurst, Weisswurst and frankfurter are already cooked and only need warming in hot, never boiling, water. Cold cuts need nothing at all.
Serve with German mustard on the side rather than on top, and with sauerkraut, dumplings or a crusty roll.
Common Questions
What is the most popular German sausage? Bratwurst, by a wide margin, both in Germany and abroad. Within Germany, Thüringer and Nürnberger are the two most recognised regional versions.
How many types of German sausage are there? Commonly cited figures run past 1,500. The number varies because many varieties are strictly local, and some names describe the same sausage in different regions.
What is the German word for sausage? Wurst, plural Würste. Smaller sausages are Würstchen.
Is knockwurst the same as bratwurst? No. Knockwurst is cured and fully cooked with a firm snap; bratwurst is fresh and must be cooked through.
Which German sausages are eaten cold? Leberwurst, Leberkäse, Gelbwurst, Jagdwurst and Landjäger are all eaten cold, usually on bread.
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