German sausage — wurst — is Germany’s signature food, with more than 1,500 documented varieties produced across the country, from Bavaria’s pale veal weisswurst to Berlin’s curry-sauced street-food icon. Germans classify sausages into three families: Brühwurst (scalded sausages like bratwurst), Kochwurst (cooked sausages like blood sausage), and Rohwurst (raw, cured sausages like teewurst).
This guide covers 20 types of German sausage worth ordering — what each wurst is made of, which region invented it, and how locals actually eat it (usually with mustard, a bread roll, sauerkraut, or potato salad, and always with German beer).
Sausage is one stop on any tour of classic German food — but it’s the one Germans defend most fiercely.
Grilled & Scalded German Sausages (Brühwurst)
Brühwurst — scalded sausage — is the largest German sausage family: finely ground meat is emulsified, stuffed into casing, and gently scalded, then grilled, fried, or heated in water before serving. Bratwurst, weisswurst, bockwurst, and the frankfurter all belong to the Brühwurst family.
1. Bratwurst — Germany’s Most Famous Grilling Sausage
Bratwurst is a grilled sausage of pork, veal, or beef, and Germany’s best-known wurst, with more than 40 regional varieties. The name comes from Old High German brätwurst — finely chopped meat sausage — and each region guards its own recipe: Thuringia’s Rostbratwurst runs long and spicy with marjoram and caraway, while Franconian versions are shorter and coarser.
Order bratwurst the local way: grilled, tucked into a crusty bread roll (Brötchen) with mustard, or plated with sauerkraut and potato salad at a beer garden. Bratwurst is everywhere during Oktoberfest, but Germans grill it year-round.
2. Nürnberger Rostbratwurst — the Protected Nuremberg Original
The Nürnberger Rostbratwurst is a finger-sized bratwurst — just 7 to 9 centimeters long and 20 to 25 grams — seasoned with marjoram and grilled over beechwood. The Nuremberg sausage has carried EU Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status since 2003, which means a genuine Nürnberger Rostbratwurst can only be produced inside Nuremberg’s city limits; the city council was already regulating its quality in 1313.
Locals order them as Drei im Weggla — three in a bun — or by the dozen on heart-shaped pewter plates with sauerkraut and horseradish. They’re the classic snack at Nuremberg’s Christkindlesmarkt.
3. Weisswurst — Bavaria’s Before-Noon White Sausage
Weisswurst is Munich’s white sausage, made fresh each morning from minced veal and pork back bacon, flavored with parsley, lemon, and onion. Because traditional weisswurst contains no preservatives, Bavarian custom says the sausage must be eaten before noon — a rule Munich beer halls still honor.
Eat weisswurst the Bavarian way: heated (never boiled hard) in water, served with sweet mustard, a pretzel, and a wheat beer — and don’t eat the casing. Locals either slice it open or zuzeln (suck) the meat from the skin. It’s the definitive Munich breakfast before a day exploring Bavaria.
4. Frankfurter Würstchen — the Original Hot Dog Ancestor
The Frankfurter Würstchen is a thin, lightly smoked pork sausage in sheep casing, heated in water — never boiled — and the direct ancestor of the American hot dog. The name has been legally protected in Germany since 1929 [VERIFY exact protection date], so authentic Frankfurter Würstchen come only from the Frankfurt region.
Frankfurters are served in pairs with mustard, horseradish, and bread or potato salad. Try them at a traditional apple-wine tavern when visiting Frankfurt’s historical landmarks, ideally alongside a stop at the best breweries in Frankfurt.
5. Bockwurst — the Beer Hall Classic
Bockwurst is a smoked veal-and-pork sausage seasoned with white pepper and paprika, traditionally poached and served hot with mustard. The name pairs it with bock beer — the strong lager Germans drank alongside it — and the combination still works at any German brewery.
6. Bierwurst — the Beer-Garden Cold Cut
Bierwurst is a dark, garlicky smoked sausage of pork and beef — and despite the name, bierwurst contains no beer. The name comes from how Germans eat it: sliced cold in thick rounds as a beer-garden snack or sandwich filling, seasoned with black pepper, paprika, and mustard seeds.
7. Wollwurst — Weisswurst’s Skinless Cousin
Wollwurst is a Bavarian veal sausage made without any casing — the meat is piped directly into hot water, giving the surface a fine, wool-like texture that names the sausage. Cooks dip wollwurst in milk before pan-frying, which browns it into one of Bavaria’s most underrated plates, usually with potato salad.
8. Regensburger Wurst — the Danube Beer Snack
The Regensburger is a short, thick Brühwurst of pork and bacon, coarser than a frankfurter and made to be eaten cold with bread, mustard, and beer. The sausage takes its name from Regensburg, the UNESCO-listed Bavarian city on the Danube — sample one at the medieval Wurstkuchl sausage kitchen when ticking off things to do in Regensburg (see also the best time to visit Regensburg).
9. Debrecener — the Paprika Sausage
The Debrecener is a slim, paprika-red spiced sausage that came to German menus from Debrecen, Hungary, and stayed. Germans and Austrians poach or grill Debrecener and serve it with mustard, horseradish, and bread — the spiciest option at most sausage stands.
10. Extrawurst — Austria and Bavaria’s Sandwich Sausage
Extrawurst is the finest-ground of the scalded sausages — a smooth pork-and-beef sausage sliced thin for sandwiches and cold platters, closer to bologna than to bratwurst. In southern Germany and Austria, “an Extrawurst” is also slang for special treatment, which tells you how deep sausage runs in the language.
11. Gelbwurst — the Mild Yellow Sausage
Gelbwurst is a mild, pale Bavarian sausage in a saffron-yellow casing, seasoned gently with lemon, nutmeg, and parsley. Because gelbwurst is so mild, Bavarian butchers traditionally hand slices to children over the counter — it’s the sausage most Germans grew up on, eaten cold on buttered bread.
12. Jagdwurst — the Hunter’s Sausage
Jagdwurst — “hunter’s sausage” — is a smoked pork sausage with visible chunks of lean meat set in a fine forcemeat, eaten cold in slices or fried. In eastern Germany, pan-fried jagdwurst with tomato sauce and pasta (Jägerschnitzel East-German style) remains a beloved school-canteen classic.
13. Leberkäse — the Sausage That Looks Like Meatloaf
Leberkäse is Brühwurst batter baked in a loaf pan until it forms a golden crust — technically a sausage, visually a meatloaf. Despite the name (“liver cheese”), Bavarian Leberkäse contains neither liver nor cheese; order a warm slice in a roll (Leberkässemmel) with sweet mustard from any butcher counter in southern Germany.
Berlin Street Food Royalty: Currywurst
14. Currywurst — Germany’s 800-Million-a-Year Obsession
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Currywurst is a steamed-then-fried pork sausage sliced into rounds and drowned in warm curry-spiced tomato sauce with an extra dusting of curry powder.
Berlin snack-stand owner Herta Heuwer invented currywurst in 1949, trading spirits with British soldiers for ketchup and curry powder — and Germans now eat an estimated 800 million currywursts every year (Deutsches Currywurst Museum estimate).
Order currywurst mit Pommes (with fries) at a Berlin Imbiss stand after dark — it’s the capital’s defining street food and the working lunch outside every Berlin restaurant district.
Cooked German Sausages (Kochwurst)
Kochwurst — cooked sausage — uses pre-cooked ingredients such as liver, blood, or rind, which are then stuffed and cooked again. Kochwurst varieties are winter food: rich, spreadable, or served with kale and potatoes.
15. Blutwurst — German Blood Sausage
Blutwurst is German blood sausage: pork blood, pork fat, and spices cooked into a dark, dense sausage eaten cold in slices or pan-fried. The Rhineland pairs fried Blutwurst with mashed potato and applesauce in a dish called Himmel un Ääd — “heaven and earth” — one of Germany’s great comfort plates.
16. Kochwurst Varieties — Liver and Rind Sausages
The Kochwurst family covers Germany’s cooked specialty sausages — most famously Leberwurst (spreadable liver sausage eaten on bread) and rind-based country sausages. Every region keeps its own version; the constant is richness, and rye bread underneath.
17. Pinkel — the Kale Sausage of the North
Pinkel is a smoked groat sausage — pork fat, oats or barley, and onion — from Bremen and Oldenburg in Germany’s north. Northern Germans eat Pinkel almost exclusively one way: mashed into slow-cooked kale as Grünkohl mit Pinkel, the ritual dish of winter walking clubs.
18. Knipp — Bremen’s Pan-Fried Grützwurst
Knipp is Bremen’s rustic groat sausage of pork head meat, liver, and oats, sold in fat rolls and pan-fried until crisp. Locals pile fried Knipp on black bread or serve it with fried potatoes, pickles, and applesauce — farmhouse food that never left the menu.
Raw & Cured German Sausages (Rohwurst)
Rohwurst — raw sausage — is cured, fermented, or air-dried rather than cooked, which concentrates flavor and (for soft varieties) makes the sausage spreadable.
19. Ahle Wurst — North Hesse’s Air-Dried Treasure
Ahle Wurst is North Hesse’s air-dried pork sausage, cured for weeks to months in stone cellars until it develops a deep, salami-like intensity — many villages still hold competitions for the best one. Slice Ahle Wurst thin and eat it with rye bread; the aged Dürre Runde version rewards the hunt through regional butcher shops.
20. Teewurst — the Spreadable Smoked Sausage
Teewurst is a soft, spreadable Rohwurst of pork and bacon, lightly smoked over beechwood and fermented, giving it a slight tang. The name means “tea sausage” — Germans spread teewurst on bread for afternoon tea or breakfast, closer to a smoky pâté than to anything on a grill.
FAQ
What is the most popular sausage in Germany?
Bratwurst is Germany’s most popular sausage, with more than 40 regional varieties led by the Thüringer Rostbratwurst and the PGI-protected Nürnberger Rostbratwurst. As street food, currywurst rivals it — Germans eat an estimated 800 million currywursts per year.
How many types of sausage are there in Germany?
Germany produces more than 1,500 types of sausage, grouped into three families: Brühwurst (scalded, like bratwurst and weisswurst), Kochwurst (cooked, like blood sausage and Pinkel), and Rohwurst (raw-cured, like teewurst and Ahle Wurst).
What are German white sausages made of?
German white sausage — weisswurst — is made of minced veal and pork back bacon, seasoned with parsley, lemon, mace, and onion. Weisswurst is heated in water, served with sweet mustard and a pretzel, and by Bavarian tradition eaten before noon.
What sausage is Berlin famous for?
Berlin is famous for currywurst, invented in the city by Herta Heuwer in 1949. Sliced fried sausage under curry-spiced tomato sauce remains Berlin’s signature street food, sold at Imbiss stands across the city.
What’s the best German sausage to try first?
Start with a grilled bratwurst in a bread roll with mustard — Germany’s most accessible sausage — then work toward the regional icons: weisswurst in Munich, Nürnberger Rostbratwurst in Nuremberg, and currywurst in Berlin. Those four cover Germany’s sausage map end to end.
