25+ Ways to Use Sauerkraut

Sauerkraut seems to be all the rage in healthy food circles recently. Fermented sauerkraut is full of probiotic and other benefits, as opposed to the canned vinegar variety which might taste alright but does not have the same health impact.

It’s easy to get excited about eating sauerkraut, but then when sometimes I’m at loss as to what to actually do with it. Just put in on the table in a dish for a condiment?

Yes, you can do that, but there are so many more options! Below are over 25 ideas and recipes for using sauerkraut. Some of the recipes may need some adjusting to fit your idea of healthy.

Raw sauerkraut – recipes that keep all those probiotics intact. Probiotics have so many benefits, illustrated through many studies!

1. First, a Super Easy Sauerkraut recipe – this method of making sauerkraut makes it a breeze!

2. There are many ways to vary a sauerkraut recipes as well, here are 8 simple variations from Fearless Eating and Kimchi Kraut from Real Food Forger.

3. Homemade Mommy uses sauerkraut as coleslaw salad. I roughly followed this recipe (no celery seed here, for instance) and it was delicious!

4. As a topping in sandwiches, sausages, or hamburgers, like Made To Glow’s monster burger with an eggplant bun.

5. Real Food Forger found more than 6 ways drinking specifically sauerkraut juice can benefit you – fascinating and surprising info!

6. Little Owl Crunchy Momma lists 20+ ways to use fermented brine, giving some ideas on how to consume some of those benefits.

7. Chop it up and add it as a topping to soups and stews, it’s especially good with legumes. A guest of mine was recently surprised with how good it was!

8. My mom used to sometimes make us reuben sandwiches, like this one from Nourishing Joy, although hers were open faced and didn’t have any dressing. You can use any meat and any type of bread or bread alternative. Here’s a variation on GNOWFLINS, a big flat reuben, weighing down a whole loaf of bread.

9. These reuben rolls look like a delicious and unusual appetizer, on Taste of Home, and are easy to make to boot.

10. Wholesome Cook lists 6+ ways to use sauerkraut, including a recipe for a Kiwi Sauerkraut Smoothie! I’m intrigued, and am going to try adding it to a smoothie.

11. It’s also one of her favourite fillings in rice free nori rolls (or rice filled would work too). What about spring rolls?

12. Chop it up finely and add to any sandwich filling, like egg or tuna spread.

Cooked Sauerkraut

Yes, cooking sauerkraut does kill the probiotics BUT I think cooking sauerkraut is a great way to adjust taste buds to the sauerkraut taste. Cooking sauerkraut mellows it out, while still staying sauerkrauty, so that it is easier for those used to more bland flavours to handle than raw sauerkraut. Even if cooked, sauerkraut still retains the benefits of being a vegetable (like organic acids). As well, cooked sauerkraut is such an old world comfort food! Some of the below recipes may mean canned vinegar sauerkraut, but of course I recommend using the ‘real’ thing!

Update: Even though the probiotics are killed by heat, studies are showing that there are still health benefits to consuming dead probiotics and that they are even sometimes more effective. Study 1, study 2, study 3.

13. Strapacky is a Slovak dish baking sauerkraut, bacon, and little ‘dumplings.’ For my version I used potatoes instead, and sweet potatoes and maybe cauliflower would work as well. I may be biased, but I think that this is one of the easiest ways for a sauerkraut hater to eat sauerkraut – it’s very mild.

14. Bacon and sauerkraut are perfect companions, here’s a delicious sounding Sauerkraut with Bacon and Apples from Simply Recipes.

15. She also has a recipe for stuffed hot dogs or sausages – stuff with sauerkraut, wrap closed with bacon and grill. Brilliant!

16. The Reuben sandwich is inspiration for many variations, like Creamy Reuben Soup on Maria Mind Body Health,

17. Reuben Pizza Roll from I Wash You Dry (or how about a flat pizza with sauerkraut?),

18.  Hot Reuben Dip from Noble Pig.

19. and Reuben Biscuits on King Arthur Flour.

19. Throw it in any kind of quesadilla, like this apple cheddar quesadilla on Eating Well.

20. Casseroles galore! Some ideas are a German lasanga, baked with pork chops, shepherd’s pie (or cottage pie) type  from Kayotic Kitchen , or with sausage (this one is braised but it could be baked too, with or without the beer) from Chaos in the Kitchen.

21. Soups and stews – yup, cooked with sauerkraut. Segedinsky goulash is a creamy Slovak stew (with dairy free option); sauerkraut cabbage roll soup at Closet Cooking; Bigos a thick stew with a variety of meat and prunes from Wholesome Cook; Kapustnica, another Slovak sauerkraut soup.

22. How about deep fried German sauerkraut and potato balls?

23. Chocolate cake! You could even make it sourdough chocolate cake. I saw references to supposedly amazing sauerkraut doughnuts, but couldn’t find a recipe.

24. Metenik, or Slovak sauerkraut flatbread (cauliflower version, anyone?) on Slovak Cooking.

25. And, last, sauerkraut filled pierogies from The Kitchn.

Whew! I think there are enough ideas there to last you the winter at least!

How do you like to use sauerkraut? Any favourite recipes?

You may enjoy other fermented vegetable recipes, like Fermented Red Onions, Baek (White) Kimchi, Family Favourite Cauliflower, or Spiced Apple Chutney.

Also, make sure to follow my sauerkraut Pinterest board as I find more sauerkraut recipes, and email me if you would like to contribute.

Shared at Pennywise Platter Thursday