German · Snack / Main · Testée 10 fois

Currywurst — saucisse au curry berlinoise

Berlin's iconic street snack: a fried pork sausage sliced and drowned in a tangy-sweet curried tomato sauce, dusted with more curry powder. Invented in postwar Berlin, eaten standing up with a little wooden fork and fries.

Par Alex Bauer · Technique editor · Publiée 2026-04-12 · Mise à jour 2026-05-26
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Prép.
5 min
Cuisson
20 min
Total
25 min
Donne
4 servings
Difficulté
Easy
#german#street-food#weeknight#quick
Réponse rapide · Réponse en 30 secondes

Make a sauce: soften onion, add tomato passata or ketchup, tomato paste, a splash of vinegar and Worcestershire, sugar, and plenty of curry powder and sweet paprika; simmer until thick. Fry bratwurst until browned, slice into rounds, drown in the sauce, and dust with extra curry powder. Serve with fries or a bread roll.

  • The sauce is curried, tangy, and a little sweet — built on tomato with curry powder and paprika, not a creamy curry.
  • Use a good pork bratwurst; fry it until the skin is crisp and browned before slicing.
  • A final dusting of curry powder over the top is the signature — don't skip it.

Equipment

  • Saucepan
  • Frying pan

Ingrédients

Curry sauce

  • 15 ml oil
  • 1 onion, finely diced
  • 30 g tomato paste
  • 300 g tomato passata (or good ketchup)
  • 15 ml white wine vinegar
  • 10 ml Worcestershire sauce
  • 20 g sugar
  • 10 g curry powder, plus more to dust
  • 5 g sweet paprika
  • Pinch of cayenne, salt

Sausage

  • 4 pork bratwurst (or Wiener-style sausage)
  • 15 ml oil, for frying
  • Fries or a bread roll, to serve

Préparation

  1. ÉTAPE
    01

    Heat the oil in a saucepan and cook the onion until soft and translucent, 5 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and cook 1 minute.

  2. ÉTAPE
    02

    Add the passata, vinegar, Worcestershire, sugar, curry powder, paprika, cayenne, and salt. Simmer 10 minutes until thick and glossy. Taste — it should be tangy, sweet, and curry-forward.

  3. ÉTAPE
    03

    Fry the bratwurst in oil over medium heat, turning, until browned and crisp all over and cooked through, 8–10 minutes.

  4. ÉTAPE
    04

    Slice the sausages into 2 cm rounds. Pile onto plates, spoon the hot curry sauce over generously, and dust the top with extra curry powder.

  5. ÉTAPE
    05

    Serve immediately with fries (Pommes) or a soft bread roll, and a little wooden fork for the full Berlin Imbiss experience.

Make ahead

Make the curry sauce ahead (it's even better the next day) and refrigerate or freeze. Then it's a 10-minute meal — just fry sausages and reheat the sauce.

Storage

The sauce keeps 1 week refrigerated and freezes well — make a batch. Fry the sausages fresh. Assembled currywurst is best eaten right away.

Variations

Without casing

Many Berlin stands use a skinless sausage (ohne Darm) — use a fine Wiener-style sausage if you prefer no snap.

Spicier (scharf)

Add more cayenne or a dash of hot sauce, and offer extra-hot curry powder on top.

Vegetarian

Use a good plant-based bratwurst — the sauce is naturally vegetarian.

Serve with

Fries (Pommes) with mayoA soft bread roll (Brötchen)A cold German PilsnerExtra curry powder to dust

Nutrition per serving

420 kcal 30 g fat 18 g carbs 16 g protein 12 g sugar 2 g fiber 980 mg sodium
Diet: Dairy-free

Nutrition values are estimates based on the metric measurements. Adjust as needed.

Questions fréquentes

Is currywurst actually curry?

Not an Indian-style curry — it's a German invention from 1949 Berlin, where curry powder was combined with tomato sauce or ketchup over fried sausage. The 'curry' is the spice blend dusted on and stirred into the tangy-sweet tomato sauce.

What sausage should I use?

A good pork bratwurst is standard. Berlin stands vary between sausage with casing (mit Darm, for the snap) and without (ohne Darm). Fry it until the skin is browned and crisp before slicing.

Ketchup or tomato passata?

Both are used. Many home cooks and stands build the sauce on good ketchup for its sweetness and tang; passata with added sugar and vinegar gives you more control. Either way it should end up thick, tangy, sweet, and heavy on curry powder.

Why dust curry powder on top?

The final shake of curry powder over the saucy sausage is the signature finish — it adds fresh aroma and a little texture, and it's how every Berlin Imbiss serves it. Don't skip it.

What do I serve it with?

Fries (Pommes), often with mayo, or a soft bread roll (Brötchen). Eaten standing at an Imbiss (snack stand) with a little wooden fork is the authentic experience.

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