German Sausage Salad (Wurstsalad) – This creamy and hearty Wurstsalat is perfect for those hot summer days, where you just want spend all day outdoor and not in your kitchen! It is creamy, delicious and refreshing. Most importantly, it is quick and easy to make, so that you can spend your precious time else where.

As summer approaches, I tend to move towards cold main or side dishes, which is the opposite to those cold winter months. This could be partly due to the hot summer days, which results in our family not having much appetite except for those delicious barbecue. On top of that, I want spend more time outdoors and not in the kitchen (even though I love and enjoy cooking) such as in my garden or go out and explore the Black Forest. I believe you want that too!

I love cold dishes because they tend to require you minimum effort and offer maximum flavours. You can easily prepare ahead and eat them at the later time. Personally, I think no dishes do this better than salads. Tell me in the comment section below, what do you think?

Salads can be healthy, versatile, creative and delicious. Just like this German Sausage Salad recipe or this carrot salad recipe. This simple German Wurstsalat is creamy and hearty, which makes it an awesome summer main dish. You can eat this during lunch or dinner or bring it to the beach. It is also very common to find Wurstsalat in restaurants in Germany.

Traditionally, Wurstsalat such as Bavarian Wurstsalat or Swiss Sausage Salad are made with oil, vinegar and some seasoning. This does not mean that yogurt cannot be added into our sausage salad. Yogurt is a common ingredient for salads. My family prefers our salads to be creamy, which tastes less acidity than the typical Wurstsalat. However, either way, Wurstsalat is just delicious.

Tips on making Wurstsalat

the Lyoner Wurst: Lyoner Wurst is a common ingredient for Wurstsalat. In Germany, you can buy this type of sausage in slices and cut them into fine stripes or you can easily find Lyoner sausage stripes in your grocery stores.

Plain yogurt: Typical and traditionally, German Sausage Salads are made only with vinegar, oil and some seasoning. Our family prefers our salads to be creamy and plain yogurt does a perfect job in this recipe. I prefer using yogurt to mayonnaise in the recipe because mayonnaise tends to have a tangy flavour (that is how people describe the taste of mayo online) in comparison to yogurt, which I do not want in this recipe. In addition, yogurt is also a healthier choice to mayonnaise.

Yellow Mustard: Prior to coming to Germany, I was not a fan of mustard. I did not like the distinct taste at all because I am not used to this taste. However, I cannot deny that yellow mustard goes really well with German sausages. It also gives salad dressings a not-so-boring flavour and enhances the taste of the Lyoner Wurst.

Vegetable Oil: Oil is the basis of all salad dressings. I usually use vegetable oil instead of olive oil in my salad dressings because I do not want to add the olive-oil-flavour to the dressings.

Salad Vinegar: Vinegar is the another foundation of all salad dressings. Any salad wine vinegar would do the job. I would generally avoid balsamic vinegar in this German Wurstsalat.

Lemon juice: In my opinion, creamy food can sometimes feel heavy in our stomach. Instead of competing with the salad vinegar, lemon juice complements with vinegar by adding some freshness to the sausage salad.

Sugar: Not only does sugar add a little sweetness to your sausage salad, it balances out the typical acidity taste of a salad.

Sparkling water: Adding sparkling water to your dressing will thin out the dressing and allows it to mix better. Other liquids such as plain water would work well too. However, the carbonated properties of a club soda, just makes things more exciting!

Cheese: We love Hirtenkäse (German herder’s cheese) in our salad. In Germany, this type of cheese is very common. However, if you cannot find this cheese in your grocery store, you can substitute it with Emmental Cheese. Although they are totally different types of cheese, the end results taste different yet delicious in their own ways. You can also try using Gouda cheese or other cheeses. I mean why not?

How to make Wurstsalat

Start off by cutting Lyoner Wurst into fine stripes or simply use store-bought Lyoner Wurst stripes.

Thereafter, cut other ingredients (pickled cucumbers, black olives, onion and cheese) into cubes.

In a suitable bowl, add Lyoner Wurst stripes and all dry ingredients (pickled cucumbers, black olives, onions and cheese) on top of the Lyoner. You can add cheese at the end as well.

Add wet ingredients (yogurt, yellow mustard, vegetable oil, vinegar, lemon juice and water) and seasoning (salt, pepper and sugar) to the bowl.

Mix everything together.

You can enjoy the sausage salad immediately or keep it in the refrigerator. If it dried out a little, you can add some yogurt and mix it again before serving.

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What to serve with German Sausage Salad

In Germany, Wurstsalat is eaten with Brezeln, bread or roast potatoes. I usually just serve our Sausage salad with some warm Baguette. You can of course just serve it with your favourite bread.

How to store Wurstsalat

Simply store your sausage salad in an airtight container and store it the refrigerator, especially during the hot summer. It can be kept up till 2 days. We usually finish our salad within one or two days. Since it is so quick and easy to make this recipe, I usually prepare it fresh.

Until next time & guten Appetit!

Greetings from the Black Forest,
Pia

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