Homemade currywurst is a great way to bring the ultimate German snack to your kitchen: a grilled sausage cut into slices, covered in a slightly sweet curry tomato sauce and dusted with curry powder. It is served with fries or a bread roll and often eaten standing up, with a little wooden fork.
The dish was born in Berlin in the late 1940s and has become a symbol of German street food. As I live in Moselle, Germany is right next door and I eat it quite often. I had it at the snack bar of the Wildpark Karlsbrunn, in Saarland, in April 2024 and again in March 2026, before a walk by the pond and the deer park.
Here is a classic version to make at home, with a homemade curry sauce that tastes much better than the bottled kind, and fries cooked twice so they are really crispy.
The recipe
Classic recipeThe traditional recipe for the dish, not the one from the restaurant where I tasted it.
Ingredients
Curry sauce
- 1 tbsp neutral oil
- 1 onion (about 100 g), finely chopped
- 2 tbsp mild curry powder
- 1 tsp sweet paprika
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 400 g tomato passata
- 150 g ketchup
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp cider vinegar
- Salt
Sausages
- 4 grilling sausages such as Bratwurst (about 125 g each)
- 1 tbsp neutral oil
- 1 tsp curry powder for dusting
Fries
- 1 kg floury potatoes (such as Maris Piper or Russet)
- 2 l frying oil
- Salt
- 4 bread rolls (optional)
Method
- Peel the potatoes, cut them into 1 cm thick fries and soak them for 30 minutes in cold water to remove the starch. Drain, then dry them very thoroughly in a clean tea towel.
- For the sauce, heat 1 tbsp oil in a saucepan and soften the onion for 5 minutes over medium heat. Add the curry powder and paprika, stir for 1 minute, then the tomato paste for 1 more minute.
- Pour in the passata, ketchup, sugar and vinegar. Season lightly with salt and simmer for 15 minutes over low heat, stirring now and then. Blend until smooth and keep warm.
- Heat the frying oil to 160 °C. Fry the potatoes in two or three batches for 6 to 7 minutes, without letting them brown. Drain on kitchen paper.
- Meanwhile, heat 1 tbsp oil in a frying pan and brown the sausages for 10 to 12 minutes over medium heat, turning them regularly.
- Raise the oil to 180 °C and fry the potatoes again for 2 to 3 minutes, until golden and crispy. Drain and salt immediately.
- Cut the sausages into thick slices, put them in paper trays or on plates, cover generously with the hot curry sauce and dust with curry powder. Serve with the fries and, if you like, a bread roll.
Tips and variations
- For more heat, add a pinch of cayenne pepper to the sauce or use a hot curry powder.
- In Berlin you also find currywurst made with skinless sausage (ohne Darm): you can use a poached sausage such as Knackwurst.
- The curry sauce keeps for 1 week in the fridge in a closed jar and reheats very well.
- No deep fryer? Bake the fries at 220 °C for 35 to 40 minutes with 2 tbsp oil, turning them halfway.
Recipe shared for guidance only, adapt it to your equipment: times and temperatures may vary. Check for allergens (gluten, milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, nuts, sesame…) and make sure ingredients are fresh. Raw or undercooked fish, meat and eggs are not recommended for pregnant women, young children, elderly or vulnerable people. Take care with hot oil, flambéing and alcohol. I am not a health or nutrition professional.