Name: Grilled Avocado and Fontina Topped Firecracker Brats
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 60 min
Total time: 65 min
Ingredients: 1 package Johnsonville Firecracker Brats; 2 avocado; 1 tbsp olive oil; Fontina cheese (fresh grated); sweet Hawaiian buns

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I realize the title is a mouthful, but so was the brat! A mouthful of deliciousness! HEEYYOOO!! This is the second part of a two part series where I partner with Johnsonville to kick up the bratwurst for this 4th of July. Part One was Firecracker Brats Topped with Balsamic Caramelized Onions and Feta Cheese (on a sourdough bun). In part two, I will be grilling some avocado which really amps up the flavor of the little green fruit. I also added some fontina and put the whole deal on a sweet Hawaiian bun.

Grilled Avocado and Fontina Topped Firecracker Brats Ingredients:
1 package Johnsonville Firecracker Brats
2 avocado
1 tbsp olive oil
Fontina cheese fresh grated
sweet Hawaiian buns

Let’s start with those brats:

Almost every time I go to a BBQ and someone is making brats they are doing it wrong. But brats are easy, right? Throw them on a hot fire before or after boiling them in beer. Cue the sad game show tuba. Wrong, Wrongy McWrongerson! Boiling is never allowed. Keeping brats warm in a tub of warm beer and onions is OK, boiling is not. Boiling meat is how we make water taste good, not meat. Boiling meat makes broth or soup and leaches flavor from meat. Speaking of leaching flavor. The fastest way to leach flavor from a sausage is to throw it on a screaming hot grill causing the skin to rupture. We don’t like juices leaking out of our steak, but it’s OK to let the juices of a bratwurst leak down onto the coals or burners? No it’s not. Now that we have that straight, let’s get to grilling.

I put these brats on the upper rack of my pellet smoker which was set at 225:

Grilled Avocado and Fontina Topped Firecracker Brats - 1 (1) — Mmmmmm smoky!

They take about an hour to get to 160 degrees fahrenheit internal temp, but it’s well worth the wait.

While the brats are smoking, let’s get the avocado ready. Slice them all the way around lengthwise and twist the two halves until they come apart. Then take the sharp edge of a knife and carefully bring it down into the middle of the pit like so:

Grilled Avocado and Fontina Topped Firecracker Brats - 1 — Time to go pit popping

Now just turn the knife and the pit will come out clean.

Next, brush the avocado halves with olive oil:

Grilled Avocado and Fontina Topped Firecracker Brats - 2 — Grease ’em up

Prepare a grill for high heat grilling (in this case a side gas grill on my pellet grill) and slap the avocados cut side down:

Grilled Avocado and Fontina Topped Firecracker Brats - 7 — If you don’t get smoke the second the avocados hit the grill, the grill isn’t hot enough

Once you get some grill marks, rotate the grilled avocados to get cross hatch grill marks:

Grilled Avocado and Fontina Topped Firecracker Brats - 8 — That’s right, I cross hatch my avocados!

Now let’s prep the sausages. Once they reach 160F, place the Johnsonville Firecracker Brats in the sweet Hawaiian buns and then slice the avocado lengthwise down to the rind about 1/3 of an inch wide and then push on the back of the rind until the slices of the grilled avocado come free. Place 3-4 slices on each bratwurst and then shred some fontina over the top:

Grilled Avocado and Fontina Topped Firecracker Brats - 6 — Enjoy listening to firecrackers while eating Firecracker Brats this 4th of July

These brats bring some serious heat. Generally when I see something is spicy and made on the scale of Johnsonville brats, I roll my eyes as it usually isn’t that hot. These bad boys are in fact firecrackers. The buttery, grilled avocado mitigates some of that heat and allows the natural flavors of the sausage to shine. Add in the savory of the cheese and the sweetness of the bun and the flavor profile is just wonderful. There may not be a more appropriate protein for your 4th of July BBQ.

Here are a couple other brat recipes you might be interested in. Recipe #1 and Recipe #2.

If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below or send me an email. Oh, and stay safe on the 4th.

Johnsonville compensated me to create this recipe.

Also, you can follow us on our GrillinFools Facebook page and Instagram.

Print Recipe

Grilled Avocado and Fontina Topped Firecracker Brats

Kick up the 4th of July with this inventive Bratwurst recipe using Johnsonville Firecracker Brats

Prep Time5 mins

Cook Time1 hr

Total Time1 hr 5 mins

Course: Entree

Cuisine: BBQ

Ingredients

1 package Johnsonville Firecracker Brats
2 avocado
1 tbsp olive oil
Fontina cheese fresh grated
sweet Hawaiian buns

Instructions

Place the sausages on the smoker at around 225 degrees for about an hour
With 10 minutes left for the sausages to be done, slice the avocados in half and remove the pit
Brush olive oil on the cut side of the avocado and sear them over a super hot grill to brown the sides
Slice the avocado lengthwise every 1/3 of an inch down to the rind and then push on the rind until the slices come free
Place the Johnsonville Firecracker brats in the Hawaiian buns, top with 3-4 slices of avocado and the grated fontina

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Scott Thomas

Scott Thomas, the Original Grillin’ Fool, was sent off to college with a suitcase and a grill where he overcooked, undercooked and burned every piece of meat he could find. After thousands of failures, and quite a few successes, nearly two decades later he started a website to show step by step, picture by picture, foolproof instructions on how to make great things out of doors so that others don’t have to repeat the mistakes he’s made on the grill.