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    Home » Appetizers

    Pickled Sausages (Czech Utopenci)

    Published: May 13, 2022 · Modified: Nov 26, 2022 by Petra Kupská

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    Czech-style pickled sausages, known as utopenci, count among the Czech pub classics. Anyone who has tasted this interesting food understands its irresistible indulgence well, and you would hardly find a similar recipe in any other national cuisine! Let's make utopenci sausages together!

    Czech Utopenci food, pickled sausages served with onions and fresh rye bread.
    Table of Contents hide
    ➜ What are Czech pickled sausages?
    ➜ What does mean the Czech word utopenci?
    ➜Ingredients
    ➜ How to make pickled sausages
    ➜ Serving
    ➜ Useful tips
    ➜ FAQs
    Pickled Sausages (Czech Utopenci)

    ➜ What are Czech pickled sausages?

    Czech pickled sausages (utopenci) are a type of soft sausages immersed in sour-salty brine made with water, vinegar, and spices. Sausages are accompanied by sliced onions and chili peppers, all stuffed into a mason jar, and covered with chilled brine.

    Now comes the waiting period of one to two weeks, during which the dish must rest in the fridge in order to soak up the pickling liquid.

    Interested in Czech cuisine? Discover more authentic Czech food!

    ➜ What does mean the Czech word utopenci?

    The word utopenci in the sense of sausages steeped in brine is often translated as drowned men, drownies, or water logs.

    MY TIP: Also try this sausage goulash, in Czech burtgulas (it tastes fantastic!)

    ➜Ingredients

    To make Czech-style pickled sausage at home, you will need:

    • Polish sausage; such as soft short kielbasa/sausage. Czechs use so-called spekacky sausages. You could get this type of sausage in a Polish or European deli if you are based in the US. Another good choice is to buy German-style sausages called „knackwurst“. This type of meat sausage is processed in two steps: first, it is cooked and then smoked. Thus, these are not raw, uncooked sausages.
    • Onions; regular yellow onions
    • Red hot chili peppers; for a spicy taste. The hotness of the chili pepper depends on your preference, follow your taste buds!

    Here is what the Czech spekacek sausage looks like:

    Czech spekacek sausage

    Brine for pickling:

    • Water
    • Salt
    • Sugar
    • White vinegar; I used Czech vinegar, which is light yellow in color and contains 8% acetic acid, so it is quite sour. In the recipe card below, I list white vinegar, commonly available in the USA, which is around 5% acidity.
    • Allspice berries
    • Black peppercorns
    • Bay leaves

    ✅ You’ll find the exact amount of ingredients below in the recipe card, which you can also print out.

    ➜ How to make pickled sausages

    STEP 1: First, cook the brine: In a pot, combine water, sugar, salt, bay leaves, allspice, and black pepper. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for about three minutes until everything comes together. Remove from the heat and let the hot vinegar mixture cool almost wholly; the brine may be lukewarm but not hot.

    Pickling liquid with spices for sausages, with a laddle in a pot.

    STEP 2: In the meantime, start preparing the sausages. Peel off a thin casing layer and cut them lengthwise, but do not finish the cut. The sausages should open up enough to insert the onion rings and peppercorns into the cut.

    TIP: To make the sausages easier to stuff into the jar, cut them into quarters or slice them.

    STEP 3: Peel the onion, and cut lengthwise. Then thick-slice the halves of onions into half-rounds.

    Clean the hot chili peppers, cut off the stem part, and cut them in half lengthwise. Remove the seeds, or leave them if you want a spicier result.

    Carefully open the sausages. Insert a piece of hot pepper and onion rings into the cut.

    Polish sausages filled with onions and red hot chili peppers.

    STEP 4: Prepare a two-quart glass bottle (2 liters), such as a pickling jar with a screw cap or clip-on lid. Wash the jar properly with hot water and dry it.

    Place onions in the bottom of the jar, then start putting the filled sausages on them. Gradually pour the brine over sausages and add some onions between each layer. Stuff the sausages into the jar to avoid unnecessary gaps in-between.

    Cover the top with the rest of the onions and pour in the brine to submerge the sausages, including the onions.

    A mason jar full of pickling sausages, onions and spices.

    STEP 6: Close the jar with a lid and put it in a fridge to mature. Let the pickled sausages sit in the refrigerator for at least a week, preferably two, before you dig in.

    ➜ Serving

    Enjoy this special dish served cold on a plate with a spoon or two of the pickling liquid. Pickled sausages go great with a slice of fresh bread. Experts add a glass of well-chilled beer!

    Czech pickled sausages

    ➜ Useful tips

    • Always pickle sausages without casings, even if they are only thin. Peel them carefully with a knife. Otherwise, the brine will not have a chance to flavor the sausages properly. The casing acts as a barrier.
    • The brine is quite spicy soon after cooking, but much of the taste is taken away by the sausages that will pickle in it. The result will be a wonderful blend of meat sausages and pickled vegetables, dominated by a delectable sour and spicy flavor.
    • It's a good idea to put the jar of pickled sausages in the refrigerator somewhere in the back, so you're not tempted to start digging in before their time comes!

    More tasty recipes:

    • Cevapcici sausages
    • Sausage soup
    • Fried cabbage and noodles (Haluski)
    • Stuffed banana peppers
    • Czech pork knuckle (koleno)

    ➜ FAQs

    What is the shelf life of pickled sausages?

    You can taste the sausages about one week after you have pickled them. They will keep in the fridge for 3-4 weeks, including the time spent pickling.

    How long does it take to pickle a sausage?

    The pickling process takes at least a week or two for a more tangy flavor. The pickled sausages must be kept in the fridge for the whole time.

    Tried this recipe?

    Leave a review down in the comments! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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    Czech pickled sausages

    Pickled Sausages (Czech Utopenci)

    Czech-style pickled sausages, known as utopenci, count among the Czech pub classics. Anyone who has tasted this interesting food understands its irresistible indulgence well, and you would hardly find a similar recipe in any other national cuisine! Let's make utopenci sausages together!
    Print Pin
    Prep Time: 30 minutes
    Pickling time: 7 days
    Total Time: 7 days 30 minutes
    Servings: 4
    Calories: 118kcal
    Author: Petra Kupská

    Equipment

    • 1 glass jar 2-quart size / 2 liters
    Prevent your screen from going dark
    Course: Appetizer
    Cuisine: Czech
    Keyword: Czech pub snacks, Sausage recipes

    Ingredients

    • 5 short sausage soft Polish sausage, about 6 inches / 15 cm long
    • 5 red hot chili peppers
    • 4 onions

    Brine:

    • 2 cups water
    • 2 cups white vinegar 5% acidity
    • ½ teaspoon salt
    • 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
    • ½ teaspoon allspices
    • ½ teaspoon black pepercorn
    • 4 bay leaves

    Instructions

    • First, cook the brine: In a pot, combine water, sugar, salt, bay leaves, allspice, and black pepper. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for about three minutes, until everything comes together. Remove from the heat and let the hot vinegar mixture cool almost wholly; the brine may be lukewarm but not hot.
    • In the meantime, start preparing the sausages. Peel off a thin layer of the casing and cut them lengthwise, but do not finish the cut. The sausages should open up enough to insert the onion rings and peppercorns into the cut.
    • Peel the onion, and cut lengthwise. Then thick-slice the halves of onions into half-rounds.
    • Clean the hot chili peppers, cut off the stem part, and cut them in half lengthwise. Remove the seeds, or leave them if you want a spicier result.
    • Carefully open the sausages. Insert a piece of hot pepper and onion rings into the cut.
    • Prepare a two-quart glass bottle (2 liters), such as a jar with a screw cap or clip-on lid. Wash the jar properly with hot water and dry it.
    • Place onions in the bottom of the jar, then start putting the filled sausages on them. Gradually pour the brine over sausages and add some onions between each layer. Stuff the sausages into the jar to avoid unnecessary gaps in-between.
    • Cover the top with the rest of the onions and pour in the brine to submerge the sausages, including the onions.
    • Close the jar with a lid and put it in a fridge to mature. Let the pickled sausages sit in the refrigerator for at least a week, preferably two, before you dig in.

    Notes

    • Makes about 5 portions.
    • Always pickle sausages without casings, even if they are only thin. Peel them carefully with a knife. Otherwise, the brine will not have a chance to flavor the sausages properly. The casing acts as a barrier.
    • To make the sausages easier to stuff into the jar, cut them into quarters or slice them.
    • SERVING: Enjoy this special dish served cold on a plate with a spoon or two of the pickling liquid. Pickled sausages go great with a slice of fresh bread. Experts add a glass of well-chilled beer!
    • SHELF LIFE: You can taste the sausages about one week after you have pickled them. They will keep in the fridge for 3-4 weeks, including the time spent pickling.

    DISCLAIMER: Because I come from Central Europe, my recipes are based on metric units such as grams or milliliters. Check out how I convert metric units to the U.S. system:

    Conversion chart

    Nutritional Estimate pro portion

    Calories: 118kcal | Carbohydrates: 22g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 1mg | Sodium: 320mg | Potassium: 351mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 14g | Vitamin A: 545IU | Vitamin C: 89mg | Calcium: 47mg | Iron: 1mg
    Do you like the recipe?I would be happy for your feedback! Please, rate the recipe and share your opinion or questions in comments bellow. Thank you very much.
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    Hi there, I’m Petra, a self-taught home cook and a Czech mom of two teen boys with more than 20 years of cooking experience. I am here to share traditional recipes from the Czech Republic, a small country in the very heart of Europe.

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