History

Currywurst was invented in Berlin in 1949 by Herta Heuwer at her Imbiss at the corner of Kantstrasse and Kaiser-Friedrich-Strasse in Charlottenburg. Heuwer obtained ketchup and curry powder from British soldiers, mixed her own spiced sauce and ladled it over a sliced grilled sausage. The dish was patented in 1959 (under the name Chillup) but the form had already spread across West Berlin. Konnopke's Imbiss at the Eberswalder Strasse U-Bahn arch has cooked currywurst since 1960, claiming East Berlin's earliest version. The German Currywurst Museum operated from 2009 to 2018 on Schuetzenstrasse. The dish remains the city's most consumed street food: an estimated 70 million currywurst are eaten in Berlin each year.

Common allergens: Gluten in some sausages

Make it at home

Yield Serves 4Hands-on 20 minTotal 30 minDifficulty Easy

Ingredients

  • 4 good-quality bratwurst sausages (Brueh or Bockwurst)
  • For the sauce: 500ml tomato passata, 200g tomato ketchup, 2 tablespoons mild curry powder, 1 tablespoon hot paprika, 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, 1 onion finely chopped, 30ml olive oil, salt and pepper
  • 1 tablespoon mild curry powder for dusting
  • Pommes frites and white bread roll to serve

Method

  1. Soften the chopped onion in olive oil over low heat for 8 minutes until translucent and sweet.
  2. Add the tomato passata, ketchup, curry powder, paprika, Worcestershire and sugar. Simmer 20 minutes, stirring, until thick and glossy.
  3. Season with salt and pepper. Blend smooth or leave chunky to taste.
  4. Grill or pan-fry the bratwurst over medium heat 8 minutes, turning until evenly browned and 70C inside.
  5. Slice each bratwurst into 1cm rounds on the diagonal.
  6. Pour a generous ladle of sauce over the sliced sausage. Dust with extra curry powder on top. Serve with pommes and a soft white roll.

Tip from the editors. The sauce should be thick enough to coat the sausage; if it runs, simmer another 5 minutes uncovered.

This is the TableJourney editorial recipe, modelled on the canonical bistro / counter version. The first place to try the dish in its city of origin is below.

Where to eat currywurst

Currywurst in Berlin

Curry 36 ★ 4.5

kreuzbergUntil Open until 05:00 daily

Curry 36 on Mehringdamm is Berlin's most dependable late-night Imbiss, open until 05:00 every day. The currywurst at 03:00 draws the same crowd of taxi drivers, clubbers and shift workers it has since 1980.

Try: Currywurst

Mehringdamm 36, 10961 Berlin

Konnopke's Imbiss ★ 4.6

prenzlauer-berg

Konnopke's Imbiss under the Eberswalder Strasse arch has cooked East Berlin's historic currywurst since 1930. A plate costs under EUR 5 and the standing counter is the authentic cheap lunch of Prenzlauer Berg.

Try: Currywurst plate

Schoenhauser Allee 44B, 10435 Berlin

Curry 61 ★ 4.1

hackescher-marktMon-Thu 11:00-22:00, Fri-Sat 11:00-23:00, Sun 12:00-21:00

Curry 61 near Hackescher Markt serves a well-spiced currywurst with a house sauce that leans sweeter than Kreuzberg versions. Vegan wurst available alongside the pork original.

Try: Currywurst

Oranienburger Strasse 6, 10178 Berlin

Currywurst in Munich

Bergwolf ★ 4.4

glockenbachviertelUntil Fri-Sat 04:00, Mon-Thu 02:00

Bergwolf on Munich's Fraunhoferstrasse near Sendlinger Tor is the city's defining after-midnight currywurst counter; weekends to 04:00 with a vegan option on the carte.

Try: Currywurst with fries

Fraunhoferstrasse 17, 80469 München

Vinzenzmurr Marienplatz ★ 4.2

altstadt-lehel

Vinzenzmurr's New Town Hall counter on Munich's Marienplatz sells the city's classic Leberkäsweckl (Leberkäs in a roll) for around EUR 4; lunch in the hand for a tenner of change.

Try: Leberkäsweckl

Marienplatz 8, 80331 München

More cities are in research. Want currywurst covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.

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