Liverwurst, the German Leberwurst

Liverwurst, also sold as liver sausage, is the American counterpart of German Leberwurst: a cooked sausage made from pork, fat and liver. So what is in liverwurst, how does it differ from Braunschweiger, and how do Germans eat it? This guide follows the official German guidelines for meat products and the U.S. federal rules, explains the German types and shows where liverwurst turns up in Bavaria, from the Brotzeit board to the Oktoberfest.

What is liverwurst?

In German, Leber means liver and Wurst means sausage. The German Food Code guidelines, published by the federal agriculture ministry, file Leberwurst under the Kochwürste, the cooked sausages. These are heat treated and made mainly from ingredients that were cooked beforehand; only where blood, liver and fat dominate may the raw share be larger. Most of them can be sliced only once they have cooled down. The same passage defines spreadable cooked sausages: once cold, their texture comes from set fat or from liver protein that has bound together during heating.

What is in liverwurst in Germany? For the plain product sold simply as Leberwurst, the guidelines list fatty pork, fat, connective tissue, pork head meat, liver, heart and tongue, and allow beef as well. The texture can be coarse or finely ground. According to the guidelines, the liver share of liver sausages and liver pâtés lies between 10 and 30 percent, depending on the ingredients and the method. In individual cases it can be higher, and for certain types named in the guidelines it can be lower.

The U.S. definition is stricter on liver. Federal rules for meat products define liverwurst, also called liver sausage, as a sausage that is cooked and made from pork, beef or veal and contains at least 30 percent liver, calculated on the weight of the fresh liver. The liver may come from pork, beef, veal, sheep or goats, and the sausage may contain pork or beef byproducts.

Braunschweiger vs liverwurst

In the United States, the two names stand for close relatives. The same federal regulation that defines liverwurst also defines Braunschweiger: a cooked sausage of pork, beef or veal with at least 30 percent pork, beef or veal liver, which may also contain pork or beef fat. What sets it apart is the smoke: Braunschweiger may taste smoked, through smoked meat, smoke flavoring or actual smoking. The label may even combine both names, for example as Braunschweiger (Liverwurst). So when Americans compare liverwurst vs Braunschweiger, the federal definitions overlap heavily. The differences lie in the optional smoky taste, in the animals the liver may come from and in byproducts versus fat.

In Germany, the picture is different. The German guidelines use the name Braunschweiger on its own for a spreadable raw sausage of the Mettwurst type, made from pork, beef and fat, with no liver in its list of ingredients. A German liver sausage from that region goes by Braunschweiger Leberwurst and is listed among the ordinary liver sausages. Schaller & Weber, a New York producer, writes on its website that by the time the name reached the United States, it was used for various smoked pork sausages.

Types of Leberwurst in Germany

The guidelines describe eleven groups of liver sausage, each with its own minimum for meat protein. A selection:

• Kalbsleberwurst (calf liver sausage) and Kalbfleisch-Leberwurst (with veal), finely ground to coarse.
• Fleisch-Leberwurst and Schinken-Leberwurst, with pieces of meat or liver mixed in.
• Gänseleberwurst, with pieces of goose liver up to the size of a walnut. When an animal is named together with the liver, more than half of the liver has to come from that animal.
• Leberwurst under regional names, from Frankfurter and Fränkische to Pfälzer and Schwäbische Leberwurst, plus herb, cream or shallot versions.
• Hausmacher, Bauern- and Landleberwurst, the coarse farmhouse style.
• Lebercreme, finely ground and creamy.
• Leberwürstchen and Schlachtschüssel-Leberwurst, intended to be eaten warm and sometimes sold without a casing.

The annex of the guidelines, an extract from the EU register, lists three liver sausages with a protected geographical indication: Thüringer Leberwurst, Aachener Weihnachts-Leberwurst and Oecher Weihnachtsleberwurst. For an overview of all families of German sausage, from raw to scalded to cooked, see our guide to German sausages.

How Germans eat Leberwurst

Because liverwurst is a cooked sausage, it is ready to eat as sold. In Bavaria it turns up on the Brotzeit board, the cold spread of bread, sausage, cheese and radish. On its Oktoberfest menu for 2026, the Löwenbräu tent listed Leberwurst on its Brotzeit platter for two, next to Obatzda, juniper ham, smoked pork belly, Emmentaler, radish and spiced bread, and a smoked Leberwurst on its starter platter for the whole table. The cheese spread on that platter is explained on our page about Obatzda, and more tent dishes are collected under Oktoberfest food.

Warm liverwurst has its place, too. The guidelines list Leberwürstchen and a Schlachtschüssel-Leberwurst that are meant to be eaten warm. Fresh liver and blood sausage served with boiled pork make up the Schlachtschüssel, a dish of butchering day. Our German pages on Kesselfleisch and Blutwurst describe this custom.

In the United States, Schaller & Weber suggests serving its Braunschweiger sliced on rye bread with a slice of onion as an open sandwich, or on a cracker. A suggestion from our editors for a Bavarian touch: spread coarse liverwurst on dark farmhouse bread and add pickles and a few slices of radish. More ideas for the cold table are on our page about Bavarian food.

Liverwurst brands and where to buy liverwurst

This page does not rate or recommend brands. In the U.S., the label tells you more than the brand: products sold as liverwurst, liver sausage or Braunschweiger have to meet the federal definitions described above, including at least 30 percent liver. One producer with German roots is Schaller & Weber. According to the company, the butcher Ferdinand Schaller, who trained in Germany, opened a shop in Manhattan's Yorkville neighborhood with Tony Weber in 1937 and began producing on a larger scale in the early 1960s. The company also says that its Braunschweiger Liverwurst comes in retail packs and in larger deli packs, and its website has a store finder by zip code. If you are looking for German-style Leberwurst, the German types listed above, such as Kalbsleberwurst or a coarse Hausmacher style, are names to look for at German delis and butcher counters.