The Perfect Roast Goose Recipe | Gänsebraten

You will love this classic and absolutely delicious recipe—roast goose, complete with rich, savory gravy and a side of perfectly braised red cabbage. This dish is a true showstopper, perfect for the holidays or any special occasions. I’ll guide you through each step, so you’ll end up with tender, juicy goose, that you will make you reach for seconds. A staple German holiday tradition, especially around St. Martin’s Day or the traditional Christmas goose, we have been making and loving this very recipe that brings a little old-world charm to your table!

This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. You can read my full disclosure.

Why You Will Love This Recipe

• My roast goose recipe is very easy, even for beginner cooks
• It has very juicy, tender meat and a crispy skin
• It is a nice variation of holiday roasts with amazing flavor

The ingredients

All you need is

• Goose: I always prefer a fat goose over a lean one but finding one at all can be challenging (read below).
• Salt: When you’re only using a few ingredients, you’ll want to use the highest quality salt you can afford.
• Mugwort (optional): We like to add this medicinal herb to help with the digestion of the fat.

Where to find a goose:

I have had luck sourcing a goose from

• the meat department of local grocery stores (definitely call ahead, sometimes they can special order)
• farmers’ markets (this California grower is one of the small farms that often has a free-range goose)
• online such as from Schiltz Foods, Wild Fork Foods, or finding another supplier online, most of them ship a frozen goose 
• if you can’t find a whole goose you can sometimes find just the whole breast

Useful tools and equipment

Fro best success, I recommend you have 

• A good roasting pan: Ideally, you want a roasting pan with a lid and an integrated wire rack
• Glass jars: You will collect so much fat and it’s definitely worth saving it in glass jars
• Fine meshed sieve: This helps strain out any bits and pieces
• Ladle: I like to ladle the goose fat over the outside of the goose to help create a brown and crisp skin
• Tooth picks: I like to close the cavity of the goose with basic wooden tooth picks
• Kitchen twine: Simple twine helps keep the cavity closed

Substitutions and variations

While I think this recipe is perfect as it is, here are some additional ideas:

• Stuffing: You could put stuffing into your bird but just know that that will extend the cooking time
• Apples: My late mother-in-law loved to put whole, peeled, and cored apples inside the cavity
• Other fillings: Germans like to also fill the goose with peeled orange slices, bread dumplings, roasted chestnuts, a large onion, or dried plums

How to serve

• Our favorite way to serve the traditional German Martinsgans or Weihnachtsgans is with gravy, braised red cabbage, and potato dumplings
• You can also use your favorite turkey sides such as cranberry sauce, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans, and Brussels sprouts
• There really are no rules but anything sweet and/or acidic (apples, cherries, citrus, cranberries) is perfect, and potatoes, even fried or roast potatoes

Make ahead of time?

I recommend that you make this roast goose right when you need it. However, you might end up with extra goose meat (and it is worth picking the carcass!), you can keep it an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Other recipes you might like

How to make this dish

2. Prep the goose:

3. Filling and closing it:

This is also the moment to add any fillings; I always use a small handful of mugwort. Using wooden tooth picks or poultry needles, close the opening of the cavity. Loop a piece of kitchen twine around the tooth picks to hold them in place. Fill the roasting pan about 1″ high with water and put the lid on.

4. Cook it:

Set the oven temperature to 350˚F, place the goose breast side up in the roasting pan with the lid on in the oven and bake the goose for 1.5 hours. The skin should have a  bit of color to it and you should be able to get “goose smell” in the house (my mother-in-law’s metric for how long to bake it). Remove it from the oven, keep it covered, and keep it overnight either in the refrigerator once it has cooled down or in a cool place. 

5. Roast it:

The next day, about 1.5 to 2 hours before you would like to serve the goose, turn the oven to 350˚F. This is a good moment to drain the rendered fat and juices that have collected in the bottom of the pan. 

PRO TIP: I always recommend saving the goose fat. It is healthy and gives the perfect flavor to fried potatoes or as cooking fat for braised red cabbage or braised kale. Germans also like to eat it spread on slices of bread with just a sprinkling of salt. My favorite way of making the gravy is by using the pan juices. 

Place the goose in the preheated oven with the lid on for the first 30 minutes. Then remove the lid, pour some of the fat over the goose skin, and return it to the oven. You can use the roasting function if your oven has that. The total cook time should be around 1.5 hours or until a the goose has reached an internal temperature of 165˚F in the center of the breast meat. It should have crispy skin that is golden brown.

6. Carve and serve:

After roasting, I like to let my goose rest at room temperature for 20-30 minutes on a carving board. You might like to cover it with aluminum foil to keep it warm. When you are ready, carve it just like you would carve a turkey and serve it with your favorite side dishes. 

PRO TIP: Be sure to save the goose carcass and the bones to make a delicious bone broth.

7. Bonus: Make the gravy:

In a medium sauce pan over medium heat melt some goose fat or butter. Add flour and whisk the two together. While constantly whisking, slowly pour some of the pan juices into the fat-flour mixture until it thickens. You can always add some more of the juices or a little water if it’s too thick. Gently simmer over low heat for about 5 minutes. Season the gravy with bouillon cubes, salt, fresh ground black pepper, and possibly a spritz or two of German Maggi. It looks very pretty if you transfer it to a gravy boat.