With game day and football party weekends in full swing, it’s time to fire up the Traeger smoker for smoked kielbasa. This polish sausage comfort food recipe brings lots of smoky flavor and only has one ingredient. Let’s get smoking!
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Table of Contents
Why Traeger Smoked Kielbasa is easy to make…
- It’s hands-off! Literally preheat the smoker to 225 degrees F for 15-20 minutes and then toss the unpackaged kielbasa sausage onto the grates and close the lid. Check back in 2 – 3 hrs when done.
- Little prep involved! This recipe for smoked kielbasa uses a pre-cooked kielbasa. Just remove it from the package and you’re good-to-go.
- Great for a party! Once smoked, you can slice it up into discs which is a great appetizer for any get together.
New to cooking Smoked Kielbasa and other smoked food recipes? See my step by step video for beginners (scroll to bottom of page).
See the best game day smoker recipes…
Ingredients
Here’s what you need to make Smoked Kielbasa.
- kielbasa, precooked
See beginner-friendly Traeger recipes…
How to cook Smoked Kielbasa
Now I’ll walk you through it…
Quick look at Smoked Kielbasa recipe
- Preheat the smoker to 225 degrees F.
- Remove kielbasa sausage from package.
- Smoke kielbasa at 225 degrees F for 2 – 3 hrs until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F.
- Remove, let cool, slice and enjoy!
Detailed recipe steps
- Preheat Traeger Grills or Pitt Boss or whatever pellet grill you’re using to 225 degrees F.
- Prep kielbasa for smoking. Remove kielbasa sausage from the package. You can poke holes in it with a fork, but I usually don’t and it smokes just fine.
- Smoke kielbasa at 225 degrees F for 2 – 3 hrs, until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F as measured with an internal read thermometer.
- Finish smoked kielbasa by serving it in hoagie rolls, or dicing it up and serving it with an appetizer platter for game day.
Also see how to smoke brats and how to make baked potatoes in smoker and smoked mac and cheese for a side dish…
FAQs
When using a smoker set to 225 degrees F, it will take you anywhere from 2 – 3 hours to fully finish smoking kielbasa. Please use an internal read thermometer to measure for an internal temperature of 165 degrees F.
In this Sip Bite Go kielbasa smoker recipe, yes, the kielbasa sausage was already cured and cooked (it’s sausage from Teton Waters Ranch). You can equate this to how hot dogs are already cooked in the package when you buy them from a grocery store.
You could decide to make your own homemade sausage by combining various cuts of meat, place in a bowl and stir with your seasonings. Then run the mixture through your sausage maker and into casings.
After removing the kielbasa from the packaging and smoking it, you should consume it within the next 3 days. If you keep it in an air-tight container in the fridge, you could stretch it close to a week.
On the other hand, cooked kielbasa sausage still in the packaging will last several weeks in the fridge unopened.
Smoked sausage and kielbasa are very similar. In general terms, they are both various cuts of meat stuffed into a casing. With that said, Kielbasa usually is a mix of pork and beef with garlic as another main ingredient. The shape between them both are different as well. Smoked sausages are usually smaller, whereas kielbasa are cut into a long loop shape.
To put it simply, kielbasa is just the polish name for sausage. It will contain various cuts of meat and fat and will be cured.
In this recipe, we used pecan pellets. It gave it a nice smoky flavor that we all enjoyed. If you’re looking for something a bit lighter in smokiness, then perhaps an applewood would be more preferable. Another good option would be hickory pellets.
You can be creative here. If you’re serving a crowd with your BBQ menu, slicing smoked kielbasa into discs with toothpicks is a great appetizer. If you want to serve it in a roll, then cut the smoked kielbasa to the length of your roll.
To be a bit more creative, heat some bbq sauce over medium heat on the stove top. Once heated, use a brush and paint the smoked kielbasa with the warm bbq sauce when there’s 15 – 20 minutes left in the cooking time. The bbq sauce will adhere to the smoked kielbasa to give it some additional flavor.
More Tasty Grill + Smoker Recipes
- Smoked mac and cheese
- Smoked cream cheese
- Smoked brisket flat
- 321 ribs
- Beer can chicken on the smoker
- Smoked wings
- Smoked tomahawk steak
- Traeger tri tip
- Smoked turkey breast
- Whole smoked turkey
- Smoked Traeger pizza
- Smoked onion rings
- Traeger smoked ham
- Smoked whole chicken
- Smoked jalapeno poppers
- Smoked corn on the cob
- Traeger beef ribs
- Smoked leg of lamb
- Smoked shrimp
- Grilled chicken wings
- Grilled skirt steak
- Flank steak marinade
- Grilled potato wedges
- Smoked pulled pork
- Want more? See my lineup of easy smoker recipes
See my favorite smoker tools and seasonings in my Amazon Storefront.
Meat thermometer recommendations
Every home chef needs a reliable meat thermometer to cook food perfectly.
On Sip Bite Go, you’ll often see me using:
- Meater thermometer – a fancy wireless thermometer that connects to a phone app – gifted to me from a Traeger partnership.
- ThermoPro digital thermometer – which has a wire that connects the thermometer to a display box outside the oven/grill.
It’s like being psychic! The great thing about either of the thermometers above is that I don’t have to take the food out of the oven to know the temperature.
How to use ‘em… What I do is stick the digital thermometer in steak, pork, chicken, whatever… Then put the food in the oven, on the smoker, or grill.
While the meat cooks, it reads the temperature so I know exactly what temp meat is as it’s cooking. Without having to take it out and check. It’s really difficult to overcook food when you know exactly what temp it is inside!
Are you a foodie, too?
Hey home chefs, hope that answers all your questions about Smoked Kielbasa Sausage.
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Traeger Smoked Kielbasa Sausage Recipe | Sip Bite Go
Ingredients
- 1 kielbasa precooked
Instructions
- Preheat Traeger Grills or Pitt Boss or whatever pellet grill you’re using to 225 degrees F.
- Prep kielbasa for smoking. Remove kielbasa sausage from the package. You can poke holes in it with a fork, but I usually don’t and it smokes just fine.
- Smoke kielbasa at 225 degrees F for 2 – 3 hrs, until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F as measured with an internal read thermometer.
- Finish smoked kielbasa by serving it in hoagie rolls, or dicing it up and serving it with an appetizer platter for game day.
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