This Smoked Kielbasa starts on the smoker for an hour and is bursting with flavor before it gets slathered in BBQ sauce and charred on the grill. The perfect dinnertime or appetizer for all your summer gatherings.
Using the smoker and the grill is something we totally can’t get enough of during the summertime. With this recipe, we get to use both! The less time I have to spend in front of the hot oven or stove, the better.
If I don’t have to heat up the oven during the summer at all, it’s hot enough already that grilling/smoking is one of our go-to activities and everyone loves it.
Oh, how I love this Smoked Kielbasa recipe. There’s just nothing like it, It’s smoked for an hour on the grill so it’s nice and tender, literally bursting with flavor, and then it’s seared to a nice char on the grill after being basted with tasty BBQ sauce, talk about kielbasa perfection!
We have been making this dinner/appetizer recipe for years, obviously it is so easy how can you not. But some of the most easy and minimal ingredient recipes are the best ever.
With this Smoked Kielbasa you won’t just keep the adults happy the kids have never turned this one down, they practically beg for it. When that happens, I know we have good recipe!
Some of our other favorite kielbasa or smoked sausage recipes we have on our site include: Sheet Pan Vegetables & Kielbasa, Shrimp Boil and Pierogi Casserole.
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
- Filling and full of so much flavor only using 3 ingredients.
- Great to feed a crowd- easy to double or triple the recipe.
- Kielbasa is so versatile and goes with just about any bbq, picnic, or backyard party side dish you serve.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED (FULL RECIPE AT BOTTOM)
Kielbasa
Sweet BBQ sauce
Water
HOW TO MAKE SMOKED KIELBASA, STEP BY STEP:
- Preheat your smoker to the smoke setting and place the kielbasa directly on the smoker rack.
- Smoke for 1 hour.
- Increase the temperature to 300°F, and continue to cook for 30-40 minutes. The kielbasa should start to become brown and will split at some parts, but don’t let it turn black.
- Next, preheat a charcoal or gas grill to medium heat.
- While the grill is preheating, remove the kielbasa from the smoker and cut it into 3-4 inch pieces, and put them in a bowl.
- In a small bowl stir together the bbq sauce and water and pour it over the cut sausage. Toss the sausage in the sauce so it is fully coated.
- Once the grill is hot, place the pieces onto the grill and turn them often as they cook, so they don’t burn.
- Baste the cut pieces with the remaining sauce and keep cooking until they reach your desired char. We like to get a good dark char on ours, so it can take up to 15 minutes. Serve and enjoy immediately.
WHAT IS KIELBASA?
Kielbasa is a form of sausage, in fact, it’s the Polish word for sausage. It’s packed with and made from pork, pepper, salt, garlic, and marjoram. The pork is cured before it’s mixed with the spices.
IS SMOKED KIELBASA ALREADY COOKED?
Typically, the kielbasa is already smoked and cooked, but the extra smoking on the grill is what makes this recipe even more amazing.
You just can’t get this unique flavor any other way. If you have the time to let these cook, I highly recommend it.
WHAT KIND OF SAUCE SHOULD I USE?
For this Smoked Kielbasa recipe, I suggest you use your favorite homemade or store bought BBQ sauce. I like using a BBQ sauce that is more on the sweet side and for this recipe, I like to use Sweet Baby Ray’s.
The outside of the sauce will start to caramelize, making it sticky, sweet, and smokey perfection.
DO I HAVE TO USE KIELBASA?
If you want to try this recipe on other sausages, give it a go. I personally have not tried it on other sausages but I don’t see how it wont work the same.
If you do try it, let us know how it goes in the comments below!
HOW TO STORE:
Leftover Kielbasa can be kept in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
You can also freeze this recipe, place in a freezer safe container and it will keep for up to 3 months.
Let defrost by removing to the refrigerator overnight until thawed. To reheat, place the sausage into a foil packet and place it in a 350°F oven for 15-20 minutes until warmed through.
You can also be microwave the sausages on a microwave-safe plate.
TIPS AND TRICKS:
- To kick up the heat and add a little spice, I suggest adding ½ teaspoon of cayenne pepper, chipotle powder, or red pepper flakes to the BBQ sauce mixing step.
- We add water to the BBQ sauce to make it easier to coat the sausage pieces. If your bbq sauce is not thick, then you don’t need to add the water.
- Always check to see if your kielbasa was precooked or not. It never hurts to check the internal temp of your meat before consuming. Typically, sausage needs to be 145F-175F, we highly recommend using a kitchen thermometer.
- Don’t open the smoker too often or it will have trouble keeping temp and flavor.
- You can easily double this recipe.
- Use any of your favorite BBQ sauce, we like sweet.
- This can be frozen, see above on how to do that.
Looking for the perfect smoker recipe to start off with, this Smoked Kielbasa is perfect for you. We love that it starts on the smoker and finishes on the grill and we hope you enjoy it too!
IF YOU LIKE THIS RECIPE YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE:
If you’ve tried this SMOKED KIELBASA or any other recipe on my site, let me know in the comment section how it turned out, we love hearing from our readers! You can also follow along with me on PINTEREST, FACEBOOK and INSTAGRAM to see more amazing recipes and what shenanigans I’m getting into!
Smoked Kielbasa
Ingredients
- 14 ounce kielbasa
- ½ cup sweet bbq sauce
- 1 tablespoon water
Instructions
- Preheat your smoker to the smoke setting and place the kielbasa directly on the smoker rack.
- Smoke for 1 hour.
- Increase the temperature to 300°F, and continue to cook for 30-40 minutes. The kielbasa should start to become brown and will split at some parts, but don't let it turn black.
- Next, preheat a charcoal or gas grill to medium heat.
- While the grill is preheating, remove the kielbasa from the smoker and cut it into 3-4 inch pieces, and put them in a bowl.
- In a small bowl stir together the bbq sauce and water and pour it over the cut sausage. Toss the sausage in the sauce so it is fully coated.
- Once the grill is hot, place the pieces onto the grill and turn them often as they cook, so they don’t burn.
- Baste the cut pieces with the remaining sauce and keep cooking until they reach your desired char. We like to get a good dark char on ours, so it can take up to 15 minutes. Serve and enjoy immediately.
Notes
- To kick up the heat and add a little spice, I suggest adding ½ teaspoon of cayenne pepper, chipotle powder, or red pepper flakes to the BBQ sauce mixing step.
- We add water to the BBQ sauce to make it easier to coat the sausage pieces. If your bbq sauce is not thick, then you don’t need to add the water.
- Always check to see if your kielbasa was precooked or not. It never hurts to check the internal temp of your meat before consuming. Typically, sausage needs to be 145F-175F, we highly recommend using a kitchen thermometer.
- Don't open the smoker too often or it will have trouble keeping temp and flavor.
- You can easily double this recipe.
- Use any of your favorite BBQ sauce, we like sweet.
- This can be frozen, see above on how to do that.
Nutrition
Tornadough Alli is not a nutritionist or dietitian, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and nutritional value is important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and values can vary depending on which brands were used.
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