When all you want is a good Polish sausage, nothing else will do. If you know, you know. Make delicious Grilled Kielbasa with veggies to satisfy the craving for an amazing sausage.
🍽️ Why This Works
Quick and Easy. We love to smoke food, but sometimes we just want something fast and easy on the grill. Grilled Kielbasa is the answer. The meat has already been smoked before you buy it, so this is the best of both worlds.
Already cooked. Grilling this is a piece of cake because it has already been cooked once. Like hot dogs and smoked sausages, Polish sausage just needs to be reheated to a palatable temperature.
Nothing like this flavor. Once you’ve had a good smoked Polish sausage, nothing else compares. Grilling is the perfect cooking method for this meat to bring out and enhance that taste you crave.
🌭 Ingredients
📝 Ingredient Notes
Kielbasa – Any type of smoked sausage originating in Poland is considered a kielbasa. It is usually a blend of meats starring pork and comes already smoked. You can buy raw, unsmoked kielbasa as well, but that defeats the purpose of this recipe, which is a great smoky flavor when you don’t have the time.
Sweet Peppers – We got the small tri-color package. These are perfect for the grill because they are already the right size. If you have larger peppers you should cut them into smaller chunks for quick cooking.
Onions – We love the flavor of red onions for this recipe. In a pinch, use sweet onions instead. Yellow onions are softer and perhaps a bit too bland for grilling.
Tomatoes – Roma tomatoes often have the best flavor in winter, and work just as well but require a longer cook time. In the summer if you have garden tomatoes, cut them to uniform smaller size chunks and use those.
⏲️ Equipment and Tools
Grill | Find our top product recommendations here.
GrillGrate | This is my favorite grilling accessory. Not only does it minimize flare-ups, it also leaves gorgeous sear marks! They come in sizes for virtually every grill.
🔥 Instructions
Step One. Score the kielbasa with crosshatching. This helps it cook faster.
Step Two. Cut the onions and tomatoes in half. Spray or brush all of the vegetables with olive oil. We added all the veggies to a large bowl, sprayed with oil and then mixed it up for even coverage.
Step Three. When the grill is heated to 350°, place the kielbasa and veggies on the grill.
Step Four. After 4-5 minutes, turn the links and vegetables over.
Step Five. Place the sweet peppers on when about five minutes are left, add the Roma tomatoes when just 3-4 minutes are left. You are looking to char the sweet peppers and cherry tomatoes. Remove everything when cooked through and nicely seared.
Step Six: Serve hot!
❗ Recipe Tips and Tricks
Crosshatch scoring helps it cook faster, and crisp up nicely on the outside. Don’t skip this step.
Use a GrillGrate to get those gorgeous grill marks on your food.
Time adding the vegetables to the grill so they are all done about the same time. Onions will take longer to grill, and tomatoes will take a lot less time, so add them on at different times to have them all finish at the same time.
Storage and Reheating
Keep leftovers in the refrigerator with the vegetables in an airtight container for three to five days. You can use a freezer-quality plastic bag if you prefer. Reheat in a skillet or microwave.
Freeze the leftovers for up to six months in an airtight container. We add the leftovers and vegetables to Tupperware containers with a bit of rice and freeze them for lunches.
Meal Prep
Save your leftovers and chop them up. Use them later in scrambled eggs, use them in a soup, or just reheat them in a skillet straight up.
Additions and Substitutions
So many vegetables are great with kielbasa. Try large mushrooms on the grill, grill up some potatoes and carrots, or choose hot peppers instead of sweet peppers.
Apples or pineapple are a fun addition to the grill and go perfectly with this flavor profile.
Rub them with mustard and add your favorite rub to them like we did the Smoked Hot Dogs, a little sauce as is done with the Little Smokies or in a cast iron skillet as we did with the Sausage and Peppers.
Serving Suggestions
You can serve kielbasa and grilled vegetables as a dish in and of itself, or serve and enjoy them on a bun as a grilled kielbasa sandwich or over rice with or without shredded cheese.
Try Grilled parsnips or Grilled Sweet Potatoes on the side.
Accompany your meat platter with savory dipping sauces such as hot mustard, honey mustard, ketchup, garlic aioli, or horseradish sauce.
Recipe FAQ
The kielbasa we used took 8-10 minutes tops, but of course, that can vary depending on the thickness of the sausage.
No. Purchase and use pre-cooked, smoked kielbasa for this recipe. It’s basically reheating the meat with the added flavor from the grill. If you purchase raw kielbasa you will want to cook it differently.
Shoot for an internal temperature between 145º and 155ºF and check the temperature using an internal temperature probe.
Our family loves this red onion, sweet peppers, and onion mixture in our grilled kielbasa recipe. You can also use large mushrooms, potatoes, carrots, zucchini, or yellow squash. Make sure to consider the cooking time of the vegetables you choose.
Grilling kielbasa is easy. You can grill these like you do any other pre-cooked sausage. They simply need to be heated through to edible temperatures and they are good to go.
Polish sausage and kielbasa are the same things, so follow our step-by-step grilled kielbasa recipe for perfect results your whole family will love. Eight to ten minutes on a pre-heated grill is all you need.
Our recipe gives instructions for lightly grilled onion halves which take right at five minutes. If you prefer grilled onions that are closer to a sautee, slice your onions instead of halving them, and put them on the grill first to give a head start. Add the kielbasa after ten minutes or more depending on how soft you want the onions to end up.
Potatoes take longer to cook than smoked kielbasa, so if that’s your goal you will want to dice up your potatoes and start those earlier in a foil packet or grilling pan. I recommend halving baby or new potatoes and plan for a total cooking time of twenty to twenty-five minutes on those.
Related Recipes
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Grilled Kielbasa
Equipment
- GrillGrate
Ingredients
- 2 Kielbasa precooked
- 2 Roma Tomatoes
- 1 Red Onion
- 6 Sweet Peppers
- 2 Jalapeños
- spray olive oil optional
Instructions
- Heat up grill to 350-375° over direct heat on a grill grate (you want those gorgeous grill marks) and prep the kielbasa.
- Make ⅛" cross hatch marks on the kielbasa.
- Cut the onions in half and brush with olive oil.
- Brush or spray the sweet peppers and Roma tomatoes with olive oil.
- When the grill is heated up, place the kielbasa and onions on the grill. Turn them over after five minutes.
- Add the sweet peppers and then add the Roma tomatoes when there is 3-4 minutes left. You are looking to char the sweet peppers and cherry tomatoes is all.
- Remove everything after the kielbasa is at 145-155° and the vegetables are nicely seared.
- Serve everything on a platter.
Notes
Nutrition
