Making air fryer kielbasa is a quick and easy way to make Polish sausage, whether you're eating it as an appetizer or as a main dish for dinner.
In less than 5 minutes you can have perfectly cooked kielbasa in the air fryer without having to watch it constantly on the stove or cook it with unnecessary oil.
Cooking kielbasa in an air fryer is a great meal idea, plus it can also be gluten-free, low carb, and keto friendly, depending on which brand you purchase.
If you're air fryer obsessed like we are, then you'll want to also make our other air-fried sausage recipes for bratwurst, Italian sausages, and breakfast sausage.
Serve the kielbasa air fryer sausages with a side of mustard to eat as an appetizer or how about as a main dish alongside pirogies and cabbage.
Polish Sausage in Air Fryer (Kielbasa)
Did you know that Polish sausage and smoked kielbasa are the same thing?? When you hear someone referring to Polish sausage, they're referring to kielbasa, which is actually just the Polish word for sausage.
When we talk about cooking kielbasa in the air fryer, we'll be using that term interchangeably with air fryer Polish sausage since people sometimes refer to it in different ways.
We ate A LOT of kielbasa growing up since my grandma's family originated from Poland. Typically we ate it as a quick skillet dish mixed with a creamy cabbage sauce like this one pan skillet kielbasa recipe.
Why This Recipe Works
- Air Fryer Kielbasa cooks in less time than making it in a skillet
- Cutting it into small pieces means it can be either the perfect size as an appetizer or dinner
- Air fryer Polish sausage is perfectly cooked in less than 5 minutes
- You can easily swap out higher fat kielbasa and cook turkey kielbasa instead
Ingredients
Polish sausage in an air fryer is truly a one-ingredient dish since kielbasa is pre-seasoned, pre-smoked, and higher in fat, no extra oil or ingredients are needed to prepare this.
- 1 package of kielbasa (10 oz-12 oz), depending on the brand
How does Polska Kielbasa differ than other brands of store-bought Polish sausage? It doesn't! Polska Kielbasa is what the popular Hillshire Farms calls their brand of Polish sausage. So if you've been wondering how to air fry Polska Kielbasa, that would be the same method as any other national or regional brand of sausage.
How to Make
Prep and Preheat
Preheat an air fryer for 3-4 minutes on 380F.
While your unit is heating, prep the sausage by cutting the rope into 1-1.5 inch pieces.
Add the Polish sausage to the basket, leaving room in between each section. We used our small Farberware air fryer for this recipe and the entire package of the sliced sausage was able to fit inside the basket with room on all sides.
How Long to Air Fryer Kielbasa
Air fry the kielbasa sausage for 4 mins on one side, shake the basket and continue cooking it for 3-4 more minutes until browned.
As you can see in the photo, after 4 minutes they're already starting to turn brown. Polish sausage comes pre-cooked so all you need to do is basically heat it up and brown it a little bit.
The kielbasa air fryer recipe is technically done when the internal temperature of the Polish sausage reaches 160F. If you like your kielbasa brown and crispy you can simply add a couple more minutes to the cooking time.
Serve the air fryer kielbasa sausage with mustard and toothpicks if you're serving them as an appetizer, or serve them as the main dish alongside your favorite side dishes.
Recipe Tips
- Other ways to serve kielbasa are to cut them into thinner slices if you want to mix them with diced onions and peppers.
- You can also cut them in half and then lengthwise and serve with a side of roasted potatoes and Brussel sprouts. Kielbasa is amazing since it's versatile and can be served as an appetizer or as part of your dinner.
- We purchased Polish sausage at our grocery store from a local company that makes kielbasa, but any national brand will work, or even turkey kielbasa too.
- Spread the pieces out in the air fryer basket, we used our small air fryer and it was still able to hold an entire package of kielbasa with space around each sausage. As much as possible, you want to give space in between pieces when you're cooking to help with browning.
- And there's no need to add any oil or seasoning since kielbasa is pre-seasoned, plus it's a fatty meat, which means no extra oil is needed.
- If you're concerned over white smoke in your air fryer, you can either add a piece of old bread in the bottom to catch the grease or add 1 tablespoon of water to the bottom of the pan. That being said, we had no issues with our unit smoking and it could be because kielbasa doesn't drip as much grease as compared to recipes like air fryer bacon.
What to Serve with Kielbasa
If you're wondering what to serve with air fryer Polish sausage, it might depend on whether you plan to eat them as an appetizer or a main dish. Here's a handful of our favorite side dishes to serve alongside kielbasa.
- German Potato Salad
- Coleslaw
- Fried Cabbage
- Pierogies
- Spicy Mustard
- Beer
- More appetizers!
More Air Fryer Sausage Recipes
- Breakfast sausage in an air fryer
- Italian sausage in air fryer
- Air fryer bratwurst
- Frozen Italian sausage in air fryer
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Air Fryer Kielbasa (Polish Sausage)
Air fryer kielbasa cooks in just 5 minutes and makes an easy dinner or appetizer in a flash.
Ingredients
- 1 package of kielbasa (10 oz-12 oz)
Instructions
- Preheat an air fryer for 3-4 minutes on 380F.
- While your unit is heating, prep the sausage by cutting the rope into 1-1.5 inch pieces.
- Add the Polish sausage to the basket, leaving room in between each section.
- Air fry the kielbasa sausage for 4 mins on one side, shake the basket and continue cooking it for 3-4 more minutes until browned.
- The kielbasa air fryer recipe is technically done when the internal temperature of the Polish sausage reaches 160F. If you like your kielbasa brown and crispy you can simply add a couple more minutes to the cooking time.
- Serve the air fryer kielbasa sausage with mustard and toothpicks if you're serving them as an appetizer, or serve them as the main dish alongside your favorite side dishes.
Notes
Substitute turkey kielbasa when you want Polish sausage taste with less fat.
Leave space in between the sausage pieces to help with browning.
No other seasoning or oil is needed with kielbasa since it's already pre-seasoned and smoked (pre-cooked).
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Bryan says
Would it be okay to cook tater tots together with the cut up pieces of sausage giving them a shake half way through the cooking cycle?
WholeLottaYum says
That sounds super good and would totally work together! The cooking time of tater tots is double that of kielbasa so you'll need to start cooking the tater tots and then add the kielbasa or cooked sausage slices in the lat 8 minutes. Just make sure not to overcrowd the air fryer or the hashbrowns won't brown.