Get perfectly cooked juicy air fryer kielbasa, also known as Polish sausage, in less than 10 minutes! These make the perfect quick and easy appetizer or dinner.
Polish Sausage in an air fryer are so good!
We ate A LOT of kielbasa growing up since my grandma's family was from Poland. Pan frying was the go to method back then...until we recently started cooking them in an air fryer. Game changer!
Air frying the Polish sausage means you get crispy juicy sausages using a totally hands-off method without having grease splatter all over your stovetop. We ate these over the counter with toothpicks and mustard, they were so yummy!
Did you know that Polish sausage and smoked kielbasa are the same thing?? When you hear someone referring to Polish sausage, they're really referring to kielbasa, which is actually just the Polish word for sausage.
What you'll need
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 pre-cooked kielbasa (10 oz-12 oz), depending on the brand. We used pork kielbasa, turkey kielbasa would also work well.
We used a local brand called Hemplers, but any grocery store brand works great!
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.
How to air fry kielbasa sausage
- Preheat an air fryer for 3-4 minutes on 380F.
- Add the sliced Polish sausage to the basket, leaving room in between each section.
- Air fry the kielbasa for 7-8 minutes, flipping after halfway through cooking.
Recipe notes
- You can add in diced or sliced peppers and onions if you want to make a one dish simple dinner.
- Kielbasa is technically done when the internal temperature of the Polish sausage reaches 160F. If you like your kielbasa brown and crispy you can just add a couple more minutes to the cooking time.
- Leftovers will keep up to 4-5 days in the fridge.
- Serve with potato salad, coleslaw, fried cabbage, or pierogies, and don't forget the side of spicy mustard or even a beer!
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
Recipe
Air Fryer Kielbasa (Polish Sausage)
Equipment
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 a total of 8-9 minutes, shaking the basket or flipping them after 4 minutes.
- Serve the 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.
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.