What to Eat with Kielbasa – Sides from Kraut to Pierogi

How it works

What to eat with kielbasa depends on how it is served: sauerkraut and fried onions for a sausage hot from the pan, rye bread and mustard for one sliced cold. The 43 sides also cover potatoes, dumplings, soups and drinks.

Read the full guide

How Poland and Ukraine serve it

In Poland kielbasa often comes with fried onions on top. It is also baked or cooked with sauerkraut, and it goes into bean dishes and stews. In Ukraine it is fried with onions and laid over varenyky, which are filled dumplings, or sliced onto rye bread, or eaten with an egg.

One sour side, one soft side

The sausage is smoky, salty and rich. Give it something sour (kraut, pickles, mustard) and something soft to carry it (potatoes, dumplings, bread). Draw until you have one of each.

Brown the sausage first, then cook the cabbage or the onions in what it leaves in the pan.
Serving it cold? Put out rye bread, mustard, horseradish and pickles, and leave the hot sides for another day.

Questions and answers

What goes with kielbasa and sauerkraut?

Something soft and plain: boiled or mashed potatoes, pierogi, potato pancakes or rye bread. Add brown mustard and the plate is done.

What soup goes with kielbasa?

In Poland it is used in sour rye soup, cabbage soup and pea soup, so the list has split pea soup and cabbage soup. It also goes into bigos, a stew that is called a Polish national dish.

What to eat with kielbasa for breakfast?

An egg, which is one of the ways it is eaten in Ukraine. Fry sliced kielbasa until the edges brown, then add hash browns or a slice of rye.

Do you eat kielbasa hot or cold?

Both. Smoked kielbasa is served cold or hot: boiled, baked or grilled. Cold slices on a platter are a usual appetizer at traditional Polish parties.

What vegetables go with kielbasa?

Cabbage in every form: sauerkraut, fried cabbage, braised red cabbage or roasted wedges. Peppers and onions fried in the sausage pan, roasted root vegetables, kale with garlic and a cold cucumber salad are on the list too.

All 43 sides

Cabbage, sauerkraut and onions 8

Braised red cabbage Sweet and sour, cooked soft with apple and vinegar.
Cabbage and noodles Buttery fried cabbage tossed with wide egg noodles.
Fried cabbage and onions Cut the cabbage in wide ribbons and let the edges brown.
Fried onions Cook them slowly until they are brown and sweet, then pile them on top.
Roasted cabbage wedges Roast them until the outer leaves char a little.
Sauerkraut Warm it in the pan the sausage came out of.
Sauerkraut with apple and caraway A grated apple takes the sharp edge off the kraut.
Vinegar coleslaw No mayonnaise: a sharp, crunchy slaw beside a smoky sausage.

Potatoes 7

Boiled potatoes with butter and dill Plain on purpose. The sausage brings the salt and the smoke.
Hash browns For kielbasa at breakfast, with an egg.
Mashed potatoes Soft mash and a crisp-skinned sausage on the same fork.
Pan-fried potatoes and onions Slice boiled potatoes and fry them in the same pan as the sausage.
Potato pancakes Serve them hot with sour cream or applesauce.
Potato wedges Roast them on the same tray as the sausage.
Warm potato salad The kind with a vinegar and mustard dressing and no mayonnaise.

Dumplings, noodles and grains 8

Barley with mushrooms Chewy grains and browned mushrooms, cooked in stock.
Buckwheat with onions Toasted buckwheat cooked like rice, earthy beside smoked meat.
Mac and cheese Stir sliced kielbasa through it, or keep the two side by side.
Potato and cheese pierogi Boil them, then fry them in butter with onions.
Rice with peppers and onions Cook everything in one pan and slice the sausage in.
Sauerkraut and mushroom pierogi The filling matches the kraut on the plate.
Small potato dumplings Toss them in butter and toasted breadcrumbs.
Spaetzle Little egg dumplings, fried in butter until the edges turn golden.

Bread, mustard and pickles 8

A crusty roll Split it, lay the sausage in whole, and top it with mustard and onions.
Beets with horseradish Grated cooked beets with a kick, served cold as a relish.
Brown mustard Grainy and sharp. Put a spoonful on the plate, not on the sausage.
Dill pickles Cold, crunchy and sour: the opposite of the sausage.
Horseradish A little goes a long way. Mix it with sour cream for a milder sauce.
Pumpernickel Dark, dense and a little sweet under a cold slice of sausage.
Rye bread Slice the sausage cold and lay it on buttered rye.
Soft pretzels Warm them and put the mustard pot in the middle of the table.

Vegetables, beans, eggs and soup 8

A fried egg For breakfast, with the sausage sliced and browned beside it.
Baked beans Slice the sausage into the pot, or serve the two side by side.
Cabbage soup A sour soup of sauerkraut or fresh cabbage, with the sausage sliced in.
Cucumber salad with sour cream Thin slices, salted, with dill: a cold side for a hot plate.
Peppers and onions Fry them in strips in the sausage pan until soft and sweet.
Roasted root vegetables Carrots, parsnips and onions, on the same tray as the sausage.
Sautéed kale with garlic Sturdy greens that stand up to a smoky sausage.
Split pea soup Thick and filling, with slices of the sausage in the bowl.

Drinks 4

Cold apple juice Sweet and sharp beside smoke and salt.
Ginger ale Its bite stands up to mustard and horseradish.
Hot tea with lemon A glass of black tea with a slice of lemon in it.
Root beer Sweet and cold beside a grilled sausage in a roll.