Sweet n’ Sticky Polska Kielbasa only has TWO ingredients, and is an EASY and delicious family friendly recipe, using pork or beef kielbasa sausage!
Yep…you heard me right, friends. This recipe for sweet n’ sticky polska kielbasa only has 2 ingredients and is very budget friendly to make! How cool is that?
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What Does Polska Kielbasa Mean?
Did you know that Polska Kielbasa means Polish Sausage? It is one of the most traditional foods served at Polish weddings.
There are many different varieties available in grocery stores throughout the United States, and most are fairly inexpensive. You can read more about this common sausage here.
How We First Tried This Recipe
Almost 30 years ago my husband and I rented a room in our home to a college age friend of ours, named Kip. One night he offered to cook us dinner, and this polska kielbasa is the dish he cooked for us, along with mashed potatoes.
When I heard what “secret” ingredient he was going to cook the sausage in, I couldn’t believe my ears! It sounded completely crazy to me…but guess what? This sweet n’ sticky polska kielbasa was absolutely delicious!
So What Is The Secret Ingredient?
Want to know what the secret ingredient is? COKE or PEPSI. Yep. The sugars in the cola transform into a sticky sweet glaze that coats the kielbasa slices. So good… and we’ve been making it ever since… true story.
This recipe only has two ingredients. Kielbasa (beef or pork) and Coke (or Pepsi). The only really important thing to remember is to never use a diet soda for this recipe because you have to use real, sweetened soda so the sugars in the soda will caramelize and coat the meat slices.
Can you believe it? This might possibly be the world’s simplest dinner. The caramelized sweet n’ sticky coating on the kielbasa is truly wonderful! And talk about easy? Unbelievable, but true.
Look How EASY It Is To Make This Dish
First you will need to cut the polska kielbasa into 1/2″ slices. You can use either beef or pork kielbasa to make this dish. This ring of polska kielska only cost us $2.50 on sale.
Since the only other ingredient is one can of cola, you can see how INEXPENSIVE this meal can be to feed four people!
Here is the polska kielbasa all sliced, and ready to go into a hot skillet! See how very easy this is so far?
Brown The Kielbasa
Cook the sliced sausage in a large skillet, on medium high heat. Cook until it starts to brown on all sides, stirring often.
Make sure both sides of the sausage get lightly browned. Once the kielbasa is lightly browned on both sides, pour in 3/4 can of regular cola (NOT DIET!).
Use REGULAR Cola- Not Diet Cola
The reason you want to use REGULAR cola is because the sugar present in this drink is what caramelizes during cooking.
This caramelization is what coats the polska kielbasa with an amazing, sweet n’ sticky glaze. This adds wonderful flavor to the sausage!
How Long Do I Cook The Polska Kielbasa?
Continue to cook the kielbasa and cola on medium heat, stirring often. Continue to cook until the sauce has reduced, thickened, and coated the sausage pieces with a syrupy glaze.
There should be almost no liquid left in skillet, once done. This usually takes about 20 minutes for the liquid to fully coat the sausage.
Now it’s ready to serve! See how shiny that kielbasa looks? It’s that yummy, sweet n’ sticky glaze coating each piece. YUM.
Time To Eat Sweet n’ Sticky Kielbasa!
Serve sweet n’ sticky polska kielbasa with some mashed potatoes and a veggie on the side, and you’ve got yourself a scrumptious, family-friendly dinner!
What’s the best part, besides how it tastes? It is SO VERY EASY to double this recipe, in case you have a large family!
Hope you’ll try this dish. Everyone I’ve made it for always loves it! It REALLY tastes good and is very convenient to fix when you don’t want to mess with a long, complicated recipe after a long day!
Thanks for stopping by, and I invite you to come back again soon for more family-friendly recipes. Take care, may God bless you, and have a wonderful day.
Looking for More Recipes Using SAUSAGES?
You can find ALL of my recipes in the Recipe Index, which is located at the top of the page. I have several recipes using sausages to choose from, including:
- Apricot Pineapple Kielbasa Bites
- Smoked Sausage Veggie Rice Skillet
- Penne, Sausage and Peppers
- Chicken Sausage and Spinach Pasta
- Italian Sausage & Potato Casserole
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Original Recipe Source: Kevin (Kip) Ecton
↓↓ PRINTABLE RECIPE BELOW ↓↓
- 1 pound package polska kielbasa (beef or pork)
- 9 ounces cola (3/4 of 12 ounce can) (regular, sweetened cola, NOT diet!)
Slice the entire kielbasa into 1/2 inch wide slices. Place them in a skillet and sauté on medium high heat for about 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the both sides of the kielbasa begin to lightly brown.
Pour 3/4 of the can of cola into the skillet (total of 9 ounces). Cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally, until all the liquid has reduced, thickened, and glazed the meat (about 20 min.). All the liquid should be gone from the skillet.
- Remove kielbasa from skillet and serve hot, alongside a serving of mashed potatoes and a veggie. Enjoy!
Here’s one more to pin on your Pinterest boards! 
Would love to make this for a church potluck. After making this could I put it in the crockpot and serve later? Has anyone tried this?
Yum! I can’t believe how good and simple this is! My picky little eater loved it! Making it for the second time now, so glad to have another meal that he actually enjoys!
Do you think Dr.Pepper would be ok to use?
Hi, Nicole. I’ve never used Dr. Pepper for this recipe before, but it should be fine. It will have a different flavor, obviously, but if you use regular Dr. Pepper, the sugars will still be able to caramelize the kielbasa.
Wow, totally unexpected. I altered this slightly. I diced up some onions and carrots, then slice some celery for some extra crunch. I round the veggies with the kielbasa and then coated it all in the coke. It was really good. Everyone liked it and no one guessed what the glaze was.
Ha Ha… thanks for sharing, Jenny. We’ll keep it our little secret what the glaze is, ok? Wink, wink!
So I’ve grown up eating kielbasa and always searching for new recipes. I only had turkey but even though I bet the beef would be better because of fat but it was still easy and yummy! I would def make this. Simple quick and we loved it. Win win! Going on the file.
This got a thumbs up from everyone!