What is the Difference Between Kielbasa & Smoked Sausage?

Smoked sausage is a specific term referring to sausages of that are smoked. Kielbasa is the Polish word for sausage, but includes a wide variety of seasoned meat.

Smoked Sausage

Getting smoked.

When a product is called smoked sausage, it is always smoked. Most or all of its flavor comes from the way it is cooked. It is often a combination of meats, including pork, beef, chicken and turkey, and usually sold in convenient links.

Kielbasa

A coil of kielbasa.

Kielbasa is either unsmoked or lightly-smoked, and it originated as a coiled pork sausage. Its flavor comes from heavy seasoning -- often garlic, marjoram and other spices. While westerners may refer to it as Polish sausage, those native to Poland consider the word a generic term. There are hundreds of kielbasas.

Similarities

Both can also sometimes look like this.

Since they are of the sausage family, both kielbasa and smoked sausage are made of various types of chopped meats. Both products are pumped into casings made of animal skin or intestine. They can be cooked and served similarly, depending on preference.

References

• CookThink.com: What is Kielbasa?
• TastingPoland.com: Kielbasa - The Polish Sausage