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You are here: Home » Main Dishes » Meats » Pork » Polish Kapusta

Polish Kapusta

February 19, 2014 · 23 Comments

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polish kapusta recipe

Three simple ingredients combine to create this flavorful and traditional Polish dish. If you are a fan of crock-pot cooking, this is an excellent meal to start in the morning and then forget about all day. This recipe comes together in about an hour on the stove-top or it can be simmered through the day in the crock-pot. (For what it’s worth, I am not a fan of sauerkraut and I still enjoyed this meal.)

My sister married into a food-loving family and they have given us some truly fabulous recipes. Her mother in law grew up making kapusta with her grandmother. Her family traditionally serves this dish with pierogies and the combination is delicious. I’ll be sharing how to make the pierogies tomorrow!

polish kapusta recipe
Print
Polish Kapusta
Servings: 8 servings
Ingredients
  • 1 28 ounce jar of sauerkraut
  • 2 lbs Polish/kielbasa sausage NOT smoked (If you can't find a non-smoked polish sausage, bratwurst will work in a pinch.)
  • 1 28 ounce jar of marinara sauce, or 1 recipe Five Minute Marinara
Instructions
  1. Pour the sauerkraut into a strainer over a bowl in the sink. Rinse thoroughly with water for at least 2-3 minutes. It is very important to remove the brine for this recipe. Let the rinsed sauerkraut rest in the strainer and drain while starting the rest of the dish.
  2. STOVE-TOP DIRECTIONS: Place the sausage links in the bottom of a large pot over medium high heat. Turn them over as needed, to brown each side. Add the rinsed sauerkraut and the marinara to the pot and reduce to low heat. Bring to a slow simmer and cover with lid. Simmer for 1 hour, or all day long over very low heat. Stirring occasionally. If desired, remove the sausages and slice just before serving. Enjoy!
  3. CROCK-POT DIRECTIONS: Place the sausage links in a skillet over medium high heat. Turn them over as needed, to brown each side. (Feel free to skip the browning step, if you like. Browning the sausages will add a little extra flavor, but it isn't required.) Place the sausages, rinsed sauerkraut and the marinara in the crock-pot over low heat. Simmer all day, from 6-10 hours. Stirring occasionally, if desired (although it isn't necessary). If desired, remove the sausages and slice just before serving. Enjoy!

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Filed Under: Meats, Pork, Slow Cooker Tagged With: Cabbage

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  1. Anonymous says

    February 19, 2014 at 3:14 pm

    Do you cook the sausage whole or sliced in the sauerkraut/marinara sauce? Thanks, Judy
    Reply
    • Mary says

      February 19, 2014 at 10:05 pm

      Hi Judy,

      We cook the sausage whole and then remove it to slice just before serving. I'll add a note to the recipe. Thank you!

      Mary
      Reply
    • Anonymous says

      October 18, 2014 at 1:44 pm

      I'm from Upstate NY and the Kapusta my Polish family cooked was strictly potatoes mashed, dried peas (soaked overnight in water), sauerkraut, and cabbage, fried salt pork in real small pieces. The texture was like a soup, green in color and tasted fantastic.
      Reply
    • Anonymous says

      July 29, 2015 at 10:56 pm

      I grew up on the green pea one also.......maybe not exactly as this one but never with marinara sauce tho I think it sounds good
      Reply
  2. Magnolia Verandah says

    February 20, 2014 at 1:04 am

    I had something similar last night for tea. Although I didn't add sauerkraut, I added spring onions, carrots and cauliflower. Don't call my sauce marinara (had to look yours up but has the same ingredients) although one difference the addition of lemon zest must try this. Mine was unimpressive to look at (hence no blog or photo) but dam good to eat!
    Reply
  3. Kalyn Denny says

    February 20, 2014 at 4:20 pm

    Oh my, loving the sound of this!
    Reply
  4. Rebecca {foodie with family} says

    February 20, 2014 at 11:10 pm

    Wowza, lady. You cook food I want to eat all the time.
    Reply
  5. Anonymous says

    March 4, 2014 at 12:27 am

    there is also a dish called "młoda kapusta/ young cabbage". Very similar recipe instead of sauerkraut you have to use a young white cabbage and add a lot of dill.
    Reply
  6. Anonymous says

    March 4, 2014 at 12:45 am

    and you have to try this one http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/polish_hunters_stew/

    but without beer, mustard or horseradish, but definitely with smoked dry prunes, tomatoes and two vodka shots :) enjoy
    Reply
  7. Rosemary says

    March 27, 2014 at 2:17 pm

    I wish that you could add nutritional values. I love the recipes you share, but hesitate on a lot not knowing the numbers.
    Reply
    • Mary says

      March 27, 2014 at 2:42 pm

      Hi Rosemary,

      That is not information that I track. However, if you want nutritional information for a recipe, it is very simple to enter the recipe into Calorie Count, which will calculate it for you. Here's a link: http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php You can cut and paste the full recipe into the calculator and you won't need to enter all the ingredients separately.

      I hope that helps!
      Mary
      Reply
    • Kim_S says

      May 9, 2014 at 1:45 pm

      Rosemary, i tried this new analyzer: http://happyforks.com/analyzer . What is more important, by pasting recipe you can chech nutrition values per 100g (not per serving) which is more useful when you want compare recipe to other recipes. You can check many nutrition values in option "advanced" - by one click! I use it for every recipe. greets!
      Reply
  8. fieldbarn says

    March 27, 2014 at 10:17 pm

    I grew up eating this stuff...especially during Christmas my father would make a huge pot of "bigos". That's how it's called in Polish. But, ours wouldn't come with Marinara sauce. Since I've been diagnosed with gluten intolerance, I cook with gluten-free sausage only. It's still yummy, tho:)
    Reply
  9. Peg says

    September 6, 2017 at 1:14 pm

    Tried to join your email but it said the publisher was not accepting new ones.
    Reply
    • Mary says

      September 8, 2017 at 2:45 pm

      I'm not sure why that would have happened. If you click this link: http://bit.ly/the-little-things-email you should be able to sign up to receive my emails.
      Reply
  10. Diana Downie Bristow says

    September 13, 2017 at 6:51 am

    I have to say I am so glad I found your blog!! Okay so when I saw this recipe I was not so sure about mixing sauerkraut and spaghetti sauce together let alone with kielbasa. For some reason I was drawn to this recipe. So I made it yesterday. All I can say is THANK YOU Mary!! My family loved this!! I was not sure I wanted to try it..lol but I am so glad I did! The recipe should be followed exactly as you wrote it!! I so wanted to add things to it...but am so glad I did not!! You also suggested pierogis with the dish. We cannot have pasta of any type here so I baked a spaghetti squash and had that on the side...the guys loved and I mean loved it!! They mixed their food all together and ate it up!! Thank you again for this awesome keeper!!! If I could rate this is would be a 10!!! I cant wait to try other recipes!!
    Reply
    • Mary says

      September 13, 2017 at 8:03 pm

      I am thrilled that you enjoyed it so much! Thanks so much for taking the time to tell me.
      Reply
  11. Barbara Baumgartner says

    January 5, 2018 at 6:56 am

    Could you par boil the sausage instead of frying it, then add it to the crock pot with the sauerkraut?
    Reply
    • Mary says

      January 5, 2018 at 8:37 am

      Sure, that would work fine.
      Reply
  12. Martin Kolakowski says

    January 16, 2018 at 11:34 am

    For 47 yrs we traditionally have had Kaputa every holiday. I take 1 bag kruat squeeze brine out or lightly rinse it , leaving it somewhat sour . . Cut up med heard fresh cabbage in thin strips., 1 thinly sliced 1 sweet onion , 1 thinly sliced package mushrooms , 2 pouches dry onion soup mix , slice up 3 lbs Polish sausage , black pepper . . Put all gradients in very large pot, bring to a boil. Turn banner door and cover pot , cook on medium heat for 2 hrs . People that say they don’t like kaputa , have tried this and say they love it . My father -in-law was polish and he loved it .
    Reply
  13. Vicki says

    May 27, 2018 at 1:51 pm

    That's not kapusta. kapusta is fried fat back or salt pork, you make a gravy from then cook with the kraut.
    Reply
  14. Regina Hudson says

    February 9, 2019 at 1:57 pm

    Why does it have to cook so long in the crock pot ,? I would think 2 hrs on hi should be enough since all the ingredients are not raw
    Reply
    • Mary says

      February 10, 2019 at 5:54 am

      Feel free to adjust it however you like. We like the results with the time listed.
      Reply

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