Jalapeno sausage kolache are pillowy puffs of soft dough filled with gooey cheese and spicy sausage. They are related the the sweet fruit and cheese kolache but are a heartier, more filling way to start the day. You might also hear them called klobasnek or klobasnicky.
Others say that they aren’t proper kolaches at all but should be called sausage rolls. Personally, my mouth is usually too full to argue about something this delicious.
Ingredients
To make everyone in the universe happy I am going to use klobasnek and kolache interchangeably here. Whichever I use it means the same, ok? Here are the ingredients for this recipe – they’re pretty simple.
- Active dry yeast is my preferred kind of yeast but you can use rapid rise if you prefer. Just add it with the dry ingredients and skip the proofing step.
- Sugar helps the yeast to grow and it’s best not to leave it out of the recipe. You can substitute a little honey if you prefer but sugar substitutes will NOT work.
- Ground ginger helps activate the yeast. I found this tip in a cookbook from the 1800s and I’ve used it for decades. Works like a charm. If you don’t have any feel free to leave it out.
- Milk is the liquid here. Use whole milk because the fat helps keep the dough soft. If you have dairy allergies you can use an alternative.
- Butter adds richness and flavor to the dough. It’s also brushed on during the rising period to keep the dough from developing a crust.
- Egg enriches the kolache dough – make sure it’s at room temperature.
- Salt keeps the yeast in check so it doesn’t rise too much and it adds flavor.
- All purpose flour is my flour of choice here because I want the dough to stay softer and more tender than it would with higher protein flour.
- Cooked jalapeno sausage is widely available where I live. You could substitute regular sausage if you like. The kind I use is a little bigger around than a hot dog. It’s not the little link sausages.
- Cheddar cheese gets gooey and delicious in this recipe. You could subsititute American cheese or any good melting cheese you like.
When I posted my fruit Kolache recipe I had no idea y’all would pounce on it and ask for more. I promised the jalapeno sausage Kolaches recipe and so here it is.
The dough is the same basic dough with a little less sugar in it than the fruit Kolaches. As it bakes the juices from the sausage kind of seep into the dough giving it even more flavor. And, anyone with a real Texas-Czech background with tell you that these aren’t Kolache at all but Klobasnek.
Whatever. They’re delicious.
Breakfast on the go
This, y’all, is a classic Texas breakfast to go. You can find jalapeno sausage kolache in nearly every convenience store along I-35. That’s not to say that you’ll want to EAT them from the convenience store… just that they’re there.
Personally, if you’re making that drive, I suggest that you stop in West. There’s a large Czech community there and that’s where I stop when I am headed down to Austin or where ever. You’ll definitely want to eat the sausage kolache from there!
I can’t remember when I had my first Kolache, I just know that since then I’ve loved them The dough is so pillowy soft that it’s addictive. Although I normally choose the sweeter fillings there is definitely a time and a place for this savory bun!
Tips
- The dough is very sticky and you’ll be tempted to put too much flour in. Don’t do it! Your kolache will be too dense and heavy.
- You can let the dough rise overnight in the fridge if you like.
- You’ll see other recipes that call for a 350F to 375F oven. The higher temperature and shorter cooking time in my recipe keeps them soft. Trust me.
- These are best the day they are made. If you don’t eat them all right away wrap them tightly and freeze for another time.
FAQs
Here are the most commonly asked questions about this recipe. If you don’t find the answer to yours here leave a comment below or email me – I’ll get back to you as soon as I can!
What kind of meat is in kolache?
Generally some kind of sausage is the meat inside a klobasnek, which is what a “meat” kolache is usually called.
What is a true kolache?
Most Texans with a Czech heritage hold a distinction between a Kolache (fruit) and a Klobasnek (meat), which is a Kolache variation. A true Kolache by these standards is only filled with fruit or cheese fillings while a Klobasnek/ Klobasniky is a similar pastry filled with meat.
What nationality is it?
The Kolache originated in Eastern Europe sometime in the 1700s. The original product was a pastry filled with fruit. It came to the United States with Czech immigrants – the meat filled Klobasniky were first made by Czechs that settled in Texas.
Can you freeze these?
Yes, you can freeze them either baked or unbaked. If you freeze them unbaked let them thaw overnight in the refrigerator before baking.
Related recipes
- Fruit Kolache – Ok, this really is a kolache! Soft, sweet puffs of yum filled to overflowing with sweet, ripe fruit.
- Cream Cheese Kolache – These are my very favorite. Creamy, tangy, sweet cheese filling. Sometimes I put a spoonful of cherry filling on top of the cheese before baking.
- Cinnamon Rolls – Big as Texas and bursting with sweet spicy cinnamon flavor and covered with gooey icing. If these were illegal I’d spend the rest of my life in jail.
- Cream Cheese Crowns – Kind of like a cinnamon roll, kind of like a danish… Kind of like heaven on a plate.
Sausage & Cream Cheese Crescents from Plain Chicken are looking like next Saturday’s breakfast to me.
Equipment
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I buy a large amount of yeast at a time. A one pound bag is almost the same price as the small jar in the store! Parchment paper keeps the bottoms from burning, keeps the homemade Kolaches from sticking, and helps give the crust the texture that is a sign of a good Kolache.
Call these puffy pillows of delicious addiction kolache or klobasnek or klobasniky but definitely put them on your brunch table soon! They are SO good.
Need to adjust for high altitude? Check out the instructions from Utah State University.
If you click on the number of servings in the recipe card you can adjust the measurements up or down for the exact number of servings you need.
If you love this recipe please give it 5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
📖 Recipe
Jalapeno Sausage Kolaches/ Klobasnek
Print Add to CollectionEquipment Needed
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup water 110F-115F, check with instaread thermometer if you're not sure
- 1 tablespoon yeast
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 pinch ground ginger
- 2/3 cup milk , 110F-115F – check with thermometer
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1 egg , room temp – beaten
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour, may need up to 4 1/2 cups
- 10 cooked jalapeno sausage links
- 10 tablespoons cheddar cheese, grated
Instructions
- Mix the water, yeast, teaspoon of sugar, and ginger in a small bowl.
- Set aside for 5 minutes.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment mix the milk, melted butter, egg, sugar, and salt until smooth.
- Add 1 cup of the flour and beat on low until blended.
- Add in the yeast mixture and beat just until blended.
- Remove the paddle attachment and replace it with a dough hook.
- Knead the dough with the dough hook adding flour 2 tablespoons at a time until the dough doesn’t stick to the sides of the bowl.
- Knead for 3 minutes longer.
- Remove the dough from the bowl and form it into a ball.
- Rub with melted butter and place in a greased bowl.
- Cover with a clean tea towel and let rise until doubled, about 1 ½ hours.
- Punch down the dough.
- Divide dough into 10 portions.
- Roll each into a 5-inch x 2 ½-inch rectangle.
- Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of grated cheese down the center, lay a cooked sausage on top, and wrap the dough around the sausage and cheese, pinching to seal.
- Place seam side down on parchment lined baking sheets and let rise 30 minutes.
- Bake at 425F for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden.
- Turn off oven, open door, and let rest 3 minutes more.
Notes
- Have all ingredients at room temperature unless otherwise instructed in the recipe.
- The dough is very sticky and you’ll be tempted to put too much flour in. Don’t do it! Your kolache will be too dense and heavy.
- You can let the dough rise overnight in the refrigerator if you like.
- You’ll see other recipes that call for a 350F to 375F oven. The higher temperature and shorter cooking time in my recipe keeps them soft. Trust me.
- These are best the day they are made. If you don’t eat them all right away wrap them tightly and freeze for another time.
Rhonda
I love your dough recipe!
1st time I made boudin (Zummo cajun from walmart) kolaches.
This morning I made sausage gravy kolaches. Absolutely incredibly delicious.
I am in south TX in the middle of nowhere and I’m super excited to be able to make these anytime we have a craving.
Marye
Awesome! Did you see the recipes for cream cheese and fruit Kolaches?
Tyler
I made these tonight and they are awesome! We moved from TX to OH and these are spot on! Thank you for sharing!
Marye
I am so glad you liked them
Gerri Lopez
This was my first attempt to making kolaches but I really love your recipe. So good and just the right amount of sweetness I think. I will have to figure out the sausage to use. My daughter in law likes boudin sausage so I will need to try making that with this dough recipe. Thank you for posting this recipe.
Marye
Thanks for letting me know, Gerri! So glad you liked them!
Ang
What makes this different than a pig in a blanket? It’s just a sausage wrapped in dough, right?
Marye
It’s a totally different dough.. and a totally different kind of sausage. Nothing like pigs in a blanket.
Staci
This was both a nerve-wracking baking experience (is this too sticky? did I put enough flour in? did I put too much in?) and extremely rewarding. These turned out fantastic. The sausage links I got were a little too big, so I think I’ll experiment with ground sausage next time (my favorite bakery in West uses ground sausage). Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe!
Marye
I am so glad you tried AND liked them!!
Pat Toombs
These are delicious! I made them yesterday and they are just as good warmed up in the microwave for about 25 seconds for 1 kolache. I accidentally used rapid rise yeast but it worked out fine. Next time I make them, I’m going to use 1/3 c. sugar instead of 1/4 c. as we like a little sweeter dough. Question, do you put space between them on the baking tray or have them touching each other for the baking process.
Marye
Pat, I am so glad you liked them! You can leave a little space between them for a little crispier crust or have them touching for softer sides. If you’d like to leave a 5 star rating I sure would appreciate it!
Amber Kubik
Hey there! I was raised in Austin, and now live in Czech Republic with my Czech husband. Just thought I’d clarify the whole kolache dispute a bit further. No one ever seems to mention there is also a discrepancy with the fruit kolache made in Texas- it’s totally different in Czech. Here in Czech, it is a fruit pastry but with a thin,flat, round disc for the base, like a pizza, a small.amount of crust on the sides, and an intricately designed fruit topping- usually a combo of pureed plum, apple, and Poppy seed, with Tavaroh (cream cheese sort of thing here in Czech), and topped with sliced almonds and raisins. The thing sold in Texas as a fruit kolache is actually more like a fruit topped Buchty (pronounced Boo-k-tee) do a Google image search to see what I mean;) also kolač is the proper spelling of a single pastry and sounds like coal-ah-ch, koláče is the plural form, and sounds like coal-ah-chi.
Marye
That’s so interesting Amber!
Christina
Can’t wait to try this recipe! How much yeast is needed for the recipe? Thanks!
Marye
1 tablespoon.
Div
Hi there! Excited to try your recipe. If you were to sub honey for sugar, is it a 1:1 ratio?
Marye
Hi Div! Yes – whatever sweetener you use it will be 1:1
Margi
Have a batch rising when I found your site but my next batch will be yours. Lived in Elgin, Tx., for a couple of years (east side of Austin) and a lovely lady opened a kolache shop. which immediately became a hit. Before long she introduced a sausage n cheese kolache and could not keep them in any amount to fulfill all orders. She would make 20 dozen n be sold out in 2 hours.. She kept upping her amount and still wasn’t enough. People would come in an see a tray and just take that to freeze so they always had some. You really had to be there by 7:30 to be able to get even one. But she used sausage that she crumbled, cooked n put sharp cheddar on top, folded and baked. I like the ones with the sausage rolls but nothing has ever topped the crumbled sausage inside. Unfortunately she had health problems and had to close the shop about a year later. That was 1987 and I still remember those kolaches with a mouth that still waters for them.
Marye
You could easily substitute ground sausage and just enclose it. 🙂
Sharon H.
I happened upon your page and thought I’d let you know that the concoction with sausages are not Czech, but were developed in West, TX in the 50s using kolache dough around a sausage. As another writer indicated, the ones with the sausage rolled inside are not kolache, but they are klobasneky (that’s the plural form; klobasnek is singular). It’s pronounced klo-bah-SNEEK-ee.
PLEASE help others know the differences between these two. Travel down to the Czech Stop in West (or any other Czech bakery there) and they will verify it for you.
Thanks for listening – I’ll look at your other recipes!
Marye
Sharon – Yes I know. However, search engines don’t care about the real name and if I want people to be able to find this recipe I have to title it as I have – it was a business decision not a cultural one. 🙂
Joey Muhamet
I just have to say thank you a million times over for this recipe! Grew up in Central Texas, and even lived in West for a few years.
I now live in the Pacific Northwest and I always find myself missing Kolaches. I remember the smell as you approached the bakery just off the freeway, headed into West. It is definitely one of the most amazing memories that I have.
Thank you again Marye!
MARYE AUDET-WHITE
🙂 SO glad to hear it!! You’re very welcome. Did you see the fruit kolache and cream cheese kolache recipes as well?
Joseph Muhamet
I did see both of them and have printed those recipes as well!!! I am so excited to try these this weekend 🙂
Marye
Let me know what you think…
BJ
Hello, I’m currently in culinary school and we had to come up with an international dish that had a sponge method. Anyways I chose your recipe for my assignment and I have to say they turned out perfectly! The only thing I did differently was, I used ginger paste instead of ground. And I gave them an egg wash after placing them on the baking sheet to rest for 30 minutes to rise. They were delicious. Thank you!
Marye Audet
Yay! That’s awesome!
Amy
I am so disappointed. I made this recipe EXACTLY as it says and my dough didn’t rise. I tried twice. 😞😭
Marye Audet
Did you use different yeast each time? It sounds like either your liquids were too hot or the yeast was dead to begin with. Sorry it didn’t work for you.
Susan Gibson
What do you mean by “Run with melted butter”?
Samantha Taber
Can these be made the day before and baked the following morning?
Marye Audet
Yes but keep them in the fridge. 🙂
Christoph
These look yummy however I must say that growing up a Czech and spending some time in Czech republic I have never seen meat in a Kolache.
Marye Audet
Very true… however… A large Czech population settled in Texas in the 1800s. So much so that we have entire towns of people with Czech ancestry. Texans like meat. Texans like tradition. SO… the kolache with meat was born. 🙂
Marie
That is definitely a Texas thang!!! They are everywhere and so delicious!!! Hunting some Czech recipes to share with my family. I think the two together would be amazing!
MinShien @ Joyous Apron
I moved to Texas recently and have been introduced to the amazing-ness that is kolaches. How did I survive 30+ years without it?? I followed your recipe exactly (just did not have ground ginger at hand) and it is FANTASTIC. We loved it. Thank you for sharing!! I will be making this regularly. 🙂
Marye Audet
Welcome to Texas and THANK you for letting me know! There are cream cheese kolaches and fruit kolaches on my site as well… you can do a search or look in the recipe index.
Menotu
Klobasnek is it’s real name.
Marye Audet
thanks!
Victoria
I was wondering if I would be able to make the dough this evening, let it rise overnight so that in the morning I could just roll them out and pop them in the oven?
Marye Audet
Yes and no. You can let the dough rise overnight but you’ll need to let the Kolache rise for 30 minutes or so in the morning. 🙂
Linda
Can you tell mrcs brand of sausage to use?
Marye Audet
I think it’s Johnsonville? Or maybe HEB brand?
Christina
Can these be frozen raw and cooked at a later time? I am making these as a gift for someone but don’t want to give them to her cooked.
Marye Audet
I’ve never done it so I am unsure how it would work. Sorry.
shashi at runninsrilankan
Marye, I’ve never had a kolache – clearly, I’ve been missing out – look at that dough – so dreamy!
Marye Audet
you have been missing out for sure!
Michelle
These look great, Marye! My kids would definitely love them for breakfast but I have a feeling they’d be a big hit for game day as well!
Cynthia | What A Girl Eats
These look delish! And not just for breakfast! They’d be great for a game day treat too!
Marye Audet
Thank you! Yep, they are perfect on game day!
Aimee @ ShugarySweets
Oh my these sound amazing. I’m sure my kids would love this for breakfast asap!