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Table of Contents
🗝️ Key takeaways
- Authentic Texas recipe - you won't find this flavor anywhere except the gas stations and donut shops along the I-35 corridor between Dallas and Austin.
- Sausage kolache (klobasnek) are the perfect grab and go breakfast. They freeze well and are easy to reheat.
- I'll walk you through each step and give you hints to make sure the dough stays light and fluffy.
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.
As it bakes the juices from the jalapeno sausages kind of seeps 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.
Potato Potahto. Whatever. They're 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.
This is an overview of the ingredients. You'll find the full measurements and instructions in the green recipe card (printable) at the bottom of the page.
- Active dry yeast is my preferred kind of yeast but you can use rapid rise if you want. 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'd rather 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. It does not flavor the dough.
- 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. I use kosher salt. If you use table salt reduce the measurement by about ¼th.
- 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 but make sure it's cooked. The kind I use is a little bigger around than a hot dog. It's not the little link sausages or breakfast sausage.
- Cheddar cheese gets gooey and delicious in this recipe. You could substitute American cheese or any good melting cheese you like.
📖 Variations
- Chopped, crispy bacon
- Ham and cheese
- scrambled eggs
- Louisiana boudin sausage
- Leftover brisket and cheese
🥫 How to store leftovers
Since klobasnek are filled with meat the leftovers will need to be refrigerated.
Refrigerate
Let them come to room temperature and place in an airtight container or cover securely with plastic wrap. Plan to eat them within 4 or 5 days.
Freeze
To freeze klobasnek you'll want to let them come to room temperature and place in an airtight container. Freeze for up to 3 months.
I like to freeze the klobasnek in individual freezer bags so I can remove as many servings as I need.
Reheat
Microwave
- If the klobasnek is frozen let it thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
- Cover with a damp paper towel.
- Reheat cold klobasnek or kolache on high for 1 to 2 minutes or until hot. I use a 1200-watt microwave and it takes about 1 ½ minutes. Check often - yours may be different!
Oven
You can reheat these delicious Czech pastries from frozen if you use an oven.
- Preheat your oven to 375. Remove the klobasnek from the freezer and take off any wrapping.
- Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Bake for 10 minutes or until hot all the way through. About 165F with an instant-read thermometer.
💭 Things to know
Expert Tip: You'll see other recipes that call for a 350F to 375F oven. The higher temperature and shorter cooking time in my recipe keep them soft. Trust me.
I can't remember when I had my first jalapeno sausage 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!
- 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.
- Ovens are not all the same. If the klobasnek seem to be getting too brown then put a piece of aluminum foil over the top. Or, you may need to let them cook a little longer to make sure they're done.
- You can let the dough rise overnight in the fridge if you like.
- Always use COOKED sausage.
- This recipe uses sausages with jalapeno and cheese that are the size of hot dogs or a little bigger. If you can't find them use smaller sausages and cook about half the time.
- These are best the day they are made. If you don't eat them all right away wrap them tightly or put them in an airtight container and freeze for another time.
👩🍳 FAQs
Generally some kind of sausage is the meat inside a klobasnek, which is what a "meat" kolache is usually called.
Most Texans with a Czech heritage hold a distinction between a Kolache (fruit/sweet) and a Klobasnek (meat), which is a Kolache variation. A true Kolache by these standards is only filled with fruit, nut, or sweet cheese fillings while a Klobasnek/ Klobasniky is a similar pastry filled with meat.
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.
Yes, you can freeze them either baked or unbaked. If you freeze them unbaked let them thaw overnight in the refrigerator before baking.
No way! The pig in a blanket is usually made with breakfast sausages and crescent roll dough or biscuit dough. The klobasnek is made with a slightly sweet yeast dough.
📚 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.
- Egg bites are perfect for adding quick protein to your morning.
🍽️ Serve with...
These are great grab-and-go breakfasts. I usually don't serve them with anything.
If you are having a sit-down breakfast or brunch you might like to serve them with a side of breakfast potatoes and scrambled eggs.
📞 The last word
This hearty Central Texas breakfast pastry is related the sweet fruit kolache and cheese kolache but is a more filling way to start the day.
You might also hear them called klobasnek or klobasnicky.
Some say that Texas sausage kolache 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.
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.
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
Texas Jalapeno Sausage Kolaches/ Klobasnek
Print Pin Recipe Save Recipe Rate RecipeIngredients
- ⅓ cup water 110F-115F, check with instaread thermometer if you're not sure
- 1 tablespoon yeast
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 pinch ground ginger
- ⅔ 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 ½ 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 all sides 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.
- Remove from oven and serve warm.
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.
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition information is estimated as a courtesy. If using for medical purposes, please verify information using your own nutritional calculator. Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
This recipe has been tested several times. If you choose to use other ingredients, or change the technique in some way, the results may not be the same.
✍🏻 A note from Marye...
I know y'all don't always like the stories bloggers tell so when I have one I try to put it at the very bottom so you can read or skip as you like.
This, y'all, is a classic Texas breakfast to go.
You can find jalapeno sausage kolache in nearly every convenience store and doughnut shop along I-35 from Dallas to Austin. 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! Hundreds of different varieties.
First published September 21, 2015. Last updated July 20, 2023 for more information, storage instructions, and readability.
Pat Toombs says
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 says
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 says
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 says
That's so interesting Amber!
Christina says
Can’t wait to try this recipe! How much yeast is needed for the recipe? Thanks!
Marye says
1 tablespoon.
Div says
Hi there! Excited to try your recipe. If you were to sub honey for sugar, is it a 1:1 ratio?
Marye says
Hi Div! Yes - whatever sweetener you use it will be 1:1
Margi says
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 says
You could easily substitute ground sausage and just enclose it. 🙂
Sharon H. says
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 says
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 says
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 says
🙂 SO glad to hear it!! You're very welcome. Did you see the fruit kolache and cream cheese kolache recipes as well?
Joseph Muhamet says
I did see both of them and have printed those recipes as well!!! I am so excited to try these this weekend 🙂
Marye says
Let me know what you think...
BJ says
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 says
Yay! That's awesome!
Amy says
I am so disappointed. I made this recipe EXACTLY as it says and my dough didn’t rise. I tried twice. ??
Marye Audet says
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 says
What do you mean by “Run with melted butter”?
Samantha Taber says
Can these be made the day before and baked the following morning?
Marye Audet says
Yes but keep them in the fridge. 🙂
Christoph says
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 says
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 says
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 says
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 says
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 says
Klobasnek is it's real name.
Marye Audet says
thanks!
Victoria says
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 says
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 says
Can you tell mrcs brand of sausage to use?
Marye Audet says
I think it's Johnsonville? Or maybe HEB brand?
Christina says
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 says
I've never done it so I am unsure how it would work. Sorry.
shashi at runninsrilankan says
Marye, I've never had a kolache - clearly, I've been missing out - look at that dough - so dreamy!
Marye Audet says
you have been missing out for sure!
Michelle says
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 says
These look delish! And not just for breakfast! They'd be great for a game day treat too!
Marye Audet says
Thank you! Yep, they are perfect on game day!
Aimee @ ShugarySweets says
Oh my these sound amazing. I'm sure my kids would love this for breakfast asap!