There are so, so many ways to cook and to top a hot dog. While each special in their own way, here’s is my “go to.”
With all the variations of hot dog available, none of them perfectly satisfy me, although the Chicago Dog comes close. So here’s my ideal dog recipe including the toppings that make it shine, custom made for me by the Great Doug Sohn of Hot Doug’s.
Meathead's Ultimate Hot Dog Recipe
Tried this recipe?Tell others what you thought of it and give it a star rating below.
This hot dog that dreams are made of.
Serve with: your favorite pale ale.
Makes:
Servings: serving
Takes:
Ingredients
- 1 fresh baked bun long enough to hold it all. This may be the trickiest part. For my ultimate dog I do not use the flimsy hot dog bun. I look for a fresh baked oblong bun about 7" (18 cm) long and 3" (76 mm) high. I want a soft center that will make a pocket for the dog and all the ingredients. I also want a crunchy crust but nothing so tough as a baguette. A hard crust will cause the dog to squirt out the end and onto the lap of the person across from you. Slice it open and toast it on the grill.
- 1 bun length jumbo hot dog. A Sabrett. But they're hard to find outside NY and NJ, so try Hebrew National or the Oscar Mayer XXL Premium Beef Frank. It's not a bland kid's dog and it's big enough to fill the bun. Most of the other dogs in my grocery are too small. And don't turn your nose up at Oscar Meyer. The Premium is for adults. The others are for kids. Cut an X in the ends before grilling until there are char marks but don't allow the casing to burn or blister. Place in the bun.
- 1 long thick squirt Dijon-style mustard. Goes together like peanut butter and jelly. Steak and potatoes. Hot dogs and mustard. The combo is unbeatable. I prefer brown, spicy Dijon style mustard's depth and complexity to ballpark yellow mustard for this recipe. Better still, try my Grownup Mustard Sauce. Lay down the mustard on one side of the top of the frank so it will act like glue to hold down the raw onions.
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh onions. Chop enough onion just before using it or it can get stinky. Vidalia or Walla Walla onions are sweet, juicy, and less biting than other onions. Spread them between the frank and bun on one side only.
- ½ onion, caramelized and flavored. I love Sabrett's Onion Sauce, but frankly I prefer caramelized onions for this recipe. Slice the remaining onion and slowly cook it in a nonstick pan with 2 pats of butter until brown throughout. When it is brown, add a splash of balsamic vinegar and a pinch of hot chipotle powder. Spread them along the other side of the frank.
- 1 tablespoon Japanese pickled ginger, chopped. This is the stuff you get in Japanese restaurants to garnish sushi and sashimi. You can buy it in jars in a lot of groceries nowadays. Sprinkle on top of the mustard.
- Celery salt. Sprinkle lightly over the ginger.
Metric conversion:
These recipes were created in US Customary measurements and the conversion to metric is being done by calculations. They should be accurate, but it is possible there could be an error. If you find one, please let us know in the comments at the bottom of the page
Method
- Cook. Toast the bun, cut the X in the ends, and grill the hot dog.
- Prepare the caramelized onions using our recipe here.
- Serve. Place the hot dog into the bun. Add mustard, chopped onions, caramelized onions, and pickled ginger. Dive in.
High quality websites are expensive to run. If you help us, we’ll pay you back bigtime with an ad-free experience and a lot of freebies!
Millions come to AmazingRibs.com every month for high quality tested recipes, tips on technique, science, mythbusting, product reviews, and inspiration. But it is expensive to run a website with more than 2,000 pages and we don’t have a big corporate partner to subsidize us.
Our most important source of sustenance is people who join our Pitmaster Club. But please don’t think of it as a donation. Members get MANY great benefits. We block all third-party ads, we give members free ebooks, magazines, interviews, webinars, more recipes, a monthly sweepstakes with prizes worth up to $2,000, discounts on products, and best of all a community of like-minded cooks free of flame wars. Click below to see all the benefits, take a free 30 day trial, and help keep this site alive.
Post comments and questions below
1) Please try the search box at the top of every page before you ask for help.
2) Try to post your question to the appropriate page.
3) Tell us everything we need to know to help such as the type of cooker and thermometer. Dial thermometers are often off by as much as 50°F so if you are not using a good digital thermometer we probably can’t help you with time and temp questions. Please read this article about thermometers.
4) If you are a member of the Pitmaster Club, your comments login is probably different.
5) Posts with links in them may not appear immediately.
Moderators