National Hot Dog Day: Kraut & Onion Dogs

My regular day planner was kind enough to include a reminder about National Hot Dog Day, so I committed to scheduling it in. Stuffed and loaded Kraut & Onion Dogs topped with some gourmet mustard & bacon (of course!) hit the stop for our crew.

 
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I’m not really a hot dog girl, but I love a food holiday so I committed. & I committed to making it a hot dog that perfectly married our favorite toppings. To a hot dog of Jordan’s dreams, I needed two things - Sauerkraut & Mustard. Jordan will find any excuse to put sauerkraut on something, & he is a mustard fiend. Sauerkraut on dogs just make sense, and topped with a whole grain deli mustard is a very yummy pairing.

For me, it wouldn’t be a hotdog worth eating if it didn’t have bacon & caramelized onions. Bacon is easy - crisp it in the oven, crumble it up, and sprinkle it on top of the whole thing for the finishing touch. The caramelized onions are the real take-away of the entire recipe - so good they should be put on every hotdog, hamburger, or sandwich of any variety going forward. They were TLC portion of the whole meal. Cooked low and slow in a healthy portion of butter just makes the most perfect, juicy, melt in your mouth onion topping. These onions piled on top of the other ingredients comes together to make the perfect bite.

For this not so typical hot-dog lover, these dogs were too good to the point I was sad when it was gone. The ultimate testament that it was really something yummy. All the toppings piled on top of each other comes together to make the perfect bite.

 
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For the Caramelized Onions

  • 5 tbsp butter

  • 3 yellow onions halved & sliced

  • salt & pepper

For the Hot Dogs

  • 4 slices of bacon

  • 1 package of dogs (your choice, but even a good ol’ Hebrew National will do the trick)

  • 1 package of buns

  • Spicy mustard or whole grain deli mustard

Start with the bacon. Place the bacon on a foil lined baking sheet and preheat the oven to 375. Place the bacon in the oven and cook for 15-20 minutes, or until they’re just crisp.

Now move to your onions. Place a pan of medium heat. Add in the butter. Once melted, add in the onion. Sprinkle in a pinch of both salt & pepper. Toss the onions so they get coated in the butter, and let them cook for 20 minutes. Continue to give the onions a stir ever 2-3 minutes, lowering the temp slightly is you see them starting to char. Turn the heat down to low after 20 minutes, cover, & continue cook for 10 minutes.

Grill the hot dogs so you’ve got some grill marks on your dogs, and toast the buns on the BBQ until they’re lightly golden brown.

Get your hot dogs nested in their buns. Top with onions, then the sauerkraut, a drizzle of mustard, and the bacon crumbles. Your dogs are ready for consumption.

Lesley Zehner