There are a few things that I know are surefire hits with my menfolk and near the top of that list are grilled things, bacon, and hot dogs. When I combined them the other night, the result was an evening of my young men promising me all sorts of doing of chores and favours if I would JUST make the dish again. What did I do? I made Grilled Bacon Wrapped Hot Dogs. My husband swore that it was the best hot dog he’d ever eaten. Looking to impress the guys in your life? (Okay, and the bacon loving girls, like yours truly…) Make them Grilled Bacon Wrapped Hot Dogs. It doesn’t take much effort and what little effort it takes is well-worth it in return for the adoration you receive when you serve them.
Honestly, it all started with me just playing with my food. I had some packages of not-top-shelf hot dogs I had bought at an irresistible sale price. I was looking at them and thinking about how I was going to have to bury them in something because I’ve married, given birth to, and raised a bunch of hot dog snobs.
Don’t look at me like that. There IS such a thing as a hot dog snob. My kids turn their noses up whenever I make anything less than a high-end dog. They prefer Zweigle’s White Hots, Sahlen’s Old-Fashioned Casing Dogs, or something kosher and all-beef. If they’re at a baseball game, fireman’s carnival or somesuch, they’ll happily eat what my husband calls a ‘dirty water dog’, but if we’re home, they want the good stuff. So as I stared at my package of questionable hot dogs, I figured I had to do something to disguise the fact that they weren’t in my guys’ hot-dog wheelhouse. I grabbed a package of bacon and started wrapping.
I wrapped two full packages of hot dogs with bacon and part of a third, reasoning that if they didn’t like the bacon wrapped ones, there would be some plain ones that they could eat even if they weren’t psyched. Yes, I have to cook at least that many when everyone is home. I wanted to grill them because it was roughly 2,000°F in my kitchen and there was a fair breeze outside. I stood by, flipping them frequently, and put the finished hot dogs on a plate to bring into the house. My expectations were not high.
I laid the plate on the counter and walked out onto the porch to call the kids to dinner. My eldest had wandered into the kitchen behind me to sniff out what they were going to inhale eat for dinner. As I took a deep breath iiiiiin to holler for kids who I couldn’t see or hear in the yard I heard my eldest exclaim, “What kind of magic is THIS!?!?” from the kitchen. It turns out his little brothers had come in through another door, because I heard them all laying tracks to get to the kitchen quickly. Before I could turn around, the rest of them were excitedly shouting, “It’s a miracle!”, “It’s the best thing EVER!”, “OH MOM!”, and “WHOA. Am I seeing this right?” I was a little, um, surprised by the passion of their reaction. My husband drifted into the kitchen and didn’t even wait for a bun to take a bite of one. He looked up at me with love in his eyes and said, “This is the best hot dog I’ve ever eaten in my life.” I told them all what brand of hot dog they were eating and every one of them couldn’t possibly have cared less. Behold the power of bacon!
I’m calling that a win even if it WAS just grilled bacon wrapped hot dogs.
Cook’s Notes
- Because bacon shrinks as it cooks, you need to hold the bacon to the hot dog with toothpicks. Be smart (unlike me) and choose natural toothpicks with no colour (unlike me) to avoid any colour bleeding onto your bacon and hot dog. My guys didn’t care, but it offended my aesthetic sensibilities. Yes. I just talked about aesthetic sensibilities combined with hot dogs. I am what I am.
- This really is a simple process, but it does require you to be present the whole time. There’s no dropping the lid on the grill and walking away for any reason. Bacon drips fat, and fat on flames flares up. To mitigate any problems, you want to stand by, tongs at the ready.
- Don’t feel obliged to keep the hot dogs in the same position on the grill that they were in when you laid them there. If you feel one is cooking faster than the others, move it to a cooler part of the grill. Conversely, if you have a straggler that’s cooking far slower than the others, swap places on the grill with one that’s been cooking faster. That way you can get them all done at relatively the same time. Move ’em ’round!
- My kids ate these straight-up hot dog style with ketchup, mustard, and relish. My husband and I ate them smothered in grilled pineapple and onions and hot sauce. Both groups were absolutely convinced that we had eaten it the only way it could possibly be eaten. In other words, top them as you wish!
Grilled Bacon Wrapped Hot Dogs
Ingredients
- 1 package hot dogs any style
- an equal number of uncooked bacon strips to the number of hot dogs you have
- 2 toothpicks per hot dog preferably un-coloured
Instructions
- Preheat grill to low (or build a low bed of coals on one side of the grill). Wrap a piece of bacon around each hot dog, starting at one end, fixing it in place with a toothpick skewered all the way through the bacon and hot dog, and spiraling it around the hot dog to the other end where another toothpick is pushed through to hold it in place. Repeat until all the hot dogs are wrapped in bacon.
- Place the hot dogs on the hot, clean grill and let them cooking, turning and repositioning as necessary, until the bacon is chewy/crisp, or about 8 minutes.
Nutrition
Desja says
I would add that it would help to soak the toothpicks like you do with bamboo skewers for shish kebabs. Mine kept burning up. But other than that, thanks so much! It helped me with last minute dinner. So good.
Rebecca says
Good tip, Desja! Thanks!
Rosalina Villarruel says
Hot dogs are awesome. Bacon is awesome. So what a shock, bacon wrapped are AMAZING. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Rebecca says
HAHAHAHAH! Thank you so much, Rosalina!
Jennifer says
I have made these numerous times but instead of grilling, I use my air fryer. Delicious!
Rebecca says
Ah, now that is a great idea for winter months!
babykitted says
This is really exciting! I love these bacon wrapped broiled hot dogs. It’s so much delicious . Thanks a lot for sharing this recipe.
Nawfal Aquinas says
I am a HDS too! Except I can no longer get Sahlen’s. That fact punches me in the head every morning. LOL Two things I crave daily: Sahlen’s dogs and a beef on weck. I think today, I will mollify my craving with your HD and Bacon recipe here. Thanks for understanding HDS! LOL
Rebecca says
I’m so glad it’s not just my guys. I was beginning to think I’d ruined them. I mean, not many people will admit to being hot dog snobs. 😀
Mark says
Just a note about grilling: You CAN grill with lid closed if you use a gas grill and the indirect method. Simply place the hot dogs over a section of the grill without the burners on and heat with the other burners on the grill.
Also of note, you can add cheddar cheese or create a BLT hot dog – delicious!
Ellen Byng says
Thanks for your comment Mark. I have a gas grill and was thinking I might need to precook the bacon a little before wrapping on the dogs so I could grill them a short time. Also I am using 1/4 pound all beef ‘Hebrew National’ dogs. Having a big family gathering for 4th of July and wanted to do something special.
Darrell says
I am trying these tonight. Going for the grill and not the oven. And I only buy thick sliced Bacon so I hope it works out. Great write up!
Judy says
I’ve made these several times they are always a big hit. Sometimes I’ll brush a little bbq sauce on them too. Delicious!
Tanya says
I made this tonight for a movie night with girlfriends. YUMMO!!!! I loved and guest did two because one was left and one the guest said, “so can I eat that last one???!” Very tasty! Easy and delicious! A keeper…oh and btw I did it in the oven.
Elisabeth says
We, too, are hot dog snobs, but prefer Hofmann German Franks and Coneys. Will be making these while camping this weekend in the Adirondacks!
marina says
We eat these regularly at a teeny little roadside stand not far from our house in downtown Phoenix. It’s called Nogales Hotdogs and they are Sonoran-style, meaning the bacon-wrapped dog is just the beginning. The toppings are what take it over the top. Boiled pinto beans. Finely chopped pico de gallo, schmear of mayo, parmesan, grated cheddar, sliced jalapenos, guacamole sauce, grilled onions & grilled yellow hot peppers, um, yeah. The works is unbelievable.
Karen says
You had to have buttered and grilled the split top buns too…….
Rebecca says
I grilled ’em! 😀 Just not heavily 😀
Rie says
You are WICKED woman!!!!!!!!! I’d eat my own elbow if it was wrapped in bacon. My taste buds will love you, my arteries not-so-much……
Peter says
You should try Berner-Würstel (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berner-W%C3%BCrstel) , which was my favorite pub food when I was living in Bavaria. The only change to your recipe would be to slit the hotdog lengthwise and stuff it with cheese (usually Emmentaler) before wrapping it with bacon.
Kathy W says
When I was a kid the highlight meal of the summer was when we could convince my mother to make a slice in the hotdogs, insert a slice of cheese, wrap the whole thing in bacon and put it on the grill. Heaven on a bun – especially if you add a nice topping of raw onion.
Robby says
Heart attack in a bun, but you’d go smiling with these bad boys on your breath. I’m guessing this is NOT the place for thick cut bacon or the dogs will be very well done by the time the bacon is cooked.
Heather || Heather's Dish says
Every time I see a hot dog (or a piece of bacon for that matter) I will forever hear “WHAT KIND OF MAGIC IS THIS?!” in my head. Love it!
Matt Robinson says
My sons would go absolutely crazy for these!!! Happening soon for sure.