Bacon-Wrapped Hot Dogs (aka: Best Dogs Ever)

I recently came across the recipe site A Bountiful Kitchen and found lots of great recipes I want to try. This particular one caught my eye for this week though. I was looking for something "sporty" to have while we watch all our March Madness games on TV and these hot dogs were A-MAZ-ING!!! SOOO good! There aren't words to describe just how they hit the spot :-). I ate mine without a bun, of course (gluten-free), and Mike had one with and without. He said he liked it better without the bun because the bread over powered the other flavors some (and he gave them rave reviews too). I don't know if I can have a plain hot dog again.

(you want to be sure to buy big, good quality dogs. my pack only had 5 dogs in it and I used up all these mix ingredients, so if you make 8, I would double the other ingredients)
Ingredients:
2 teaspoon ketchup
2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
8 large hot dogs
4 ounce cheddar cheese, cut into long sticks
4 Tbsp chopped onion
1 1/2 cups refrigerated sauerkraut, drained, roughly chopped (I didn't chop and only found a big jar of it at my store, but it was delicious still)
8 slices bacon
8 long hot dog buns

Directions:
-Preheat grill - medium high heat.
-Mix together the ketchup and mustard in a small bowl.
-In a separate bowl, mix the sauerkraut with the chopped onion, set aside.
-Slice open the hot dogs, down the center, lengthwise, forming a deep pocket in each, but not cutting all the way through. Coat the inside of each hot dog with the mustard ketchup mixture.
-Place a strip of cheese deep within the pocket of each hot dog.
-Top with sauerkraut and onions.
-Wrap a strip of bacon around each stuffed hot dog, securing with toothpicks at each end. Make sure you wrap tight enough so that the stuffing stays in, but not so tight so that when the hot dog expands will cooking the bacon would tear.
-Coat grill surface with vegetable oil so that the hot dogs don't stick. (we didn't do this and it was fine) Place the stuffed hot dogs on the grill, stuffing side down. Grill for 2 minutes, until the bacon on that side is cooked, turn the hot dogs a quarter turn and grill for a couple more minutes. Continue to grill for a few minutes each on all sides until the bacon is cooked. Cover the grill in between turnings to help with the cooking.
-During the last minute of cooking, open up the hot dog buns and place them open-side down on the grill to lightly toast.
-Remove the hot dogs and buns from the grill. Remove the toothpicks from the hot dogs, place them in the buns and serve.

3 comments:

Annemarie said...

Isn't that site great? She lives close to me...I love running in to her at the store & checking out her cart for any upcoming goodies!

Kelley said...

Now that's a DOG!

Kathy said...

Looks really good - perfect for the warmer weather we've been getting!