Ridiculously easy, these are the perfect combination – a juicy hot dog wrapped in a soft and chewy pretzel.
I’m always looking for quick and easy meals, especially during the summer when it’s hot and no one really feels like cooking or grilling. These pretzel dogs will rival any grilled burger and can be made a head of time. You can even freeze them for a quick meal or snack later.
Basically, these are the pigs in a blanket we grew up with, however, with a couple of extra steps, magic happens!
Ok. Ok. In this case the magic is really science, but it is pretty magical!
Oh! Speaking about food science, there is another reason I wanted to make these – Food Network is rebooting one of my favorite series, Good Eats, hosted by food-science guru, Alton Brown and the recipe below was inspired by him!
Back to the magic of pretzel making, by dropping the dough into boiling water treated with Sodium Bicarbonate (baking soda) for about 30 seconds, the inside of the pretzel puffs up and starts forming a crust, however, it’s the addition of the baking soda that gives pretzels their brown and shiny crust and their distinctive flavor.
Traditional pretzels are dropped into pots of lye water to accomplish this. Yep… THAT lye – Sodium Hydroxide. The food grade version of the lye I make my soap with (and use to clean drains). And, just like when you make soap, you need to wear goggles and gloves. I love cooking and am fascinated by the chemistry of it all, however, I prefer to to keep lye strictly for soap making.
Eliminating the boiling baking soda/lye water step will give you a pig in a blanket, but why would you deny yourself such deliciousness?
You can also use this recipe to make regular pretzels! Once the dough has raised, cut it into 8 equal pieces, roll it in to 12 inch ropes and rather than wrapping your hot dog with them, you can twist them into pretzels and follow the rest of the directions.
Rather than using pretzel salt, we really enjoy Trader Joe’s Everything but the Bagel Sesame Seasoning Blend.
Last weekend I made these for the end of Summer potluck we hosted for a bunch of our friends and neighbors. I cut the dough in to 16 pieces and cut each hot dog in half before wrapping them. They were a hit with both the kids and the adults.
You can eat them plain, dip them in mustard, ranch dressing, bbq sauce or you can try our favorite dipping sause – honey mustard. I don’t know how, but honey mustard really takes the whole flavor experience up a notch!
If you make them, we’d love to hear about it!
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These look amazing!!
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