Homemade Pretzel Dogs are just as delicious as the ones you get from the mall! And easier than you think. Make a simple bread dough, wrap the dogs, boil, then bake. Don’t forget to sprinkle tons of salt on top!
Can we just go ahead and make hot dogs their own special food group? I mean, nobody really knows what’s in them anyway, right? I personally think the mystique adds to their appeal. Maybe they’re secretly made out of celery and you actually burn more calories than you consume. We could just add them in right next to the “eat 29 servings of veggies a day,” or whatever number they’ve decided on lately. (I should look this up. But I really just don’t want to know my own vegetable deficiencies.)
I could probably eat hot dogs every day for the rest of my life and die before I’m 30 and be happy. Bring on the mustard. Now, wrap a soft pretzel around said hot dog and we’re really gettin’ goin’. I told Eric I was going to make Pretzel Dogs and he said, “What’s that?” After giving him the most incredulous face I could muster I asked him if he had ever even been to the mall. Only to find out that Eric didn’t know that soft pretzels and malls go together like carnivals and cotton candy. Who ARE you and how are you my husband? Well I set him straight. It’s really just not that hard to sell somebody on a delicious hot dog wrapped in bread. By the way, this recipe solves the hot dog vs. bun problem. I haven’t noticed the industry torturing us with this anymore (selling only 8 packs of hot dogs and only 12 packs of buns), and I think it’s entirely thanks to George Banks. Thank you Steve Martin. Come on over and I will make you a Thank-You-Pretzel-Dog.
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Homemade Pretzel Dogs
Ingredients
- 1 & ½ cups water, 110 to 115 degrees F
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
- 4 & ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup butter, melted
- Vegetable oil, for pan
- 10 cups water
- 2/3 cup baking soda
- 2 tablespoons butter, regular or unsalted, melted
- coarse sea salt , or kosher salt for sprinkling
- 8 hot dogs, good quality
Instructions
- Combine the water, sugar and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer. Let sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam.
- Add the flour, salt, and butter. Combine with a spoon or the paddle until it start to come together, then switch to the dough hook. Mix with the dough hook on low speed until well combined.
- Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. You may need to add a bit more flour, but be aware that this is a pretty soft dough. You should be able to touch it without it being impossible to get off your fingers, though.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl. Cover and let rise in a warm place for about 1 hour, or until the dough has doubled in size. I like to put mine in an oven that has been turned to 170? (warm) for about a minute, then turned off.
- Preheat the oven to 450. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and lightly brush with the vegetable oil. Set aside.
- In a large pot, bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil. Meanwhile, knead down the dough, turn it out onto a slightly floured work surface, and divide into 8 equal pieces.
- Roll out each piece of dough into a rope that’s about 20 to 24-inches long, depending on how big your hot dogs are. Starting at one end, wrap the dough around the hot dog, pinching each end together so that it’s sealed. Place onto the pan and repeat with the remaining dough and hot dogs.
- Place the pretzel dogs into the boiling water two at a time and boil for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water using a large flat slotted spatula. Return the boiled pretzel dogs to the pan, brush the tops with melted butter and sprinkle with the sea salt. (I forgot to do this butter and salt step until after I had baked them. It worked fine.)
- Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.
- If you have extra dough, you can shape them into dinner rolls, cut a slit in the top, let rise for another 20-30 minutes, boil, and bake at 450 until golden.
I’ve been using this recipe for a couple of years now, and this Christmas I’ve asked my kids to pick what they want for dinner. My son ALWAYS picks this one, and he’s 20 yrs old! Lol Great recipe!!
My adult daughter and I just made these and they are amazing. We used to get them at an Amish Market in Maryland but we now live in South Carolina and 10 hours each way is a little far to drive for pretzel dogs. We made some with American cheese wrapped around the dog before rolling the pretzel on and some plain.
The only thing we’ll do different next time is making the pretzels thinner when rolling them out. There will be many next times!
Ooh love the American cheese idea Mari!! Thanks for sharing, so happy you’re saving a 10 hour trip! 😂
So excited by how well this recipe worked! It was my first time using yeast in a recipe and they turned out delicious. The recipe made 10 pretzel dogs for me. I did pre-broil the hotdogs a few minutes before wrapping them as another commenter suggested just to cook them more to my liking.
Thank you!
Thanks for the recipe! I was intimidated at first, but this came out nicely. My dough was on the dry side during mixing so I had to add a few tablespoons of water to get a slightly sticky dough. My dough rose a lot and so I had enough for 11 hot dogs instead of 8. I skipped the sprinkle of salt at the end. Tasty!
I love this recipe. Instead of using hotdogs I use smoked sausage cut into 1-1 1/2” pieces. My husband loves it this way.
I like to slice open my hotdogs and stuff them with cheese before I wrap them up. Extra delicious! Great recipe!
Genius Manda! Who doesn’t want a cheese pretzel dog!!
They turned out amazing! Thank you so much for the recipe–it’s a keeper!
I am making these tonight and my question is Can I make them up to the point of baking them and refrigerate them for a couple hours and then bake
Hi Elizabeth! you can make them up to the point of wrapping the dogs. seal on the pan with plastic wrap. then doing the boiling water step and baking when you are ready to serve. I would not refrigerate after doing the boiling step. Enjoy!
Followed recipe exactly…perfect!
Wish I could post a pic.
Great pretzel dog recipe, the best recipe I’ve tried. Please please e mail the recipe.
I love this recipe! Delicious, every time. I do have one recommendation though; before I roll the dogs I toss them in the toaster oven for about 5-7min. Cooking them a little before really helps bring out the flavor. Since they are covered with dough during the main bake they don’t quite cook up the way they do normally, but doing this gets you that nice *snap* and flavor like you would off the grill.
Love this idea Jason! Who doesn’t love a snap of flavor?? Thanks for the idea!
I love this idea!!! TY
I only had whole wheat flour on hand, so fingers crossed my kids will still eat them! I also tried using my food processor with the dough blade since the stand mixer is still in a moving box. minor overflow disaster; I guessed at how much liquid I lost and replaced it. So this could be my own giant failure of a science experiment! The dough is rising now…. don’t you hate when people don’t follow directions?! I’m a fool. But a fool who really wanted pretzel dogs.
Bahaha!! I can’t blame you. When the craving strikes, you just have to go for it! I hope it works out and you get the pretzel hot dog of your dreams!
I made this recipe today and it was fantastic. The dough was so easy to put together and a dream to work with. I a 12 pack of beef hot dogs from Costco so I doubled the recipe and used the extra dough to make four soft pretzels. I am definitely making this again (and again!). Thanks for this recipe. By the way, I started making the dough at 10am and we were able to have pretzel dogs by 12:15! Almost as easy as going to Auntie annie’s in the mall!
Isn’t it so great when homemade bread is done so fast?? I’m so glad you loved the recipe Stephanie! Thank you for commenting!
This is my 5th time making your recipe and every batch has been absolute perfection! Thank you!
Hello! Can I check if I can replace All Purpose Flour with Bread Flour? Thank you!
Hi Olivia! I haven’t tried it but I think it would work out okay! Your pretzel will be a little bit more dense and chewy.
Thank you so much! :)
I’m guessing the pan should be greased, since all of mine stuck and lost their bottoms. :/
Hi Rachael! yes indeed it should, as stated in step 5: Preheat the oven to 450. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and lightly brush with the vegetable oil. Set aside.
I’m so sorry you lost your bottoms! It’s tragic.