Hot Dogs with Homemade Chili Sauce
Grilled all-beef hot dogs smothered in a smooth, beanless, finely textured chili sauce, then topped with mustard, onions and slaw.
- Everyday Classics
- Grill
- Beef
- Lunch
- 50 min total
- Serves 8
Ingredients
Ingredients for servings
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Original recipe serves 8. Ingredient amounts adjust automatically. Cooking times and pan size may need adjusting separately.
Chili sauce
- 1 lb ground beef, 80/20
- 1 1/2 cups water, cold
- 1/2 yellow onion, grated or very finely minced
- 6 oz tomato paste, 1 can
- 2 tbsp chili powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp ground allspice
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp yellow mustard
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
Dogs
- 8 all-beef hot dogs
- 8 hot dog buns
- yellow mustard, diced onion and coleslaw, for topping
Steps
Step 1: Put the raw ground beef and cold water in a saucepan BEFORE turning on the heat. Mash with a potato masher or whisk until the meat breaks into a fine, loose slurry.
Step 2: Turn the heat to medium. Bring to a simmer, stirring and mashing often, so the meat stays in tiny pieces as it cooks, about 8 minutes.
Step 3: Stir in the onion, tomato paste, chili powder, cumin, paprika, garlic powder, salt, allspice, brown sugar, mustard and Worcestershire.
Step 4: Simmer on low, uncovered, 25 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until thick enough to sit on a hot dog without running. Add a splash of water if it gets too thick. Stir in the vinegar and taste.
Step 5: Heat the grill to medium-high. Grill the hot dogs 5 to 7 minutes, turning, until lightly charred. Toast the buns on the grill 30 seconds.
Step 6: Put a dog in each bun. Top with a line of mustard, a big spoon of chili sauce, diced onion and slaw.
Swaps
- Stovetop dogs: Simmer the hot dogs in water 5 minutes or split and sear them in a skillet.
- Slaw: Skip it or swap for shredded cheddar.
- Batch: The sauce doubles easily and freezes for up to 3 months.
Tips
- This sauce is meant to be smooth and thick, not chunky. That’s what makes it a topping instead of a bowl of chili.
- Make the sauce a day ahead. It thickens and the flavors settle overnight.
The story
HAM Cooking. Let’s fire it up.
There’s a difference between chili and chili sauce, and hot dogs know it. Chili is chunky and spoonable. Hot dog chili is smooth, saucy and fine enough to cling to a dog in a bun without sliding off onto your shirt. Well, mostly. Wear a dark shirt anyway.
The trick is backwards from everything you know about ground beef. Instead of browning it in a hot pan, you mash raw beef into cold water first and then heat it up. Browning firms up the meat proteins into chunks, while starting in water keeps the strands loose so they break into a fine, almost silky texture. It’s the method behind a lot of classic hot dog stand chili sauces.
A little allspice and brown sugar add warm sweetness and depth, and the vinegar at the end brightens it up. Top with mustard, onions and slaw and you’ve got a dog worth the napkins.
HAM out.
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