My Husband Calls This Easy Recipe ‘the Best Thing to Ever Happen to Hot Dogs’

Burnt ends are a labor of love. Making the tender, sauce-glazed morsels traditionally entails brimming and cubing the fatty, flavorful part of a smoked beef brisket and cooking it again with sauce to create a caramelized exterior. Because burnt ends take a lot of work to produce (a brisket can take anywhere from 12 to 16 hours to smoke), they’re are often in short supply and are a coveted order at barbecue joints. 

My husband Gavin, a lover of all foods smoked and charred, can’t get enough of them. But he recently discovered a brilliant riff on the specialty made with his go-to ballpark food that’s much easier to make: Hot Dog Burnt Ends. “The recipe is the best thing to ever happen to hot dogs,” he says. “It’s the perfect summer snack.”

What Are Hot Dog Burnt Ends

A playful spin on the barbecue joint staple, chef Roscoe Hall’s Hot Dog Burnt Ends recipe combines the signature snap and savory flavor of hot dogs with the rich, caramelized crust of classic burnt ends. And you don’t even need a grill to make them (though you can use one)!

The hot dogs are coated in a potent mustard-powered marinade, baked for an hour, and tumbled in a lacquer of barbecue sauce before charring in the oven a final time. The process yields sweet-salty pieces of beautifully blackened, yet juicy sausage ideal for dipping in a side of mustard.

How to Make Hot Dog Burnt Ends

Throw two packages of beef hot dogs in a large zip-top bag with yellow mustard, brown sugar, cayenne pepper, onion powder, and freshly ground pepper. Close the bag and shake them until they’re well coated. Spread the seasoned dogs onto a aluminum foil–lined baking sheet and roast in an oven preheated to 350 degrees F for one hour.

Remove the hot dogs, cut them into thirds, and toss them in your favorite barbecue sauce. Increase the oven temperature to 400 degrees F. Return the dogs to the oven and bake for another 10 minutes or until charred and crispy.

My Husband’s Recipe Suggestions 

• Smoke ‘em! Gavin cooks his Hot Dog Burnt Ends on his Traegar wood pellet grill (his most prized possession), which gives the sausages a whisper of smoke. He cuts the first cooking time from one hour to about 30 minutes and the second one from 10 to about 5 minutes. The exact amount of time you keep them on the grill or smoker depends on the type you have—so just keep an eye on the hot dogs and remove them when they’re cooked to your liking.
• Slit the ends. If you love the flavor-packed bark of burnt ends, Gavin recommends making ½ inch slits to the ends of the sausages or even halving them so they gain more char. This is particularly helpful if you’re seeking a blackened coating and cooking with thick beef sausages. But don’t overcook the meat—dry, rubbery hot dogs are a grill guru’s nightmare.
• Serve with contrasting flavors. Zippy coleslaw, tangy potato salad, and sweet corn on the cob are all excellent counterparts for Hot Dog Burnt Ends. Gavin prefers to enjoy his sandwiched between a fluffy roll.

What the Allrecipes Community Says

Gavin isn’t the only fan of this recipe.

• “These were easy to make and really tasty! Followed recipe exactly, used spicy brown mustard as that’s what I had. Two of us got two meals each. They re-heat pretty well, too. Thanks for a wonderful dish that’s easy, delicious and fun to make.” —Cora Bird
• “This is unexpectedly wonderful! If you like hot dogs and barbecue like I do – you need to try this.” —Karen Brobeck

Get the recipe: Hot Dog Burnt Ends