As I mentioned in my post about Chicago Deep Dish Pizza and my homemade hot dog bun recipe, my entire family met up in Chicago for my cousin’s wedding a few months ago. My boyfriend and I had some time to walk around before the rehearsal dinner, so we set out to find hot dogs “dragged through the garden” (or a hot dog with everything as I now call them).
Chicago-style hot dogs (with everything) are a delicious steamed hot dog on a steamed poppy seed bun, then topped with mustard, relish, chopped onions, a slice of dill pickle, tomato wedges, sport peppers, and celery salt. They are quite an amazing concoction and I had been craving them since our trip. After discovering the recipe for hot dog buns with poppy seeds, I decided that we could try to recreate them.
I am obsessed with dill pickles (Claussen is the only type people- let’s get serious here) so I happened to have them on hand, as well as sweet green relish, onions, mustard, tomatoes and celery salt. I ran out to the store and picked up some Nathan’s Original beef hot dogs, since the Chicago Vienna hot dogs with natural casing are not available around here. Nathan’s is an East coast brand, but for some reason they carry them out here which I am thankful for. I couldn’t find sport peppers either so I picked up some pepperoncini peppers and sliced them on top. I know this isn’t the traditional pepper, but I think these ingredients are hard to find outside of the Chicago area.
- 2 all beef hot dogs
- 2 poppy seed hot dog buns
- yellow mustard
- sweet green relish
- yellow onions, chopped
- 2 dill pickle spears (Claussen)
- 4 tomato wedges
- celery salt
- sport peppers, or pepperoncini peppers if you live outside the Chicago area
- In a medium sauce pan, add ½ inch of water to the pan. Heat on medium until a small simmer starts. Add in the hot dogs and cook for about 8 minutes rolling them back and forth every few minutes.
- Once hot dogs are cooked take out them out and set aside. Place a steaming basket or metal colander above the water. Place hot dog buns in the steaming basket/colander for a minute or two, covering, until steamed and softened.
- Add the hot dogs to the buns. Top with mustard, onions, and green relish (all to your liking) Stick a dill pickle spear on one side between the hot dog and bun, then on the other side wedge the tomato wedges. Top with sport peppers or sliced pepperoncini and finish with celery salt.
