The toaster oven is proven for fast-cooking any meals, from your favorite waffles to a whole chicken, but if you or your kids can’t get enough of hotdogs, I’ve got FIVE awesome hotdog meals that you can cook in your handy toaster oven.
- Traditional hotdog sandwich
Probably the easiest hotdog meal to cook in the toaster oven is your hotdog sandwich. You just need a couple of steps:
- Heat the hotdogs. Do you want yours crunchy? If so, either increase the temperature or let it cook longer. Most hotdogs are already pre-cooked, so just heating them up enough to reach the middle is enough.
- Prep your other ingredients. If you want yours with pickles, cut some up. If you want to top it off with bacon, fry a couple of strips right after cooking your hot dogs. Want it Mexican style? Cook a mix of green peppers, jalapeños, tomatoes, garlic, onions, green and red bell pepper.
- Heat hotdog buns. Whether you bought hotdogs buns at the store, or pre-made yours from scratch, heat up the buns, then arrange everything.
- Finish off with condiments. Serve with your favorite mustard, mayonnaise, ketchup and/or hot sauce. Grate cheese on top, if you want your sandwich cheesy. You can even place the entire sandwich into the oven for a minute to melt the cheese.
- Hotdog pizza
Take out any flat bread you have, or defrost pizza dough. When your crust is ready, splash on some canned tomato sauce, or your secret homemade pizza sauce, and arrange slices of hotdogs on top of the bread. If you want to add mushroom, peppers, ground meat, or any other ingredients, now’s the time to do so. Finish it off with as much cheese as you wish.
Once everything is ready for cooking, place the pizza inside your oven. Set the appropriate temperature. For most cases, your pizza will be done in 10 to 15 minutes.
- Grilled cheese hotdog sandwich
If you’re a fan of anything grilled-cheese, then this hotdog version will surely be another alternative you can add to your quick-and-easy toaster oven recipes. It’s perfect for breakfast, lunch, snacks, or late-night cravings.
To do this, prepare your butter, slices of cheese and slices of bread.
- Reheat your hotdogs or cook them to your liking. When ready, slice them thinly and put aside in the meantime.
- If your toaster oven has two racks, use the bottom rack and preheat the oven. If it has cooking modes, place it on the “bake” setting.
- While the oven is preheating, spread one side of your bread slices with butter and place it into the racks. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes (depending on how thick your bread slices are). Remove the bread slices from heat.
- On a plate, add more butter to one side of the bread, then place your cheese slices and hotdog slices inside, forming a sandwich. Bring back your sandwich to the heat and brown it as much as you want.
- For toaster ovens that only have a top heating element, you have to flip the sandwich mid-way, so both sides of your buttered bread get golden-brown. Of course, make sure your cheese is melted enough that your hotdogs look gooeys and yummy.
- Cool slightly, slice and eat up.
- Pigs in a blanket
If you have kids, I’m sure you’ve tried this one before. They’re adorable, so much fun, bite-sized, and easy to prep. You can buy pre-made pastry dough, so you can just shape it into what you’re baking.
In this case, you’ll need to cook the hotdogs first (some people no longer pre-heat or cook their hot dogs though).
When ready, line small sheets of dough onto the oven toaster rack. Place one cocktail hotdog (or half-size of the regular hotdog) on each dough square or rectangle, then roll one side going to the next side to “put the pig’s blanket on.” Once you’ve done this for all your hotdogs, bake in your toaster oven until cooked.
- Hotdog ppang
This next one is a YouTube find that I tried and loved. It’s a Korean hotdog recipe, which tastes like sweet pizza with fluffy dough. It uses dough made from scratch (but you can also go with store-bought dough). The end-result looks tricky, but it actually isn’t. Just place one hotdog on a rectangular-shaped dough, then pinch the edges to close it. Do this for all your hotdogs.
They’re going to look like a corndog by now. Get one and cut it about half-an-inch crosswise. Don’t cut the dough through the bottom. Now get a piece of hotdog and rotate it to the side laying it flat on the oven rack. Do this to all hotdog bits until all the hotdog is facing upward. Sprinkle toppings (bacon, jalapeno peppers, cheese, and everything else you like). Then place it into the toaster oven for cooking.
These are just five of my favorite hotdog meals you can cook in your toaster oven. Do you have one you’re willing to share?