The Paper Towel Trick You Need When Microwaving Hot Dogs

On some days, you might want to fire up the grill and flip your hot dogs over a coal fire until they are nice and crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. However, on other days, microwaved hot dogs are the perfect way to get dinner on the table quickly and feed some hungry kiddos on a busy school night. The only problem with microwaving hot dogs is they sometimes split open or even explode in the microwave. There are lots of things you shouldn't do when cooking hot dogs, but letting them burst open is one of the main ones to avoid because it is not just an aesthetic problem — it also makes for unsatisfyingly dry dogs. To prevent this from happening and to cook perfect hot dogs in the microwave every time, all you actually need is a paper towel.

In fact, wrapping your hot dogs in a paper towel before tossing them in the microwave is a great way to get wonderfully juicy hot dogs quickly and with almost no necessary cleanup afterward. It's definitely a win-win. 

The first step in cooking your hot dogs is choosing a brand. Unfortunately, not all hot dogs are made the same and some store-bought hot dogs are much healthier than others. Whenever possible, try to buy the healthiest hot dogs made with the most natural ingredients because, in the end, these dogs will taste much better than their artificial counterparts.

Once you have chosen your preferred hot dogs, open the package and remove as many as you'd like to cook. If you are only cooking one, wrap it up in a paper towel like a burrito with both ends folded in to contain the moisture. Then pop it on a plate and cook it in the microwave for around 45 seconds.

To cook multiple hot dogs at the same time, you can either wrap them all individually in paper towels or wrap a couple together in one paper towel. If you choose to wrap a couple of hot dogs up together, just make sure not to wrap them too tightly and leave some space between them — you don't want the hot dogs to touch each other while cooking. And of course, more hot dogs means a longer cooking time. For each hot dog added to the plate, you will need to add about 20 seconds to the clock.

Some recipes call for wrapping hot dogs in a damp paper towel before microwaving. This method is probably not necessary if you are microwaving a package of freshly opened hot dogs because the hot dogs themselves will already have enough moisture to cook properly in a dry paper towel. However, if you are cooking hot dogs that have been open in the fridge for a while and dried out or hot dogs that have been already cooked on the grill, the damp paper towel method is the perfect way to nuke your dogs while reviving them and adding moisture at the same time.

No matter whether or not you use a dry paper towel or a damp one, when unwrapping your hot dogs from the microwave, always be careful of the hot steam. Once your hot dogs are unwrapped, check to make sure they are warm all the way through, and then serve on toasted buns with condiments of your choice.