Pizza Night Just Got Better With An Unexpected Hot Dog Twist

Pizza with hot dogs has been a controversial food combination ever since Pizza Hut released its now-discontinued hot dog stuffed crust pizza in the United States for the first time. However, if you are a food daredevil who tends to like unorthodox food pairings like pineapple on pizza or mustard on watermelon, the pizza and hot dog combo might be right up your alley. However, this time instead of hot dogs on pizza, we are flipping the script and making the hot dog shine as the main star — enter pizza hot dogs. Pizza dogs are basically hot dogs that ditch the mustard and ketchup and sub them for your favorite pizza toppings for a blast of cheesy flavor that you won't regret.

Pizza dogs are not only a great way to make Friday night dinners more exciting but can also make for fun party food or a Sunday night football appetizer. They are even a great idea as the main course of a birthday party for a food-loving kid. Because what's better than seeing two kid-favorite foods combined into one delicious bite? 

Making a classic pizza dog involves combining the best elements of both hot dogs and pizza. The best thing about hot dogs is the perfectly cooked juicy-on-the-inside franks, while the best thing about pizza is the gooey melty cheese on top and buttery crust. So to start, give your hot dog buns a garlic-y buttery flair by opening them up and brushing the insides with melted butter and garlic powder. Then, pop the buns in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about five minutes before removing them.

Once your buns are out, you can go ahead and start building your pizza dog. To start, slather some of your favorite pizza sauce onto each hot dog bun. Then grab a pre-cooked hot dog (boiled or cooked in the microwave will work well) and set it in the bun on top of the pizza sauce. Then, top the hot dog with a coating of mozzarella cheese and your favorite pizza topping — you can never go wrong with pepperoni! Lastly, put the pizza dogs in the oven to cook on broil for about two minutes or until all the cheese is melted.

So, you've brought up the idea of pizza dogs but not everyone in your friend group was as excited about them as you were. Luckily, there are a few ways to really jazz up your pizza dogs so that even the nay-sayers will want to try them. The first method is to use pizza crust instead of hot dog buns. This method involves buying one pound of refrigerated pizza dough, six hot dogs, and three mozzarella cheese sticks cut in half. To build your pizza dogs, first divide the dough into six even pieces, then, wrap the dough around each hot dog with a stick of the halved mozzarella string cheese — almost like giant pigs in a blanket with cheese inside. Then simply place the wrapped dogs on a greased pan and bake at 450 degrees Fahrenheit for about 15 minutes or until the dough turns golden. 

Lastly, you can follow in Youtuber DefinitelyNotGourmet's footsteps and make a meat-lovers pizza dog by first wrapping your hot dogs in bacon and then cooking the bacon-wrapped dogs on a skillet until the bacon starts to brown. Then, set the bacon hot dogs inside hot dog buns and top with sauce, cheese, and pepperoni before throwing them in the oven to bake until the cheese is melted. The best thing about pizza dogs is how creative you can be while making them!