Give Your Hot Dogs Some Fresh Flavor With Bánh Mì Toppings

While ketchup, mustard, and relish are tried-and-true hot dog toppings, they become tired classics after making countless franks the same way. There are many creative hot dog ideas to upgrade your next backyard barbecue, including topping a hot dog with crunchy pork rinds and making Seattle-style hot dogs with cream cheese. If you're looking for a refreshing twist, try taking inspiration from a Vietnam classic with a French twist and spruce up hot dogs with bánh mì toppings.

Bánh mì is a Vietnamese sandwich with roast pork or chicken and toppings like pickled vegetables, cilantro, cucumbers, jalapeño, soy sauce, and mayo. The phrase bánh mì translates to "bread" or other starch-based ingredients like cake, pastry, or noodles, but it is also the name of the sandwich. Many dishes benefit from bánh mì-inspired flair, including breakfast sandwiches, rice bowls and burgers, and so can hot dogs. Bánh mì toppings provide a flavorful, delicious upgrade for a hot dog worth raving about.

Pickled vegetables are a staple topping of the bánh mì and provide a savory, vinegary addition to hot dogs. It's no surprise that this pairing sings, considering pickled condiments are already common inclusions to hot dogs and sausages, from classic pickled cucumbers to sauerkraut. Classic bánh mì pickled components include carrots and radishes.

Another common bánh mì addition is sliced jalapeño, which adds a pleasant heat and is not uncommon to see on more creative hot dog recipes. Cilantro provides a refreshing, cool flavor that balances out the more intense notes of the pickled vegetables and jalapeño. (Though for those who register cilantro's taste as soap-like, this inclusion can be swapped with another fresh herb like lemongrass or basil.) Mayo is also a bánh mì component that works great with hot dogs; some varieties heat things up by adding Sriracha to the mayo, still giving the addition the saucy consistency common of hot dog condiments but with a fiery kick. Soy sauce or Maggi seasoning provides a robust flavor enhancement for a Bánh mì, but if a runny or soggy hot dog is a concern, consider cooking the frank in soy sauce instead to infuse it with flavor without the mess.

Bánh mì meat is often marinated or seasoned with flavors including lime, garlic, ginger, lemongrass, and five spice. For a spicier bánh mì, marinate the meat in Sriracha. While this method may not be as effective on a hot dog, it's worth considering if you want your meat to have a more bánh mì-inspired flavor. Additionally, consider using a different type of frank for the meat component to make the hot dog more bánh mì-adjacent, such as chicken or nem nuong, which is Vietnamese pork sausage.

Since the bánh mì namesake highlights the sandwich's bread, replacing the classic hot dog bun with the sliced baguette commonly used for bánh mì is worth a try. However, due to a baguette's roughness, consider using a softer hot dog bun replacement like the bao. While this soft bun has Chinese origins, it has since been adopted by Vietnamese cuisine, used in bánh bao, a bánh mì variation using a steamed bun. Keep in mind that these further variations could transform the hot dog into more of a bánh mì eaten in a new way, rather than a frank with bánh mì-flair. When making bánh mì dogs at home, experiment with different toppings and variations to discover what will make that hot dog shine.