The Most Delicious Hot Dog Grilling Tip EVER

With a brand new grill and an awesomely fun backyard, it’s really no surprise that this past month we’ve been doing a whole lot of outdoor grilling.  Because of this, I spend a lot of time finding grilling recipes and tips and tricks online. 

When I heard that Applegate Farms had come to the Seattle area and introduced their natural, antibiotic- and nitrite-free, great organic beef hot dogs, I knew I needed to find them.  Using their product locator, I found a few stores near us and then all I had to do was find a new recipe for cooking them.

Anyone who searches recipes regularly already knows that there are not a whole lot of hot dog grilling recipes out there, at least if we’re talking store-bought dogs.  Really, there’s just not a lot of innovation in the way of grilling hot dogs and everyone pretty much does them the same way, right? 

Well, that used to be true.  But, recently I heard a tip from a friend about grilling hot dogs that I had never seen on Pinterest or any of the blogs I follow and just had to share with you.

Instead of just placing hot dogs on the grill and rotating frequently, I learned that you can “corkscrew” cut hot dogs before grilling for an even better dog.  Before I get into the corkscrew cutting technique and how to do it, I’m going to answer the question you are all asking yourself – “why on Earth would I want to cut my hot dogs?”

Well, not only will they cook better since cutting them this way gives you more grilling surface area and thus more of the grilled taste, they will also be safer for kids since they are smaller around and less of a choking hazard, they will be easier to top since the condiments have a place to rest without riding precariously on top of the dog, and they will fit in your hot dog bun better since cutting them this way elongates them to fill the more premium hot dog buns and rolls.  

So, now that we’ve got the “why” out of the way, here’s how to cut your hot dogs and brats.  First, you take a standard wooden skewer and stick it length-wise into your hot dog.  It doesn’t have to be perfectly straight, but if you mess up, you can keep on trying until you’re happy and it won’t hurt anything, including presentation.  Once the skewer is all the way through, you simply start cutting at an angle all the way through to the skewer, corkscrewing down the dog while spinning. 

Although this does sound a bit tricky, it’s surprisingly easy to do, even for someone like me who is awful with knives.  My first one I did was pretty rough, but I got a system pretty quick and was able to cut the remainder no problem.  Once they are cut, you simply remove the skewer and are left with a perfectly corkscrewed dog ready for the grill.

The resulting grilled hot dogs are simply to die for.  At a recent BBQ the skewer cut hot dogs were the first to disappear, and everyone was raving about how incredibly delicious they were, as well as how awesome the spiral cut dogs were for filling and serving.  Even though I’m not usually drawn to hot dogs, they were my absolute favorite thing we’ve grilled this summer and our new go-to recipe for BBQs.  

With how incredibly popular they were, we are going to be buying a whole lot of Applegate Farms hot dogs over the next few months.  Not only are they guilt-free because they are made with natural and organic ingredients, are minimally processed for the best taste, and aren’t filled with artificial fillers, they are also a company you can get behind because of their commitment to providing the best products they can with the highest level of integrity. 

And, not only are the Applegate Farms hot dogs simply delicious, they are also a huge crowd-pleaser because they have so many varieties to choose as well as a whole line of lunchmeats, bacon, sausages, cheeses and more.  While Seattle still has a pretty limited selection of the brand, every store I talked to was bringing in more since they were doing so well, and it looks like the selection is going to get even better in the next few months. 

Check out Applegate Farms on Facebook and click on the product locator so you can find Applegate hot dogs near you and try our spiral cut dogs for your next BBQ.  Your family {and your tastebuds} will definitely thank you!  

For more great grilling tips, you can follow #Applegate as well as Applegate Farms on Twitter

I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Applegate blogging program, to earn My SocialMoms Rewards Points. The opinions and ideas expressed here are my own. To read more posts on this topic, click here.