Chicago isn’t just know for their pizza, but also the Chicago style hot dog! They are so good, every time I’m in Chicago it’s customary to get one. Now what makes up a Chicago hot dog? It’s Vienna® Beef hot dogs, tomato halves, neon green relish, sport peppers, yellow mustard, chopped white onions, pickle spears, and celery salt and perfectly placed on poppy seed buns! This recipe is not 100% authentic as it’s really hard to find bright green relish, poppy see hot dog buns, and Vienna® Beef hot dogs – so I’m detailing out all the things I used to make this Chicago style hot dog with grocery store items that you can find anywhere.
What I could find at the store:
- Beef hot dogs: I couldn’t find the exact Vienna® Beef hot dogs, however I did use Hebrew National Beef franks, since they have a little longer length to them
- Everything Hot Dog Buns: It was hard to find just black poppy seed buns, but I did find everything hot dog buns that are topped with sesame seeds, poppy seeds, and onion. It worked out really well in place of plain poppy seed buns
- Sports Peppers: These peppers were the hardest to find! I finally found them at World Market. We have one close by, so I went there and got them
- Pickle Spears: I used what we had on hand, already opened and just sliced the spear in half for a better fit on the bun
- Tomatoes: I sliced the tomatoes and then cut them in half. This makes it easier to wedge into the hot dog bun
- Yellow Mustard: Any yellow mustard will do, I used what I had on hand
- Relish: I used what I had on hand, but if you can’t find the Chicago Style Relish at your stores (I couldn’t in Indianapolis), you can make it at home. Use a sweet pickle relish and put some blue dye into the relish until it turns a neon green. I opted to skip the step since I didn’t want to eat the dye, but this would be a quick way to get the exact look of the Chicago Style Hot Dog
- Chopped White Onions: Chop the white onions to your liking, this gives the iconic “salad on top” look
- Celery Salt: Celery salt is the finishing touch! I realized I didn’t have any celery salt and used onion salt, which worked out great too
Chicago Style Hot Dog
Ingredients
- Package of beef hot dogs
- Package of poppy seed or everything hot dog buns
- Sports peppers
- Pickle spears, sliced in half long ways
- 1/2 tomato, sliced in half moons
- Yellow Mustard
- Sweet Relish
- 1/2 white onion, chopped
- Celery salt
Instructions
- Grill hot dogs and prepare toppings
- Slightly steam poppy seed bun and assemble hot dogs: Place hot dog into bun, added 2 tomato wedges flat on one side and a sliced pickle spear on the other side of hot dog. In the middle, squeeze mustard directly on top, spoon on relish and add chopped white onions. Place 2 sports peppers on the tomatoes and finish with a sprinkle celery salt all over
What did you think?