Chili Cheese Dog

There’s nothing quite as hearty and delicious as a solid, loaded Chili Cheese Dog, where a hot dog bun is piled with hot dog, chunky and flavorful chili, and gooey cheese.

It’s the classic American sandwich, or shall I say, experience, that you can find at lots of diners across the country, ball parks, and food stalls.

And I’m going to show you how you can recreate this delicious recipe at home, and serve lots of happy tummies by doing so!

If you love this chili cheese dog recipe, be sure to also check out our Bacon Cheeseburger Sliders, Shredded Chicken Nachos, Cheesy Potato Wedges and Homemade Burger recipes!

Oven Baked Chili Cheese Dog

In our version of chili cheese dog, we are loading up a large baking sheet with all the chili cheese dogs and oven bake them until the cheese are melted and buns are slightly crispy on the edges.

In my experience, when you are trying to serve a larger crowd, baked chili cheese dog on a sheet pan the easiest way to heat and cook a whole lot of chili dogs to feed a whole lot of people.

I make my chili cheese dogs this way for game days, family get togethers and dinners…it’s super easy, very tasty, and everyone always love it!

The combination of soft bread with chunky ground beef chili, hot dog, and bites of onions and parsley is hearty and satisfying.

Chili cheese dog is the quintessential American food that will please both kids and adults alike. One bite into it and it transports me to fun summer days cookouts by the pool and watching baseball games in the ballpark.

Ingredients

To make this delicious chili cheese dog recipe, you will need:

For the hot dogs:

• hot dog buns
• hot dogs – use good quality hot dog such as Hebrew National for the best taste!
• cheese – I like to use shredded cheddar cheese for my chili cheese dog. Other shredded cheese works as well.
• onions – white, yellow or sweet onions. I typically reserve 1/4 cup of diced onions from the onion I use for the chili to top on my chili dog. Garnish is completely optional.
• parsley – as garnish, and is also completely optional.

For the chili:

You can use canned chili if you are looking for a quick way to whip this together, but I always prefer homemade chili if I have the time to make it (and it’s really not hard or time consuming!)

• lean ground beef – I typically use 90% lean meat or higher. Opt for ground turkey or chicken for a lighter, healthier twist.
• white onion – or yellow or sweet onion. Diced into small pieces. You can reserve 1/4 cup to be used as garnish.
• crushed tomatoes – comes in a can. In a pinch, diced tomatoes work as well.
• tomato paste – also comes in a can
• chili powder
• smoked paprika – or paprika
• ground cumin
• garlic cloves – can substitute with garlic powder if you don’t have fresh garlic at hand
• salt – make sure to adjust accordingly to taste. Salt helps open up the flavors of the chili, so if chili taste blend, add more salt to make it more flavorful. Taste at the end and adjust accordingly.
• black pepper

Alternatively, make this other version of chili – Texas Chili, and pile it onto the hot dogs. It’s a bit more effort and time consuming but the flavors are out of this world delicious!

How to make chili cheese dog

To make chili cheese dog, I typically make the chili first.

Canned chili can be used if you are in a rush and want something quicker, but there’s nothing quite like homemade chili, and I promise it’s easy and quick to make…ready under 15 minutes!

Note that chili for your chili cheese dogs are a lot thicker than most regular chili recipes. You want to make sure you got a nice and thick chili to layer on top of your hot dogs so that it doesn’t over-soak the bread.

Most chili recipes online are thinner, so when I have a choice, I like to make chili specifically for my chili dogs because I like it thick and chunky, with not a lot of liquid in it.

To make the chili, use a medium size pot or Dutch oven and load all the chili ingredients on there – ground beef, diced onions, tomatoes, spices, salt and black pepper.

See recipe card below for further details on how to cook the chili, but be sure to cook it until it is thick and chunky.

If you have time and want to make a fancier (and VERY tasty) chili, give my Texas Chili a try! We love making it and using leftovers to make Chili Cheese Dog. It is thick, chunky, flavorful and perfect for this recipe.

Once chili is done, set it aside and let’s start piling on the hot dog buns and make some deliciously loaded chili cheese dogs.

Use a large baking sheet and bring hot dog buns onto baking sheet. Open up the buns and place a hot dog onto each bun.

Next, top hot dog with chili and then shredded cheese.

Send dogs on baking sheet to the oven and bake at 350℉ for 15-20 minutes until cheese are melted.

When chili cheese dog is done, the buns and hot dogs should be warmed, cheese should be melted, and the edges of the buns should be slightly crispy.

Note: hot dogs are already pre-cooked so we are merely warming them in the oven.

Optional: garnish with parsley and diced onions to give it an extra bite of flavor and freshness.

Chili cheese dog is best served warm right out of the oven. And it is seriously as decadently delicious as it looks.

P/S: Eating a chili cheese dog might be a bit messy, but every bit as tasty and worth it.

I hope you love it as much as we have been loving it.

Ways to Serve It

Here are some of my favorite ways to serve chili cheese dogs:

• french fries, or get fancy with this Cheesy Potato Wedges
• potato chips, or make it at home using this recipe.
• salad such as Fruit Salad with Honey Lime Dressing, Fall Harvest Salad or Caesar Pasta Salad
• coleslaw
• potato salad

Frequently Asked Questions

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More sandwich recipes

Some of out other favorite sandwiches of all shapes and forms!

• Cheese Stuffed Burger
• Grilled Steak Tacos
• Zesty Tuna Melt
• Fish Po’ Boy
• Bacon Cheeseburger Sliders
• Ham and Cheese Crescent Roll Ups
• Avocado Tomato Salad Power Wrap