I bet you've never heard of Chicago-Style Pigs in a Blanket!
If you're looking for a fun appetizer to make on your kamado grill, these Chicago-Style Pigs in a Blanket are worth looking at.
Unless you're a hot dog aficionado, you may not know that the Chicago dog traditionally comes with a variety of toppings.
Chicago hot dogs include more than just frankfurter and a bun.
Photo: Amazon
The full selection of toppings includes mustard, relish, onions, a dill pickle spear, half-moon tomato slices, a pickled sport pepper, and a liberal sprinkling of celery salt.
Along with the hot dog, these toppings all go into a wider than normal poppy-seed hot dog bun.
This more petite version doesn’t take two hands to eat. It’s the perfect snack to serve if your favorite team is playing the Bulls, Bears, Blackhawks, Cubs...
If you've never heard of sport peppers they are a small pepper that comes pickled and it makes a yummy hot dog topping.
Sport peppers add more flavor than heat and are synonymous with the Chicago hot dog.
Although known for the Chicago hot dog, a sport pepper would be delicious in a Bloody Mary, the perfect beverage to serve with lots of black pepper.
Recipe Ingredients
The ingredients for this recipe are simple to find for the most part. With the exception of sport peppers, almost everything is readily available at the grocery store. You can order sport peppers here.
- Cocktail franks (or mini hot dogs)
- Crescent dough or puff pastry
- Dill pickle
- Celery salt
- Eggwash
- Poppy seeds
If you don't want to purchase cocktail franks, you could always use regular hot dogs. Biscuit dough will also work to wrap the mini hot dogs in a pinch.
What are pigs in a blanket also called?
Pigs in a blanket can go by a few different names. I've heard them called Weiner winks, crescent dogs, mini pigs, devils on horseback, franks in a blanket, kilted sausages, and even klobasnek or klobasniky. These cocktail sausages or cocktail weiners go by a few different names but they are all delicious and perfect for serving at a super bowl party or get-together.
Toppings and variations
I've already been called out many times by some of the midwest's biggest Chicago hot dog fans, that this recipe isn't authentic.
And I'm fine with that.
This recipe is for fun and it's a fun dish that also happens to be delicious.
Be careful what you call it or you could end up in Joliet, but these additional toppings would also be deliciously incorporated into this dish:
- Pepper Jack cheese
- Bacon strips
- Pickled Jalapeno slices
- Gochujang sauce
- Cream cheese
- Chicharrones
- Shallot crisps
These dogs would even be delicious if the toppings were sausage wrapped or meatball wrapped. You could even use different sprinkle-on-toppings like sesame seeds, or everything bagel seasoning to make the blankets more tasty and interesting.
📖 Recipe
Pigs In A Blanket Recipe
Equipment
- Kamado Grill
Ingredients
- 1 dill pickle quartered
- 12 pickled sport peppers
- 1 12 oz can crescent roll dough
- 1 tablespoon celery salt
- 24 mini cocktail franks
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon water
- 2 tablespoons poppy seed
Instructions
- Set up your grill for indirect cooking and stabilize at 375ºF
- Setting up an assembly line for this dish is highly advisable. Start by slicing the dill pickle spears into 24 pieces (6 per spear), each a little wider than a matchstick and about an inch longer than your cocktail franks; set aside
- Cut the sport peppers in half so they are about the same size as the dill pickle pieces
- Pop open the can of crescent rolls and set the dough on a plastic cutting board or similar surface on which it won’t easily stick
- Use a pizza cutter and a ruler to make it easy to cut the dough into strips
- Lay the dough rectangle horizontally on your work surface and cut it into 12 slices from top to bottom. Now make a single cut from left to right across the center of the dough. Magically, you now have 24 dough slices
- Sprinkle celery salt over the dough so that it covers well but doesn’t clump
- Now it’s time to bundle your mini hot dogs.Line a pizza pan or baking sheet with parchment paper.
- With the celery-salt side of a dough slice facing up, place a piece of sport pepper, a sliver of pickle, and a cocktail frank about ½ inch up from the bottom edge.
- Begin rolling the dough up around the filling. It should wrap around about 1 ½ times; don’t worry if the hot dog ends are visible.
- Lay the bundle on the prepared pan, seam side down. Repeat with the remaining ingredients to make a total of 24 wiener bundles
- In a small bowl, beat the egg with the water to make an egg wash.
- Lightly brush all exposed dough areas with the egg wash and sprinkle with poppy seeds.
- Place the pan on the grill. You can pretty much follow the directions on the crescent roll package for cooking time. I generally cook these for 10 to 12 minutes, until the rolls are golden brown
- Serve with a nice mustard for dipping
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