Smoked Hot Dog Burnt Ends
Smoked hot dogs get crosshatched, seasoned, and smoked low and slow, then sliced and tossed in a sticky-sweet, hot pepper jelly and pickled jalapeño barbecue sauce. It's the classic burnt ends treatment applied to hot dogs — quicker than a brisket, but just as addictive. Perfect as a game-day appetizer or a fun twist on your next backyard cookout.
Servings: 16 servings
Ingredients
For the hot dogs:
- 16 hot dogs any style, or all-beef hot dogs
- 2 tablespoons yellow mustard for the binder
- 2-3 tablespoons barbecue seasoning or all-purpose rub like 'Que That Rub and Seasoning
For the Sauce:
- ½ cup barbecue sauce see notes
- ¼ cup hot pepper jelly
- 2 tablespoons butter
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup pickled jalapeños drained
Instructions
- Preheat your pellet grill or smoker to 225°F.
- Using a sharp knife, cut diagonal crosshatch slits into each hot dog on one side, then flip and repeat on the other side.
- Rub each hot dog all over with yellow mustard, then coat generously with barbecue seasoning.
- Place the hot dogs on a cooling rack or directly on the grates and smoke at 225°F for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
- Remove the hot dogs from the smoker and increase the grill temperature to 400°F. Slice each hot dog into thirds.
- While the grill is heating to 400℉, prepare the sauce. In a disposable foil pan, combine the hot pepper jelly, barbecue sauce, butter, brown sugar, and pickled jalapeños. Stir to combine.
- Add the sliced hot dogs to the pan and toss to coat evenly in the sauce.
- Place the pan back on the smoker at 400°F for about 30 minutes, stirring often so the sauce doesn't scorch on the bottom of the pan. Cook until the sauce reduces and thickens to a tacky glaze that clings to the hot dogs. See notes.
- Remove from the smoker, and let cool slightly before serving.
Notes
- Pellet or wood choice - Pellet choice matters for this recipe since the hot dogs only smoke for a short time - a bold, flavorful pellet will impart more smoke in that shorter window. We use and recommend Smokin' Pecan pellets made from 100% pecan shells.
- Spice level - Adjust the pickled jalapeños up or down depending on how much heat you like. You can also add a few dashes of your favorite hot sauce to the barbecue sauce mixture for extra spice.
- For the BBQ sauce - We used Kinder’s Gold barbecue sauce, which had a nice balance for this recipe, because it’s not too sweet or too thick. We prefer a sauce that has a bit of vinegar notes to balance out the sweetness of the other ingredients.
- For a thicker sauce - If you want to thicken your sauce even more, you can transfer the smoked hot dog burnt ends to a plate, and put the pan with the sauce only back on the smoker. Bump up the heat of the grill to about 400°F, and it will reduce more quickly. Then you can toss the smoked hot dogs back in.