How Celebrity Chefs Upgrade Hot Dogs

Among celebrity and home chefs alike, hot dogs have stirred great debates. Is ketchup okay? Is a hot dog a sandwich? And then there's Guy Fieri, who takes things to a whole new level by turning a hot dog into an apple pie. But Fieri isn't alone in his culinary mashups. Bobby Flay stays on the savory side, bringing two ballpark favorites together with the nacho hot dog. These two are just a small taste of the eclectic ways celebrity chefs upgrade hot dogs.

For these chefs, the hot dog is a blank canvas begging to be filled with flavor. They get excited about condiments — Michael Symon will have you questioning your mustard. They bring international flavors — Emeril Lagasse kicks it up with kimchi, Rachael Ray adds spice with harissa tahini sauce, and Giada De Laurentiis takes the hot dog for an Italian spin. They also enjoy classic upgrades — both Gordon Ramsay and Ree Drummond have tasty ideas for chili dogs. So, relish all the options — when it comes to hot dog ideas, these chefs are on a roll.

Emmy awards, New York Times bestselling cookbooks, and even her own line of pasta — Giada De Laurentiis is on top of her game. And how does she top her hot dogs? Italian style! A Laurentiis-inspired hot dog condiment bar includes crumbled pancetta, diced red onions, pepperoncini, roasted peppers, mozzarella, pesto, and Calabrian chili mayo. She makes the Calabrian chili mayo with just three ingredients — Calabrian chili paste, lemon juice, and mayonnaise. The amount of Calabrian chili paste is left to taste, with a warning that a little goes a long way. It's hot stuff, but the lemon helps balance out the flavor. 

Over at Pink's, the iconic Hollywood hot dog stand, you can sink your teeth into the Giada De Laurentiis Dog. This Italian-themed hot dog comes with mixed grilled sautéed peppers and onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, and shredded mozzarella cheese. Laurentiis visited Pink's to give her namesake dog a taste test. True to her roots, she loves that the toppings mirror the green, white, and red of the Italian flag. After a big bite, she definitely approved.

Rachael Ray takes a Middle Eastern twist on conventional hot dogs by adding tomato relish, Israeli pickles, harissa tahini, and pickled peppers. Her recipe starts with kosher hot dogs on sesame seed hot dog rolls. For the tomato relish, Ray chops up Persian cucumbers, a variety developed in the Middle East to be crunchier and sweeter than other varieties. These cucumbers are also star in Israeli pickles, those punchy, tangy treats you'll find hiding in cans labeled "cucumbers in brine." With a spicier and tangier taste, Israeli pickles pack more kick than your average American kosher dill pickles.

While Ray's choice of relish and pickles already boosts her hot dog's flavor, she keeps going with a slather of harissa tahini sauce. Tahini is a rich, nutty, and creamy Middle Eastern condiment made from ground sesame seeds — it's the secret sauce in hummus. Ray mixes tahini with a bit of harissa paste, a fiery blend of hot peppers, garlic, olive oil, and spices. Find both harissa paste and tahini in grocery stores and online — look for harissa paste in jars, tubes, and cans and tahini in jars and squeezable bottles.

Ray tops off the flavor extravaganza with sport peppers, those mildly pickled chiles that are the hallmark of a classic Chicago-style dog. If you don't have sport peppers, Ray isn't picky — any pickled peppers will do.

Ree Drummond, also known as The Pioneer Woman, isn't one to let a hot dog be bland. She could add basic coleslaw to a hot dog, but she takes that up a notch and adds cilantro slaw to all-beef hot dogs slathered in barbecue sauce. All this flavor is placed on slightly toasted brioche hot dog buns.

For another hot dog approach, Drummond adds sauerkraut and relish. Of course, not just any relish. She creates a sweet and spicy version by finely chopping a small stalk of celery, a scallion, and a tablespoon of pickled jalapeños, all mixed together with a cup of store-bought sweet pickle relish. She uses this special relish, along with sauerkraut, to top both hot dogs and bratwurst. It's all held together in lightly buttered and toasted split-top hot dog buns.

As if chili didn't already upgrade a hot dog, Drummond takes it a step further and elevates a chili dog. She doesn't make just any chili dogs — she makes chipotle chili dogs. The dog features amped-up chili with adobo sauce and chipotle chile peppers, bringing a smoky flavor and more heat than your average jalapeño. After cooking all-beef hot dogs, she tucks them into toasted potato buns, tops with chili and grated cheddar cheese, and broils for about a minute until the cheese melts. For the finishing touch, Drummond garnishes the chipotle chili dog with finely chopped white onions.

Martha Stewart may be a household name for her elegant and sophisticated home entertaining, but she's still a hot dog-eating human like the rest of us. On a fun segment of "Today," Stewart lifted the lid on her grill and shared her lineup of all beef hot dogs, kielbasa (Polish sausage), cheddar bratwurst (German sausage), and loukaniko (Greek sausage often flavored with citrus and dried herbs like oregano). When it comes to the bun, there is a hard and fast rule: it must be buttered! Then it goes on the grill until slightly charred.

While grilling up dogs on "Today," Stewart was noticeably excited about condiments. She showed off a condiment bar with bread and butter pickles, dill pickles, French mustard, spicy mustard, beet horseradish mustard, chopped onions, red relish, green relish, sour cream, chopped tomatoes, strips of bacon, and sauerkraut. When it came time to dress her own dog, she topped it with French mustard, pickles, lots of relish, a strip of bacon, and a heap of one of her favorites — sauerkraut.

Like some other celebrity chefs, Stewart earned herself a namesake menu item at Pink's, Hollywood's longstanding go-to hot dog joint. Drawing from the condiments Stewart set out on "Today," Pink's Martha Stewart Dog features relish, onions, chopped tomatoes, sauerkraut, sour cream, and three strips of bacon.

The star of "Barefoot Contessa" is known for her elegant yet approachable home cooking. Hot dogs might not be the first food to associate with elegance, so when Ina Garten revealed that she'd want a hot dog for her last meal, a few loyal fans raised their eyebrows. The elegance crept in when Garten specified which hot dog — specifically, she'd choose a hot dog and french fries from Frenchie to Go in Paris. The restaurant knew how to do hot dogs, even fermenting in-house sauerkraut. Sadly for Garten, though, Frenchie to Go has since closed its doors.

When preparing her own hot dogs, Garten shared on Facebook that she prefers to cook them over an open fire. The plump, juicy, smoky, and charred-just-right results can be hard to replicate with other cooking methods. Garten also spilled the beans (or should we say relish?) on the surrounding details — she likes potato rolls, spicy Gulden's mustard, and lots of relish.

Long before celebrity chefs used social media to debate hot dog condiments and the true definition of a sandwich, Julia Child published "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." The book is full of labor-intensive instructions that don't exactly shout easy weeknight dinner. But Child's appreciation for food wasn't limited to just the fancy stuff. She simply loved good food, from her go-to tuna salad on an English muffin to her complicated cassoulet. And yup, her range of likes included hot dogs.

In "Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child," Bob Spitz reveals that Child liked to head to Costco for a treat — two hot dogs, with mustard and sauerkraut. Child is not alone in her love for Costco's food court frank. In Costco's 2023 fiscal year, customers purchased 200 million hot dog and soda combos. Over the years, the hot dog itself has seen some changes. Hebrew National originally supplied the dogs, but in 2008, Costco started making their own to save some dough. But one thing that hasn't changed — the budget-friendly cost. Back when Child was enjoying her Costco treat, she paid the same price we do today — just $1.50 for a jumbo all-beef hot dog and a 20-ounce refillable soda.