Guy Fieri's Apple Pie Hot Dog Recipe

If your first thoughts about a recipe that calls for baking chopped hot dog bits and sweet apple chunks together in the same pie are not entirely positive, that makes sense — after all, most pies cleave to either the sweet or the savory. But just think: How often, during a summer lunchtime BBQ or autumn evening dinner, have you followed a bite of hot dog with a bite of apple pie?

As it happens, the blending of flavors here — the sweet, the meat, the cinnamon spice — works perfectly. And what else would you really expect from the originator of this wild pie, Guy Fieri, a man known for his largesse, sure, but also respected as a seriously accomplished chef?

"I was inspired to try this recipe because I'm a huge fan of Guy Fieri and his shows, so I wanted to try this as soon as I saw it," says chef and recipe developer Jessica Morone of Jess Loves Baking. "I feel like this recipe would be like something one of the contestants would come up with on Guy's Grocery Games when they had a list of random ingredients to use."

Don't worry, they only seem like random ingredients until you take that first bite!

This recipe does indeed bring together some ingredients you don't normally see in one dish. All told, you'll need a couple of refrigerated pie crusts, canned apple pie filling, a couple of hot dogs chopped into small pieces, bacon jam, demerara or turbinado sugar, some apple pie spice, a lightly beaten egg, water, Dijon mustard, and bacon bits.

"My favorite thing about this recipe is the flavors in it — it is sweet and savory at the same time," says Morone, adding: "I would have never thought to put these flavors together, [but] it's so fun."

Preheat the oven to 350 F and then spray a muffin tin with cooking spray. Set it aside for use momentarily.

Next, lightly flour your work surface, then unroll the pie crusts out on said work area. Using a three-and-a-half-inch round cookie cutter (or a large drinking glass, if need be), cut dough into 12 circles. 

Now gently press those dough rounds down into the greased muffin cups. Reserve the remaining scraps of pie dough, as you'll be using them soon.

Spoon about a tablespoon of the canned apple pie filling into each muffin cup, reserving at least a tablespoon of filling for the apple mustard you will make in a moment. Next, add an equal amount of the chopped hot dog pieces on top of the apple pie filling in each cup, then spread about a half tablespoon of bacon jam on top of those layers of filling.

Finally, combine the demerara sugar and apple pie spice, then sprinkle the blend on top of each muffin cup's contents.

Ball the remaining pie dough, then use your hands or a rolling pin to flatten it out into an even layer. Now cut out small, even strips of dough, then lay the strips on top of the filling of each cup in a lattice pattern.

Next, whisk together the egg and water, then brush egg wash over the tops of the mini pies. Now bake the pies in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until the pie crusts have turned golden brown.

As the pies bake, lightly mash the remaining tablespoon of apple pie filling, add the mustard, and then mix them together until they are blended and smooth.

When the pies are ready, pull them from the oven, top them with the apple mustard and bacon bits, and then serve warm. That first bite will have you (and everyone else) believing. Sure, the recipe might have sounded wild at the start, but now you'll see that it's simply wildly good.

"The twist in this recipe is that I made the recipe into mini pies instead of the original, which was more like a pie pocket, where the hot dog is still whole," says Morone. "The recipe ended up looking really cute as mini pies." And it also makes these pies easy to serve and great conversation pieces, too.

It's unlikely you'll have leftovers, but should you end up with any, Morone says: "The leftovers should keep for a few days if they are covered in the refrigerator. Just reheat them before serving."