Hot Dog Salad Is The Old-School Summer Recipe You'll Love

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What do potato salad, pasta salad, and coleslaw all have in common? Obviously, it's that all are summer barbecue staples. They are perfect sides for hot dogs and cheeseburgers. They're refreshing, easy to prepare and transport, and may well be a hit at your gathering. There is another kind of salad that is perfect to make during the summer. This one actually contains hot dogs, and we think you'll love it just as much as the more standards.

If you have a few franks left over after grilling (or are just a hot dog fanatic), hot dog salad is a quick and easy way to whip up another delicious side. This is an old-school recipe, one variation of which comes from a 1968 work called "The New Hot Dog Cookbook." It pairs crispy shoestring potatoes with hot dogs cut in a similar fashion. The recipe incorporates veggies like carrots, celery, and onion, and leaves it up to the chef to choose between dressing or mayonnaise to bind it all together. Once finished, the chilled salad is served on lettuce leaves.

Hot dogs are already fully-cooked, so you may think you can just drop them in your salad. However, it may not be safe to eat hot dogs right out of the package due to their potential for Listeria contamination. So heat them to the recommended internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit to ensure you've killed any harmful bacteria.

While the exact origins of hot dog salad are unclear, there are a number of ideas (both old-school and newer) that you can try. Looking more for a traditional lettuce-based salad? Chicago dog salad can deliver, and celebrity cook Rachel Ray even has her own recipe. This variation is a twist on the classic Chicago-style hot dog that is typically topped with veggies. Ray combines onion, pickles, cabbage, tomatoes, and romaine lettuce, tosses it with dressing, and then tops it all with seared hot dogs. If a chopped salad is more your speed, consider making a version that contains croutons and ranch dressing.

You could also create a hot dog and pasta salad crossover that's fit for a summer barbecue. One user on YouTube Shorts made one with onions, charred corn, cherry and sun dried tomatoes, celery, cooked pasta, and of course, hot dogs. They even prepared Italian dressing from scratch to tie the flavors together. If you're up for experimenting beyond the traditional salad format, a recipe from 1955 combines macaroni salad and hot dogs in a loaf pan. It actually uses gelatin so that you can achieve that perfect rectangular shape without the final product falling apart.