Give Hot Dogs A Grilled Cheese Makeover For Maximum Flavor

Hot dogs are a classic of American cuisine, but maybe they're a little too classic. Boil or grill a wiener, stick it in a bun, squirt out some mustard and/or ketchup, and repeat until the end of time. While there are some surprisingly delicious hot dog toppings you might have not considered, there's another tasty trick to elevate your franks: give them the grilled cheese treatment.

In this video from Chiles and Smoke, Grilled Cheese Hot Dogs are shown to be super simple to make — it's a combination of two famously easy snacks with ingredients you're likely to already have in the kitchen. Grate up some cheese, ideally using a chef-recommended cheese combination, and grill up the dogs. Grab the bun, add cheese underneath and on top of your hot dog, then bring it back to the grill to fry up in some butter. Once toasted on both sides, you have a crispy savory delight that's truly the best of both worlds.

The true beauty of the Grilled Cheese Hot Dog is how easily you can customize it by adding or tweaking whatever you want. Chiles and Smoke suggests adding pickled jalapeños for a bit of an acidic, spicy bite, as well as sprinkling some spice on his shredded cheese. There are plenty of ways to upgrade your grilled cheese, and we think a lot of them would apply here. As for the frankfurter, make sure you know the secrets to the perfect hot dog bite so each partner in this mouth-watering marriage is at their very best.

You'd think fast-food restaurants would be all over grilled cheese hot dogs; they seem delicious, and with just cheese, butter, bread, and sausage, they're cheap and easy to make. Still, we haven't seen any chain restaurant offer them just yet...unless you know the secret off-menu item at Five Guys. Luckily, you probably already have everything you need to make your own, so spark up the grill and start shredding!