Big Mac Hot Dogs Recipe

McDonald's Big Mac is an absolute fast food icon, and of course, we all know and love it as a supersized, larger-than-life burger. It almost seems impossible to envision a Big Mac as anything besides a burger, but as someone who loves both a Big Mac and a good hot dog, I started to see some crossover potential. And, just like that, this Big Mac hot dog recipe was born. I can confidently say that it hits on all of those essential Big Mac flavors (all the way down to the special sauce). We are all familiar with how well those flavors meld together, and adding a grilled hot dog to the mix is deliciously magic.

Considering how well the elements of a Big Mac translate to hot dog format — sesame seed buns, lettuce, pickles, onions, cheese, and special sauce paired with all-beef franks — it only makes sense that this crossover ended up being a total success. The textures are especially playful, between the crisp lettuce, tangy pickles, snappy dogs, and melty cheese, and the hot dog format only adds to the fun. This is the type of recipe that isn't particularly difficult to make and one that really rewards you for your efforts (by way of delicious, over-the-top hot dog waiting for you across the finish line, of course). 

Anyone knows that the sesame seed bun is crucial to a good Big Mac, and as such, I wanted to capture that essence with sesame seed hot dog buns in this recipe. If your grocery shopping experiences have been anything like mine, however, then you have yet to see a store-bought sesame seed hot dog bun in the wild. To mitigate the issue, this recipe calls for semi-DIY sesame seed buns, which involve brushing regular hot dog buns with egg wash, sprinkling with sesame seeds, and baking them for that toasty finish. If you're short on time, you can absolutely skip the sesame seed steps, but I do recommend including them for the most accurate Big Mac experience possible.

Aside from the buns, you'll also need all-beef hot dogs to fill them, along with slices of American cheese, shredded lettuce, minced white onion, and dill pickle chips. For that Big Mac-approved special sauce, you'll need mayonnaise, tomato paste, sweet relish, apple cider vinegar, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt.

Make the sauce by placing the mayonnaise, tomato paste, relish, vinegar, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt in a medium bowl.

Stir to combine the sauce, cover, and refrigerate until ready to use.

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

Place the hot dog buns on the prepared baking sheet.

Brush the top of the buns with the egg wash.

Generously sprinkle the buns with sesame seeds and place the tray in the oven.

Bake for 8 minutes or until the sesame seeds have adhered to the buns. Remove the buns from the oven and set them aside until cool enough to handle.

Divide the cheese slices between the buns and set aside.

Preheat a grill or grill pan over medium heat.

Once hot, add the hot dogs, and grill until lightly charred and hot throughout, about 5 to 10 minutes.

Remove the hot dogs from the grill and set them aside.

To assemble the hot dogs, fill the buns with shredded lettuce.

Top the shredded lettuce with chopped onion.

Add 3 pickle chips to each bun.

Divide the grilled hot dogs between the buns.

Dollop the hot dogs with special sauce and serve.

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As someone who loves sauce and saucy foods, I tend to craft recipes with excess sauce in mind — to the point where leftovers are all but guaranteed. If you don't go quite as heavy on the sauce dolloping as I do and end up with leftover special sauce, there are plenty of ways to put any extras to good use. Naturally, since the sauce is specifically inspired by Big Mac sauce and more generally inspired by the type of condiment that works well on a burger, you can use it on all sorts of burgers. And we're not just talking Big Macs; turkey burgers, salmon burgers, and homemade black bean burgers would all pair well with this creamy, tangy condiment.

If there's one type of sandwich I like even more than a Big Mac, it's a classic Reuben. Luckily, the special sauce in this recipe is great for crafting Reubens, Rachels, or any type of sando in that vicinity. More generally speaking, this is the type of sauce that can instantly upgrade most types of sandwiches, especially that plain turkey sandwich that has been begging for a creamy, tangy sauce. Since it's so close to Thousand Island dressing, you can also easily use the sauce as a straight-up salad dressing. Finally, if you tend to gravitate towards creamier dips for chips and fries, then this special sauce would be tasty in that arena too.

There are a surprising number of hot dog brands on the market, all with slightly varying lengths, snappiness, and core ingredients. For this Big Mac-inspired recipe, I specifically opted for all-beef franks to stay true to that burger theme, but you can easily explore outside of the beef realm as desired. Pork, turkey, or even veggie dogs would all be fair game here. I do recommend using bun-length dogs, however, and avoiding any that are labelled "jumbo" or anything in that oversized realm. While it may seem tempting to get more hot dog bang for your buck, we are stuffing those buns quite a bit, so super-sized hot dogs might disrupt that intricate balance of ingredients.

As far as grilling the hot dogs goes, I like to rely on my trusty grill pan to get the job done. You can, of course, use an actual grill, and keep in mind that the hot dogs won't take long to char up since they're already cooked. If you do go the traditional grilling route, you may consider crosshatching the hot dogs so that they cook even quicker on the grill.

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