Mistakes People Make When Grilling Hot Dogs

Everyone loves a freshly grilled hot dog ... right? Okay, maybe not everyone's experience with grilled hot dogs is the same. After all, when you get a grilled hot dog done right, it tastes pretty amazing — like childhood summers, baseball, and backyard parties filled with family and friends. When you get a grilled hot dog that's less than that, it's basically just a meat stick of disappointment and dread. There's so much that can go wrong. Maybe the hot dog tastes like mystery meat. Maybe it's burnt to a char. Maybe it's not cooked well at all. Maybe it's about as plain as that bun. But that's just because there are so many simple mistakes people can make when grilling their hot dogs, from not purchasing the right hot dogs in the first place to not prepping the grill correctly to not really paying attention to the cooking process.

If you want to recreate those perfect grilled hot dogs of your dreams, the ones that take you back to those perfect childhood summers, you're going to want to take a look at our list of the top mistakes people make when grilling hot dogs — and then do everything in your power to avoid them.

Along these lines, you want to pay attention to what your hot dogs' packaging says about its casings, or "skin." Natural pork and lamb casings are the most desirable, as they not only provide that snap, but they also hold in all of the hot dogs' natural juices. But don't be fooled if you see a hot dog that claims it's made with a cellulose casing, because that's not a real casing at all, and you don't want it. What's the difference?

In the instance of a natural casing, the casing is retained through cooking and then when eating. If a hot dog uses a cellulose casing, though, that means the maker simply fills the casing with their hot dog meat, smokes it, and then peels the casing off before packaging and selling the hot dog. That means the hot dog doesn't come with an intact casing and it is, essentially, "skinless." That means no snap and nothing to hold in those juices. So, when you're shopping for some hot dogs, look for the natural casings only.

Okay, so this one is a bit of a contentious issue. You have scores of people who swear by butterflying their hot dogs, so why would I tell you to never poke or split your hot dogs? It all comes down to the type of hot dog you purchase. If you take the above advice and only buy hot dogs that feature a natural pork or lamb casing, you won't want to poke or split your hot dog because you'll damage the casing and then you'll no longer get that great snap and you release all the tasty juices into the bottom of your grill.

However, if you don't care for natural casings and you only eat hot dogs made with cellulose casings, then, yes, you can butterfly, poke, split, or treat your hot dogs however because you won't be losing anything in the process. According to one Serious Eats food writer, that's really the only way to eat cellulose-cased hot dogs: "To prevent ... unsightly and undesirable shriveled hot dogs, I've been slashing skinless franks for years ... Skinless hot dogs cooked this way stay plumper and juicier and don't suffer the same shriveling of the skin."

Once you're ready to start cooking those hot dogs, you need to take a look at your grill. Just like you wouldn't cook with a grime-encrusted, dirty pan in your kitchen, you don't want to cook on a grime-encrusted, dirty grill in your backyard. So, give it a clean with a grill brush, first and foremost. Then, you want to oil up your grill ahead of turning on the heat. This is vital to your hot dog-cooking experience, because if you skip this step, you're very likely to end up with hot dogs that simply won't rotate easily or that altogether stick to your grates. And no one wants to spend their grill session ripping hot dogs off a grate. For oil, you can either spray your grill grates with a non-stick spray from the kitchen or use a paper towel with a bit of high-heat oil (like peanut oil) and manually wipe down the grates.

We've already talked about how a high-quality hot dog is apt to have that tasty all-natural casing that just snaps when you bite into it, releasing all of those tasty spices and juices, but what if your hot dog snaps prematurely? That's exactly what can happen if you put the hot dogs over too high a heat, allowing the casing to burst and leaving you with a hot dog that's less than ideal.

According to the Hofmann Sausage Company, which has been making German-style hot dogs since the late 1800s, high grill flames are your enemy when it comes to cooking hot dogs. The company, which is based out of Syracuse, New York, told Syracuse.com, "The trick is to not put the hot dogs over a high flame, otherwise they're apt to split and burst open and leak juices and fat, which can lead to flare-ups."

I know what you're thinking — even more rules about hot dogs and heat? Well, it turns out that incorrect heat, whether it's too low or too high, can really ruin your hot dog experience. Additionally, according to TODAY's "meat experts," you shouldn't cook your hot dogs over direct heat, either. Avoid direct sources of heat and open flames, regardless of whether you're cooking with charcoal or gas. And, if you are cooking with charcoal, the experts recommend, wait until the coals are completely white before you add any of your food, hot dogs included, to your grill. This will ensure your temperature isn't too high.

Charcoal brand Kingsford further recommends that, when cooking hot dogs over charcoal, only stack your charcoal on one side of your grill, so you can move your hot dogs around the grate if you find that the heat is too low or high in one spot after you start cooking.

Once you get your hot dogs on the grill and you're confident that you have the best heat level for your particular hot dogs, you can't just walk away. You have to rotate those dogs. Based on the fat content of your hot dogs, you'll want to rotate them every minute or every few minutes. You'll get a feel for how often you need to rotate by how quickly the hot dog casings develop grill marks. It's better to err on the side of rotating too quickly than it is to err on the side of rotating too slowly.

And once you have grill marks all the way around, you're not done. As Good Housekeeping points out, you want to roll those dogs all the way to the coolest side of your grill (or, as Kraft Heinz recommends, move them to your grill's upper rack, if it has one) so that you can use your gas or charcoal heat for the next step in the necessary process for grilling a perfect hot dog.

Oh, you thought once your hot dog was done and your bun was toasted that you were finished creating the perfect hot dog? Not so fast! You're going to want to pay close attention to your condiments, too. While you could go with plain mustard and ketchup, if you really want to take your grilled hot dogs to the next level, you're going to want to get creative with your toppings.

Don't be scared! Your hot dogs are a blank canvas on which you can paint an endless array of gourmet flavors. And if you're not exactly sure where to start, just check out these ideas from Food Network Magazine, or try some of Oscar Mayer's out-of-the-box recommendations, like mango salsa or melted cheese. From diced tomatoes to basil, plum sauce to jalapenos, if you like it, chances are it'll probably taste pretty good on a hot dog.