The last time I ate a hot dog was upwards of five years ago, on a boiling summer day, at a baseball game. Nothing sounded better than a hot dog and a cold beer, and boy, did they both hit the spot. There’s no denying that, whatever’s in hot dogs (shudder), they taste pretty darn good.
Since then, I think I’ve tried every vegetarian faux-hot dog on the market, and I have never been impressed. Not only are they just as processed as regular hot dogs (albeit without the objectionable animal products), but they just don’t taste very good. They tend to be rubbery and limp and flavorless – not something you want to sink your teeth into at a ballgame, or a barbecue, or anytime at all.
About as attractive as I’d imagine the goo to make real hot dogs, but healthier.
When I went on the hunt for a veggie hot dog recipe I could make at home, my list of criteria made me less than optimistic:
- No soy isolate/overprocessed meat replacer
- Must have tons of flavor
- Must be able to stand up to grill
Grill, baby, grill – but first, steam, baby, steam.
I honestly thought I’d have to try to Frankenstein a hot dog out of whatever I could find in the fridge until something worked – luckily, I was saved by this absolutely perfect recipe. Relatively easy and actually really fun to make, these look, smell and taste about 100 times better than any store-bought fake hot dog – and even give the real deal a run for its money. Once I figure out how to smuggle a few of these into a ballgame, I’ll be a happy camper. In the meantime, right now is the heart of grilling season – whip up a batch of these for your next barbecue, or just to have on hand for a quick dinner.
| Vegetarian Hot Dogs |
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- 5 Tbsp (30g) almond meal
- 9 oz (250g) firm tofu
- 2 Tbsp soy sauce
- 3 Tbsp vegetable oil
- ½ medium onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 Tbsp smoked paprika OR several generous dashes liquid smoke
- 1½ tsp granulated sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- ¾ tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp ground mustard
- ½ tsp nutmeg
- ½ tsp ground cardamom
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1⅛ cup vital wheat gluten
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- Crumble tofu into the bowl of a food processor.
- In a liquid measuring cup, measure the 2 Tbsp soy sauce and add enough water to get to the 100mL line. Add to food processor.
- Add almond meal, oil, onion, garlic, paprika/liquid smoke, sugar, salt, pepper, coriander, mustard, nutmeg, cardamom, and cumin to the processor and pulse until smooth, about two minutes. Pour into a large mixing bowl.
- Add vital wheat gluten and cornstarch to the mixture and stir to combine. Knead gently – the mixture will be soft but you’ll see strands of gluten forming.
- Divide the dough into eight equal pieces. Roll each into a rough hot dog shape (doesn’t have to be perfect). Wrap each dog in parchment paper and then aluminum foil. Twist ends of the foil shut.
- In a large pot with a steamer insert or basket, bring enough water to just under the steamer to a boil. Arrange your hot dogs in the steamer – close together is fine, and it’s okay if they’re touching.
- Cover and steam for 45 minutes. Turn off heat and let cool in the pot, uncovered.
- To cook, unwrap hot dogs and simmer in water for five minutes, or fry in a frying pan, or throw ‘em on the grill until hot and pretty with grill marks!
- Serve on buns with ketchup, mustard, relish, diced onions, or your favorite hot dog topping.
Source: Thrifty Living
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Ok, now you’ve stirred my curiosity! I LOVE hot dogs, never tried the veggie dogs, but I have a vegan friend who’s coming to camp next Saturday for our “belated” 4th of July celebration and these sound perfect.
Where would one get the “unusual” ingredients?
ie: almond meal & vital wheat gluten? Is that something I should be able to find at Peter’s Cornucopia???
Oh he will love these!
If you can’t find almond meal, you can grind up slivered almonds in the food processor before you do anything else. As for the vital wheat gluten – I just looked it up on the Hannaford’s site and it looks like they should have it! I set it to the correct store and everything – down here it’s usually with the baking stuff – flours and whatnot: http://www.hannaford.com/catalog/search.cmd?keyword=vital%20wheat%20gluten
If you do make them, let me know how he (and you!) like them!
Hodgon Mill makes a really wonderful Vital Wheat Gluten, which also makes really great seitan!
http://www.hodgsonmill.com
I am allergic to Almond but would love to try these, any idea of how I could supplement it? Thanks
Hi Lulu! I think you could use flax meal or oat flour – the almond meal is used as a binder and for consistency and I would guess that either of those would provide a similar texture. If you try it, let me know how they turn out!
Oh – forgot to mention that you don’t have to hunt down oat flour, you can just buzz regular rolled oats in the food processor until they are a flour-like consistency. Happy hot-dogging!
This looks delicious! Do you think I could find vital wheat gluten in Colorado? I’ve never seen it around (or even heard of it) but I definitely want to try these out.
Hi Maddie! I hope you can track it down and try these – I’ve only been to CO once and the only grocery stores I can think of off the top of my head out there are Albertson’s, King Soopers, and Safeway. I checked Albertson’s and King Soopers websites and didn’t see it, but our Safeways here in Virginia do have it pretty consistently. If all else fails, you can find it on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_8?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=vital+wheat+gluten&sprefix=vital+wh%2Caps%2C174 (for price reference, our Safeways here charge about $7 for a box, and Whole Foods charges $3.99). Good luck and let me know if you try them!
Found this via VegWeb on Pinterest. I’m so stoked to make these — think they’d hold up on a stick over a campfire? That’s the one time I break down and buy yucky processed ones because you just have to have a hot dog on a stick over a campfire!!
Note on Vital Wheat Gluten for Maddie and anyone else: most every big supermarket carries it in the baking section because lots of people add it to bread recipes. I’ve never had a problem finding it in any grocery chain here in Utah, and if all else fails, I know you can get it in Whole Foods or Sunflower if there’s one near where you live in CO.
I do think they would hold up! Just make sure to steam them fully, and then keep them refrigerated until you’re off to go camping. And thank you for the additional info on where to find vital wheat gluten! Hope you enjoy these.
Can you make this recipe without the gluten?
I haven’t tried so I can’t tell you for sure…the gluten is kind of what binds everything together, so I don’t know what a good gluten-free sub would be, as I’m not super experienced with GF baking. You could try a GF flour with some xanthan or guar gum for additional binding. If you do try it, let me know how it turns out.
I can’t WAIT to make these!
I hope you love them as much as I did!
I am not too fond of buying the processed meat replacements either, so I am happy to have found this recipe. I’ll have to give this a try, you make them sound really good.
I would love to try this but don’t have a lot of time to spend in the kitchen so need to make the most of it when I do. Can the recipe be doubled and the hot dogs frozen? Thanks.
Yep, they freeze great. I haven’t tried doubling the recipe but I can’t think of anything that would make it not work.
I’m incredibly excited about making these. Fingers crossed it’s going to be a big hit with my boys. One question, do you have to use the parchment paper?
Hey Allison! I’d be a little worried about them sticking to the foil if you don’t use the parchment. You might be able to spray the foil with a little cooking spray before wrapping them and steaming, but I can’t vouch for the results since I haven’t tried it that way. Good luck – hope you enjoy!
But what is the casing made out of exactly?? I have to make a vegetarian sausage (hot dog) as part of a Culinary product development course, I am struggling for ideas and because I have never made a veg sausage, struggling to gain the knowledge of where to start! Do you have any other recipes at all or any advice for me? Would be greatly received, Sincerely Jak C-B
There’s no casing. Wrapping the hot dogs in the parchment/foil and steaming them is what gives them that look.
Julie,
How many calories is each hotdog?
About 185, 9g carbs, 9g fat, 15g protein.
The kids and I did not like the veggie dogs found in grocery stores around here, so when I saw this recipe I was very hopeful once again to finally be able to have a decent hot dog…
The kids (6 and 8) helped me rolled them and they thought it was better than play dough… My daughter wasn’t crazy about the look of it-called it dog poop while helping with the blender, but she ate 2! Even my husband (not vegan) had some. I think the liquid smoke won him over.
I did make the mistake to use wax paper (was out of parchment paper) but it still worked perfectly… Beside the yummy taste, I really liked the fact that they hold very well.
Thank you so much for the recipe!
I’m so glad you enjoyed them! They are a staple around here – and I can definitely see how they’d be extra fun to make with kids.
For those that can’t tolerate soy products, I’ve substituted butter beans for the tofu and balsamic vinegar for the soy sauce. This is one of my favorite recipes. They do taste great!
Thanks for the tip, Brenda! I’m going to have to try subbing the beans in – what a great idea!
What a wonderful recipe! At presenting I have 9 hotdogs in the steamer. I found this recipe really easy to follow, great idea about the tofu to add texture. Many thanks. We are all awaiting hot dogs for dinner tonight x
I hope you enjoyed! Glad you found the recipe easy to work with.
My husband recently joined me in my quest to be vegetarian/vegan, but corn dogs used to be one of his favorite guilty pleasures. Any way I could turn these into corn dogs? Any tips, have you tried it?
I haven’t tried but I was actually thinking about this just the other day – it’s on my to-do list. When I try it, I’ll certainly post about it!
I am not using the same kind of food processor you have… can you elaborate on how much water needs to be added (you said up to the 100ml line – mine does not have one).
Angel, my food processor doesn’t have one either. Use a standard liquid measuring cup to measure out the soy sauce, and then fill with water to the 100 mL line. Then pour that into the food processor.
[...] Since store-bought meat hot dogs are disgusting and unhealthy, I suggest making your own vegan ones to use the dressing on. I don’t have my own recipe for this, since I use this recipe: http://www.baked-in.com/2012/06/29/vegetarian-hot-dogs/ [...]