I’ve included homemade pigs in a blanket on our menus many times, and they’re such a fun way to eat hot dogs that I thought I’d pass along how easy they are to make using my Quick and Tender Breadstick/Hamburger Bun Dough.
Seriously easy– as in mix the dough (5-10 min), let it rest (10 min), cut and shape around dogs (15 min), rest while heating the oven (10 min), and cook (15 min). Honest-to-goodness incredible homemade pigs in blankets in about an hour!
But first I Googled “Pigs in a blanket” to make sure what we’ve always called these is what everyone else calls them. Guess what? All the top results for this were for those little smokie-things wrapped in crescent dough, canned biscuits or bacon for appetizers. Then there were results for dogs wrapped in pancakes…huh? Whoa, that is NOT what these are, for sure.
I’ve nothing against bacon, and you could certainly cut these smaller and make appetizers from them, but these are good ol’ hot dogs with a regular, yeast-risen bun – just baked together with results in a wonderful soft and crispy bun around the dog.
And they certainly raise the humble hot dog (I use all beef, nitrate-free hot dogs) to a whole new level- my family thinks I’m the cat’s pajamas whenever I make these. Um…whatever that is.
Here are some tips for making easy homemade pigs-in-a-blanket:
1. After mixing and resting the dough, roll it out into a rough rectangle and then cut into a dozen pieces, just like for hamburger buns. This actually makes pretty large buns around the dogs- you could easily cut it into 16 pieces and use two packages of hot dogs. Oh, and they freeze wonderfully. However, I usually just make eight hot dogs (one package), and then use the remaining four pieces for hamburger buns which I cook with the hot dogs before storing in the freezer.
2. Notice the towel? My favorite bread tip is to roll and shape bread dough onto a floured tea towel- I use less flour, there’s less sticking, and it’s easy clean-up. Plus, if I need to cover the dough, I simply cover with the same towel- floured side down.
3. Place each hot dog onto one of the cut rectangles of dough and bring the dough up around, pinching the edges close.
4. Place then seam-side down on a lined or greased cookie sheet. I place them pretty close, as I don’t care if they touch. Use two sheets if you’d like more room between them. Cook any extra buns on the same large cookie sheet, as well.
5. After baking, serve with easy homemade ketchup (Addictive Tomato Chutney is even better!) and mustard for dipping.
- 2 c. warm water
- 1-1/2 Tb. yeast
- 2 Tb. honey
- 1 Tb. salt
- 2 Tb. oil
- 4-1/2 - 5 c. whole wheat white flour (or half unbleached/whole wheat)
- Mix water, yeast, and honey until yeast and honey are dissolved. Add the salt, oil, and 4-1/2 cups of flour to make a soft dough.
- Beat with a stand mixer for a minute or two (or knead a minute), adding the other ½ cup flour as needed to help dough be less sticky (you may not need all of it- and it will still be somewhat tacky- that is, sticking to the bowl in places, but not to your fingers when you gently touch the dough). Let it rest 10 minutes.
- Remove to a floured surface and knead by hand a few times. Press dough flat on floured surface and cut into 12 to 16 (depending on how much bun you want around each hot dog) roughly even pieces.
- Press each piece into a rectangular shape just short of the length of your hot dogs, and laying a hot dog on each rectangle, wrap the dough around the dog, pinching the ends to seal (if making a package of only 8 hot dogs, you can shape the rest of the dough into buns to cook at the same time to keep in the freezer).
- Place seam side down on a large lined or greased baking sheet and let rest for 10 minutes while you heat an oven to 400 degrees. They'll get a little more puffy, but won't double.
- Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, rotating if needed for even cooking, until golden on top and browned on the bottoms. Cool for about 5 minutes before serving.
My 5 and 2 year old boys both agreed it was their favorite food they had ever tried. These boys are spoiled foodies, so that meant a lot to me. (It placed alongside Cool River Pizza, better than organic watermelon and salmon caviar and lamb’s liver. When I say spoiled, I mean it…)
We used 100% sprouted whole wheat flour, Applegate pork breakfast sausages in lieu of hotdogs, and rolled them out on grated Parmesan instead of extra flour.
It was soo fluffy and delicate; I will never buy buns again. I especially like that theres no baking powder/baking soda.
(We dont buy those because of the aluminum and other questionable ingredients)
Thank you for posting this.
I’m so glad to read this, Mary Jane! Wow, such high praise – thank you. 🙂 (Oh, and I love your idea to roll them in parmesan – will HAVE to try that!!)
Not what I was looking for, my mother made Dutch pigs in a blanket with ground fresh sausage,eggs,fine ground craker crumbs, and milk and salt you formed them into roastie size then made a dough of flour bkg powder,and shortening plus a little milk then rolled out like pie dough and wrapped around the sausage,a lot of work but sooo good my husband helps me so I will do it more often the short cut kind are ok but these are the real thing!
Wow, I’ve never heard of that – I’ve seen sausage-wrapped eggs, but never with a dough around them! It does sound amazing – and yes a bit more work. 😉
How thick do you do you roll the dough? Was looking for something like this. Had them years ago in school.
Um, I don’t think I’ve ever measured, Andrea. 🙂 It’s probably about 1/2-inch – they puff up, so you don’t need it thick.
I have made this recipe and shared it many times. Last night we made it with the mini wienies and it was great! The only thing is there were three of us and we made a double batch of wienies (one batch of dough was plenty). Towards the end the dough was hard to work with because it was rising. Next time we do mini’s we will not let the dough rest and work quicker. But they were great, as before. People are impressed when I show them how easy home made dough is!
I made these for the first time the other night with hotdogs and just one filled up my husband and teenager!! Tonight we stuffed them with Mozza cheese and add some Parm. and garlic salt for cheese sticks. a Hit!!!
Yeah! I love that cheese idea, too, Andrea – yum. 🙂
I have used this recipe a few times now in my bread machine and it is great. I have used it just to bake bread, to make bread bowls, and for the hot dog recipe. I used about 5 cups of the flour. It is so soft and silky. I also added 2 tablespoons of powdered milk, just because I misread the recipe. I brushed it with butter to make the bread crunchy in the oven. THANK YOU!
Thank you so much for restoring a treasured memory of pigs in the blanket at Lanikai Elementary in Oahu, Hawaii. I think I am going to brush tops with garlic butter before baking, because theirs had a little garlic bite, and in Hawaii they call them pigs in the blanket .
I made sticks with the leftover dough and brushed with butter and rolled in cinnamon and sugar. It was delicious!!!
Made these for dinner tonight – they were DELICIOUS! Thanks for sharing!
I just made these tonight and they were AWESOME!!!!! Thank you.
As a native Oregonian I am somewhat surprised to see you calling these “Pigs in a Blanket”. Every Native Northwesterner I know calls ’em “Wiener Wraps”. I have heard these called “Pigs in a Blanket” in other parts of the country and in Texas they are called “Kolaches”. I grew up in the sixties and seventies here in Oregon eating “Pigs in a Blanket” which are pork link sausages wrapped in a flapjack smothered in maple syrup and eaten for breakfast. That being said, it really doesn’t matter what you call ’em ’cause if they’re made correctly they are incredibly tasty! I can’t wait to try your recipe! Thank you for posting this!
Ha! I just don’t like using the word ‘wiener’ so I wasn’t going to write it. 😉 I think they’re probably more accurately called ‘hot dogs in a blanket’ but whatever…
I googled pigs in a blanket and this was exactly what I was looking for! It was yummy, I only wish I had omitted the wheat flour because I was missing the nostalgic feel of white dough. That being said my kids love it (one said I just love the dough mom and preceded to rip the dough off the hot dog and eat just that) I am thinking of all the other yummy things I can bake inside of the dough, like ham and cheese…or chicken brocolli and cheese….Thank you for the recipe!
So glad you liked it, Cherise! And I do use the dough for hamburger buns, breadsticks and such – thinking about baking other things in the dough, though – that’s a great idea. 🙂
Yummy! I sprinkled some shredded cheddar cheese on the tops of mine. Thanks so much for the recipe 🙂
Oooh, I gotta try that next time!
Thanks for posting this! I can’t believe how hard it was to find a recipe for this style of pigs-in-a-blanket. This was just what I was looking for 🙂 Pinned on my Pinterest for safekeeping.
Kudos!
You’re welcome, Sarah!
THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I MAKE THESE AND THEY WERE DELICIOUS, MY TEENAGERS LOVED THEM AND SO DID MY HUSBAND.THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE RECIPE.
I think I’ve finally found the recipe I’ve been looking for! Thank you 🙂
-Leslie
First Grade Fanatics
I too make these. We call them Dickey Dogs at our house. I actually blogged about them recently!
http://dickeysdecor.blogspot.com/2012/01/dog-with-any-other-name.html
This looks like a great dinner for me to try out on a lazy night 🙂 Thanks!
Looks fantastic. I have made these before using wieners and my bisquit dough. I have to try your recipe soon. Kids love these.
I always thought pigs in a blanket was a sausage link wrapped in a pancake or crepe-y type thing. These look amazing though- totally going to make some this weekend! They look like they’d be good for lunches to freeze and heat up later!
Thanks for the recipe.
I just posted my new granola recipe if you’re interested in checking it out!http://herbngrowth.org/blog/index.php
It’s funny that you mention this for lunches….when in grade school this was one of my favorites. Our cafeteria ladies called them weiner wraps.
I went to Fairview Elementary and our lunch ladies called them weiner wraps as well:) They were sooooo good! I can still smell the fresh baked bread traveling the halls! YUM!
This looks really hearty and tasty 🙂 🙂 Thanks for the great recipe 🙂 Love and hugs from the ocean shores of California, Heather 🙂