1-Hour Pretzel Hot Dogs

These 1-hour pretzel hot dogs are an easy, kid-friendly recipe with juicy hot dogs wrapped in buttery pretzel dough and melty cheddar cheese. Perfect for game day or a quick snack when you’ve got hot dogs and cheese on hand.

Course Bread

Cuisine Snack

Keyword pretzel dogs

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 15

Total Time 1

Servings pretzel dogs

Calories 422kcal

Author Melissa Rose

Ingredients

Pretzel Dough

1 cup warm water (not hot!)
2 ¼ teaspoons dry active yeast one (0.25 oz.) Packet
2 tablespoons salted butter melted
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
coarse pretzel salt or sea salt for topping
salted butter for brushing on top

Water Bath

1 cup warm water
1 tablespoon baking soda (not teaspoons!)

For Assembling

8-10 hot dogs thawed (not frozen)
4-5 cheese slices

Instructions

In a medium-sized bowl or measuring cup, stir together warm water (1 cup), active dry yeast (2 ¼ teaspoons), light brown sugar (2 tablespoons), and melted salted butter (2 tablespoons). You can get the warm water directly from the faucet - no need to heat it up more. Let sit for 10 minutes or until there's a layer of foam/bubbles on the top.
*See notes below if your mixture doesn't foam or bubble.
While the yeast is proofing, mix together all-purpose flour (3 cups) and salt (1 teaspoon) in a large bowl. Use your hand to create a crater in the middle of the bowl. This is where you'll pour the water mixture.
After the 10 minutes have passed, stir the yeast mixture and pour into the crater you created in the flour bowl.
Use a spatula to mix the dough until it's combined. Once all the flour is incorporated, use your hands to knead the dough into a smooth ball. This should only take 1-2 minutes tops (any longer and you'll overwork the dough).
Grease the bowl with oil and place the dough ball back into the bowl, coating the dough in the oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap (or a clean dish towel) and let sit for 30 minutes. This will allow the dough to rest & rise a tiny bit (it won't rise much, which is fine).
Preheat oven to 375℉ and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Pat hot dogs dry.
Divide pretzel dough in 8-10 pieces (based on how many hot dogs you have in the pack) and roll into a long rope, about 12-14" long.
Wrap half a slice of cheese around the hot dog then wrap each with a pretzel dough rope.
In a medium bowl, mix together warm water (1 cup) and baking soda (1 tablespoon). Be sure to use a tablespoon and not a teaspoon!
Dip each wrapped hot dog in the baking soda bath, place on a prepared baking sheet, then sprinkle with coarse salt.
Bake for 12-16 minutes, or until golden brown.
Use a pastry brush or spoon to brush warm pretzel dogs with melted salted butter. This is what truly gives it that mall pretzel taste - don't skip the salted butter!
Enjoy warm with cheese sauce or your favorite dipping sauce!

Notes

Yeast isn't foaming or bubbling? If your mixture doesn't foam or bubble after 10-20 minutes, your yeast is likely dead and you need to start over with fresh yeast.

Nutrition is just an estimate and auto-calculated from a directory. Based on 2 dozen pretzel bites and does not include dipping sauces.

Nutrition