Add Hot Dogs To Your Scrambled Eggs For An Easy, Meaty Flavor Boost

Scrambled eggs are a decent breakfast on their own, and if you add elements like milk and butter, they can be super fluffy and delicious. With that said, they're not quite as flavorful as something like a breakfast sandwich or breakfast bowl, which often contains some kind of meat element as well. But if you're looking for a quick and affordable way to add that savory meat flavor to your eggs, skip the bacon and slice up some hot dogs.

Americans love hot dogs for many reasons, but two important ones are that they cook quickly and are inexpensive. When you're rushing around to get ready for work in the morning or desperately need replenishment after a fun Saturday night, a quick meal of franks scrambled with eggs is the right way to start your day. It turns out this seemingly unusual combination isn't so unexpected, either — it's popular in certain parts of the southern United States and in Mexico, where it goes by huevos con salchicha.

Hot dogs are salty, meaning they offer a savory flavor that mixes well with plenty of different dishes. They were popularized with pasta and red sauce in the famous SpaghettiOs canned meals, and they pair well on a bun with almost any topping — cheese, chili, onions, etc. Now, it's time to try them with eggs. Similarly to how bacon or sausage amplifies the flavor of an omelet, hot dogs and eggs create a salty breakfast treat that's ready in minutes.

If you're going to cook some up for yourself, make sure to chop the hot dogs into bite-sized pieces before adding them to your egg scramble; it's as simple as that. You can add other ingredients for more flavor, too, including chopped peppers, onions, and queso — all of which pair well with hot dogs. Finish the dish with hot sauce or any kind of salsa for even more flavor. It's ready in about 10 minutes.

Feel free to use any kind of hot dogs you please. Depending on your other add-ins, the subtler flavor of chicken or turkey dogs might work best, or you can get fancy with some beefy wagyu franks to elevate the typically humble dish.

Huevos con salchicha is a beloved and familiar dish for kids in Mexico, and it can be served either as an egg scramble or on tortillas. Other ingredients, including onions and tomatoes, are usually added to the mix when it's turned into a taco. It's unclear how the dish got its start, but it's served not only at breakfast but also as a quick snack for young kids.

If you're unsure about adding hot dogs to your eggs, you can always stick with more common breakfast meats. That salty, meaty flavor is almost essential in any breakfast dish, though, and isn't as unusual as it sounds. While huevos con salchicha has become popular in the southern region's Tex-Mex cuisine, in Hawaii, it's spam that remains the salty meat of choice, and in some areas of the mid-Atlantic (mainly New Jersey), pork roll is often paired with eggs. Both spam and pork roll have a similar flavor to hot dogs (and they also make great breakfast tacos).

For a taste of the real deal, Texas Monthly recommends seeking out Los Muertos BBQ in Katy, a city in the southern part of the Lonestar State. The roving kitchen is run by Enrique Muniz, who notes that the weenies-and-eggs tacos he serves pay tribute to his family's work harvesting crops. "All any of us had to eat were tacos made with sliced weenies. We called them the poor man's taco," he told taco editor José R. Ralat.