12 Ways To Cook Hot Dogs, Ranked From Worst To Best

While its origins lie overseas, the hot dog has emphatically woven its way into American culinary culture. Ballgames, birthday parties, the Fourth of July — just try imagining these events without a hot dog in hand. Americans bought almost 900 million pounds of hot dogs from grocery retailers in 2023, with those sales totaling nearly three billion dollars. Looking at these numbers, it's safe to say that the American love of hot dogs isn't going to wane anytime soon.

If you're like me and are a regular consumer of the celebrated frankfurter, you've probably prepared your hot dogs in various ways. Grilling's great in the summer, but what if it's raining, or you ran out of charcoal? Air frying is fast and easy, but does it compromise the dog's quality? With these questions rattling around in my head and a pack of wieners in my fridge, I decided to get to the bottom of hot dog cookery. Through a series of tests using the same dogs but various cooking methods, I've discovered the best and worst ways to cook a frank. Here they are, ranked from worst to best.

Cooking hot dogs in the slow cooker took a bit of trial and error on my part. Not all slow cookers are the same, and I have a Crock-Pot that predates the internet. My first try on the high setting resulted in desiccated dogs that had a texture not dissimilar to beef jerky, so the next time around I cooked them on low. It took a little over two hours for them to reach an internal temperature of 140 F, which was the minimum temperature I was going for. This is a time-consuming method, but it is completely hands-off, which is a major plus.

The long cooking time meant that the outside of the hot dogs got very well done by the time the insides were hot enough, but despite the dark mahogany color, they didn't taste burnt. These dogs didn't turn out quite as juicy as those using many of the other methods, and while the exterior color looked like it would be crispy and caramelized, it had a fairly weak snap. Slow-cooking would be quite useful for feeding a crowd — you can fill the appliance with as many dogs as it'll fit, and keep them warm once they're ready — but other than that scenario, it's not really worth the extra time.

When I was a kid, we boiled hot dogs in a roiling, turbulent pot of water. The sausages would inevitably split open, leaving them waterlogged and overcooked, but at that tender age, I wasn't concerned about such details. A hot dog was a hot dog — namely, a vehicle for mustard, my favorite condiment. Now as an adult, my standards are a little higher. There's a much more nuanced way to cook hot dogs in water. Rather than a full boil, which can kill the dogs' texture and flavor, keeping the water at a steady simmer slowly heats the dogs until their interior temperature matches that of the water. 

I brought a pot of water up to about 150 F on the stovetop, turned the heat to low, added the dogs, and kept an eye on their temperature as well as that of the water. Once the franks got above 140 F, I pulled them out and briefly drained them on a paper towel to remove excess moisture. The simmered dog was mellow in flavor and evenly heated through. This method created a pleasant, if unexciting, hot dog. There was no real snap to speak of, and the exterior and interior basically shared the same texture. An improvement over the ones I ate as a kid, but not by too much.

Pan-searing is one of the easiest dry-heat methods for cooking hot dogs. All you need is a stovetop burner, a pan, and a few minutes of time. To end up with a dog that's evenly cooked throughout and uniformly browned on the outside does require a bit of hands-on attention, as you need to continually rotate the dog to get every side in touch with the pan's surface. This direct contact with the heat results in a dog with a lightly crisped exterior and a juicy, tender interior.

In flavor, this method is a step above simmering in water, because you get the added dimension of browning. There are other methods that will give you a deeper, more intense caramelization, and in comparison with those dogs, these pan-seared franks seem a bit bland. Still, while perhaps not thrilling, this is a solid and simple way to cook a tasty dog. To keep things scientific, I avoided using any added fat while pan-searing these franks, but you could easily amp up the goodness by cooking your hot dogs with a flavorful fat like butter, duck fat, or bacon grease.

There are certainly merits to butterflying a hot dog, especially if cooking it on a flat-top or other griddling surface. If you're not familiar with the term, butterflying is a technique typically used with meats, including hot dogs, where you make a slice down the center but not all the way through, allowing the sides to splay out like an open book. The advantages of butterflying include quicker cooking time, a more evenly cooked piece of meat, and more surface area that can become caramelized, creating a crispier texture. Practically, with hot dogs, this also keeps the franks stable, stopping them from rolling around on the griddle's surface. Instead of having to rotate the dog as it cooks, you only have to flip it once.

The crispier texture is a big check in the plus column. A butterflied and griddled dog has a particularly unique flavor and mouthfeel thanks to that extra square footage of crunchy browned goodness. There are some disadvantages, too, though — you lose a lot of the juiciness from the interior, and you don't get the same satisfying pop as you bite into the surface that you do with a whole dog. While tasty, a butterflied hot dog just doesn't seem like a hot dog to me.

If I found myself needing to make a massive batch of hot dogs for a crowd, I'd opt for the oven over other methods. Cooking franks in the oven requires very little time and attention, and the results are excellent. The only advantage the slow cooker has in this scenario is that you can keep the dogs ready to eat using the warm setting, whereas if you tried to keep them warm in the oven, they'd certainly dry out. For making large batches that are going to be eaten right away, though, oven-roasting will give you much more flavorful dogs.

At 400 F, it took about eight minutes for the hot dogs to reach the desired temperature. Within this cooking time, the exterior darkened to a beautiful deep reddish-brown with a slick, glossy sheen, while the interior stayed plump and juicy. A few of the other hot dog preparations were a little more interesting and had another dimension or two of flavor, so this method isn't super high in the rankings, but that doesn't mean it's not a great way to prepare hot dogs. Oven-roasted dogs are very good, and exceptionally easy to make.

When I want something quick and crispy, I automatically opt for the air fryer, and this simple, fast, and largely hands-off method works quite well for cooking hot dogs. They have a very similar taste and texture to the oven-roasted dogs, but take less time, since an air fryer heats up much faster than a traditional oven. The oven has the advantage of being able to cook large batches at once, and depending on the size of your air fryer you may not be able to make more than a few at a time using this method instead. If you're not concerned about quantity, though, the air fryer is a great way to cook your dogs.

I heated mine to 400 F, added the hot dogs to the basket, and they were cooked through in less than four minutes. Caution is needed, as any longer than that, and they run the risk of becoming split, dried out, and super salty — my first batch became unrecognizably dehydrated husks after just six minutes, and were pretty much inedible. Most other methods are more forgiving, and you can get results that are just as good as air frying. Still, the speed, simplicity, and easy clean-up are great reasons to choose this method.

For this method, I used the exact same technique as simmering in water, except that I replaced the water with beer. The hardest part about this process was choosing which beer to use. Most recipes I found online called for a basic lager, like the trusty Budweiser or Pabst Blue Ribbon. However, I decided to stray a bit from the beaten path, and went with my personal favorite beer style — a porter. Besides the fact that I just really wanted to have some porter in my fridge, I also reasoned that a darker, more flavorful beer would result in a more flavorful hot dog.

Especially when compared to the water-simmered dogs, these beer-bathed franks were absolutely popping with flavor. They still lacked the texture that comes from direct heat caramelization, but the taste was so enjoyable I barely missed the crunch or snap that some of the other methods produce. Porter beers have a roasted, malty flavor, and that element worked very well as a complement to the savory, salty taste of the dog itself. A mildly bitter bite from the beer added an extra dimension, too. With toppings, this dog shined even brighter, as the deep flavor contrasted with the bright tang from the mustard and relish. The next time you're planning on simmering some hot dogs, grab a beer or two from your fridge — just make sure you have enough to drink, too.

The flame-grilled dog may rank higher on this list than it should based on the nostalgia factor, but the comforting aroma of a hot dog sizzling as it's licked by fire evokes a melange of memories, and it's hard to put a number on that. Camping trips, barbecues in the park, summer grilling parties — each of these recollections is permeated in my imagination with the familiar, savory smell of grilled hot dogs.

There are plenty of flaws with this method. It's hard, if not impossible, to get a flame-grilled hot dog cooked completely evenly. Flames are unpredictable, and whether you're using a grate on a grill or a sharpened branch you found in the woods, you'll have to keep the dog moving so that the outside doesn't get too burned. You lose some interior juices with grilling, resulting in a slightly drier dog. But that charred, crunchy shell, with its smoky flavor, is a singular experience, impossible to replicate with any other technique. It may not result in a perfect dog, but flame-grilling franks is wild, rustic, and fun. 

Despite the fact that I've had a smoker for years, somehow I've never smoked hot dogs. After doing it for this taste test, I'm now kicking myself. Unlike smoking, say, a brisket or a whole turkey, smoking hot dogs only takes a couple of minutes, and the resulting franks are savory and juicy with a mouthwatering bacon-esque aroma. I used hickory chips in my Camerons stovetop smoker, which gave a pretty intense smokiness. I might opt for a mellower variety next time, but if you love smoky barbecue, there's nothing wrong with going for a strong wood. Nathan's hot dogs are savory, salty, and flavorful enough that the smoke worked as an enhancement, and didn't completely overwhelm the dogs' flavor.

It took just under seven minutes for the smoked dogs to reach the right temperature, and my stovetop smoker takes very little time to heat up, making this a quick cooking method. The main drawback is the need for specialty equipment. If you have a gas grill, you can easily rig it into a smoker, and with a little effort, can even do so with your oven. Still, this extra work required keeps the smoking method out of the running for the top spot on this list.

In unfortunate news for my cardiovascular health, I've discovered that deep-fried hot dogs are delicious. It's no surprise, of course. State fairs across the nation have proven year after year that deep-frying just about anything makes it better. Despite the massive amount of effort it takes to deep-fry food at home, particularly the hassle of dealing with a vat of oil afterward, these dogs tasted so good I had to put them near the top of the list.

New Jersey boasts deep-fried hot dogs, also known as "rippers," as a regional specialty, although to be authentic they must be dogs with natural casings that will rip and tear in the hot oil. My skinless dogs stayed intact in their lava-like oil bath, developing bubbly, blistery, shimmering shells to hold the meaty juices inside. In a mixture of canola and vegetable oil heated to 350 F, these dogs took just over a minute to reach the proper temperature. The sizzle, crunch, and snap of a deep-fried hot dog is a wonderful thing — but due to the effort involved, and the over-the-top richness, I'll save this method for special occasions.

Of all the hot dog cookery methods, the steamed dog took me most by surprise. I was expecting another fairly bland, soft hot dog, similar to the water-simmered one, but the franks cooked using this technique were far superior in every way. If you have the right equipment, the preparation here is simple, quick, and hands-off, and the results — especially considering the minimal effort it takes — are spectacular.

I have a stovetop smoker that doubles as a steamer, but really all you need is a vessel for boiling water and a rack to keep the dogs suspended above it. I brought the water to a boil, placed the dogs on the rack, and covered them. It took about five minutes of steaming for the hot dogs to reach the right temperature. While this technique won't get you the browned caramelization of a direct, dry-heat method, there's some kind of mystical steamy alchemy that tightens the dog's outer surface to just the right tautness so you get a satisfying snap. The interior becomes tender and juicy while maintaining a toothsome texture, and the heat is perfectly distributed and even from end to end. Of all the moist-heat cooking methods, steaming blows the others out of the water.

When you take into account effort, time, and end result, the clear winner in this hot dog cooking extravaganza is the broiler. At high heat, I broiled my dogs for just under five minutes to get them up to temperature. You could flip them halfway if you wanted to, but I didn't and they still came out evenly cooked, with every square millimeter of the outside deepened to a uniform burnt umber hue. A subtly glossy sheen of fat from the caramelized exterior coated these dogs, but the juices stayed in, giving each bite a contrast of flavors and textures. First, you get the rich, fatty, satisfyingly snappy bite, followed by lusciously tender, moist, and meaty goodness inside.

Considering that it takes a broiler no time at all to preheat, you can cook the dogs on aluminum foil for easy clean-up, it only takes a few minutes, and the franks come out nearly flawless, the broiling method is a tough one to beat. This will certainly be my default hot dog preparation method in the future, although the beauty of frankfurters is how versatile they are. While this is my favorite, you may prefer the char of open-flame cooking or the mellower taste of a steamed dog. There's no need to choose one method and stick with it. After all, every dog has its day.

To decide which cooking methods to include, I took stock of my kitchen and noted every possible way I could prepare a hot dog using the equipment available. Next, I selected the hot dog brand that I felt offered the best quality for the price while offering a typical, classic hot dog flavor profile: Nathan's all-beef skinless hot dogs. To decide on the specifics of each cooking method — temperature, time, etc. — I looked at various recipes and hot dog cooking guides across the web, and did a few practice runs for methods I hadn't tried before. The goal for each method was to get the hot dogs to an internal temperature of at least 140 F, and no higher than 160 F.

For each method, I prepared two hot dogs, one to be tasted plain, and one destined for a bun with toppings. First and foremost, I evaluated flavor, which methods enhanced the hot dog's flavor, and which detracted or masked it. Texture was another major factor I looked at: Did the method make the hot dog too dry, too crunchy, or too limp and lifeless? Third, I considered the cooking method's level of difficulty, keeping in mind the time and equipment necessary, as well as how much hands-on cooking attention was needed. After I analyzed all of these elements, I ranked each method accordingly.