Hot Dog Burnt Ends

Classic Burnt Ends are chunks of smoked beef brisket that are cooked in a smoky sauce until they become dark and caramelized. This results in intensely flavored and incredibly tender chunks of meat that can be served as an appetizer or main course. Because beef brisket is pricey, we’re substituting with beef hot dogs which is why these are often referred to as “Poor Mans Burnt Ends”.

Of course! If you wanna ditch the store bought sauce, here’s a recipe to make your own BBQ sauce.

You can use whatever one that you prefer. recently tried the Kinder BBQ Blend and have enjoyed using it but if you want a homemade recipe, try the homemade bbq seasoning I share in my BBQ Chicken recipe.

Traditional burnt ends are made with brisket. But a good cut of brisket is expensive. So we like to use hot dog chunks. We prefer the beef hot dogs but you can use any hot dog you prefer. They’re cheaper, faster, and a little more kid friendly.

Sure can! If you want to make them in the oven, here’s how to do that:
First, preheat the oven to 275 degrees F. Season the hot dogs following steps 2-4 from our smoker recipe. Then place them on a baking sheet lined with foil.
Place in the oven to bake for an hour. Once finished cooking, remove from once they are evenly cooked, slice them into thirds as you increase the temperature of the oven to 350F.
Make the bbq sauce using steps 8-9 from the smoker recipe. Then, coat the hot dog pieces in the sauce and bake for another 35-30 minutes, tossing once or twice throughout the cooking time. I also recommend adding some liquid smoke to the sauce to help give the burnt eds that smoky flavor that you’ll be lacking by not using the smoker.
Remove from oven and let them cool before serving.

Certainly! First, preheat the Air Fryer to 370F for 5 minutes while you prep the hot dogs.
Follow steps 2-4 of the recipe to prep the hot dogs.
Use some nonstick cooking spray to spray the basket and cook the hot dogs for 5 minutes.
Remove the dogs from the basket and cut into thirds.
Prepare BBQ sauce mixture using step 8 of the recipe and toss them in the sauce mixture to coat them.
Place them back in the basket to air fry for another 3-5 minutes and shake the basket halfway through cooking.
If you want them more crispy, fry for 5 minutes, less crispy, opt for 3 minutes.

If you don’t have a smoker, you can just cook this totally on the grill. Cook your seasoned hot dogs until fully heated through. Don’t cook them on high, you don’t want them blackened. When ready, cut the hot dogs in chunks then add to your aluminum pan. Toss them in the BBQ sauce mixture. Make sure your grill is at 350F degrees then cook the hot dogs in the pan uncovered for about 30 minutes until your sauce has thickened and caramelized. Note: since you aren’t smoking the dogs first, try adding a touch of liquid smoke to the BBQ sauce mixture to really get that smoky flavor.

Serve anything that you normally would with regular hot dogs. Try fries, potato salad, grilled veggies, macaroni salad or cole slaw!

To store leftovers, wait for them to cool and store them in an airtight container for up to 3 days in the fridge. You can warm them up again by tossing them in the Air Fryer at 330F for 3-4 minutes.