A Chicago-style hot dog is not a hot dog with some toppings. It’s a specific build, with seven toppings in a particular balance of sharp, sweet, salty and fresh. When someone says it’s been dragged through the garden, this is what they mean.
The ingredients are easy to find, though the sport peppers and neon-green relish are worth looking for. Skip the ketchup. It’s a long-running Chicago rule.
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About this dish
The Chicago dog is crunchy, tangy, sweet and salty all at once: a snappy beef frank in a soft poppy seed bun, topped with sharp mustard, bright green relish, onion, juicy tomato, a crisp pickle spear, peppery sport peppers and a pinch of celery salt.
It looks like a lot, but every topping has a job. The mustard and pickle bring acid, the relish brings sweetness, and the onion and peppers bring heat and crunch.
Prep 10 min · Cook 10 min · Makes 6
Ingredients
- 6 all-beef hot dogs, ideally natural casing
- 6 poppy seed hot dog buns
- Yellow mustard
- Bright green sweet pickle relish
- 1 small white onion, finely chopped
- 2 ripe tomatoes, cut into wedges, or 12 thin slices
- 6 dill pickle spears
- 12 pickled sport peppers
- Celery salt
Method
- Bring a pot of water to a bare simmer, around 170°F (77°C). Add the hot dogs and heat for 5 to 7 minutes. Don’t let the water boil hard, which can split the casings.
- Steam the buns for about a minute, either in a steamer basket over simmering water or wrapped in a damp paper towel in the microwave for 15 seconds. They should be soft and warm, not toasted.
- Put a hot dog in each bun. Add the toppings in this order: a line of yellow mustard, a spoonful of relish, a sprinkle of chopped onion, two tomato wedges tucked along one side, a pickle spear on the other, two sport peppers, and a shake of celery salt.
- Serve right away, ideally with fries.
Tips
- Steaming the bun is what gives you that soft, slightly chewy texture. Don’t skip it.
- A natural-casing frank gives a distinct snap when you bite in. Vienna Beef is the classic choice.
- Keep the toppings cold and the dogs hot. The contrast is the point.
- No sport peppers nearby? Use pickled pepperoncini, though it’s not the same.
A char-grilled version
For a char dog, grill the franks over medium-high heat for 5 to 6 minutes, turning until lightly blistered. Everything else stays the same.
Leftovers
Cooked franks keep for 3 to 4 days in the fridge. Store the toppings separately and assemble fresh each time.
Where the Chicago dog comes from
Vienna Beef, the company behind many of Chicago’s hot dogs, traces its beginnings to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, where two Austro-Hungarian immigrants, Emil Reichel and Samuel Ladany, sold sausages to visitors. They opened a shop in the city soon after.
The loaded style is usually linked to the Great Depression, when street-cart vendors offered a hot dog with a pile of toppings and a side of fries for a nickel. It was cheap and filling, and the mix of vegetables made it feel like a complete meal. The no-ketchup tradition is still taken seriously. Many Chicago hot dog stands won’t serve it, and the usual argument is that the tomato and mustard already provide what ketchup would.
Hot dogs in general trace back to German sausages. Frankfurters take their name from Frankfurt and wieners from Vienna (Wien), and immigrants from those regions brought the style to the United States in the 19th century. Chicago’s version is one of several regional takes, alongside the New York dirty-water dog and the Coney dog from Michigan.
