There are some campground meals that do not need much introduction.
You smell them before you see them.
Somewhere down the row of campsites, somebody lifts the lid on a grill, a little smoke drifts through the campground, and suddenly whatever you had planned for dinner doesn’t sound nearly as good as what they are cooking.
Hot dogs have probably been part of camping almost as long as campfires. They are inexpensive, easy to pack, require very little preparation, and taste pretty darn good after a day spent exploring.
But every once in a while, even an old campground favorite deserves an upgrade.
Wrap that hot dog in bacon.
Now we have something to talk about.
Bacon Makes a Pretty Good Hot Dog Even Better
Bacon-wrapped hot dogs are sometimes called “danger dogs,” and they have become a popular street food, particularly around Tijuana, Mexico. There you will often find them dressed with jalapeños, onions, crema, cheese, and whatever else the person standing behind the grill believes belongs on top.
Around Tijuana—or “TJ” as the locals commonly call it—you may also hear them called TJ Dogs.
Nobody seems to know who first looked at a hot dog and thought, You know what this needs? Bacon.
Whoever it was deserves a little recognition.
For us campground cooks, the beauty of the bacon-wrapped hot dog isn’t its history. It is how easily the idea fits into camping.
Eight hot dogs. Eight slices of bacon. A package of buns. A few toppings.
Dinner is underway.
Getting Them Ready at the Campsite
There is one little trick worth doing before the bacon ever comes out of the package.
Take each hot dog and make shallow diagonal cuts about an inch apart along its length. Don’t cut deeply enough to slice through it. You’re simply scoring the surface.
Those little cuts help keep the hot dogs from splitting as they cook, while giving some of that bacon flavor another place to go.
Then comes the important part.
Take one slice of thin, center-cut bacon and wrap it around the hot dog in a spiral, overlapping the bacon slightly as you work your way from one end to the other. Secure both ends with wooden toothpicks.
Thin bacon really does matter here. Thick-cut bacon is wonderful for breakfast, but it takes longer to crisp. By the time thick bacon is where you want it, the hot dog underneath may have spent considerably more time over the heat than necessary.
Center-cut bacon also tends to fit a hot dog nicely without leaving a lot hanging over the ends.
If you want a little more flavor, sprinkle the wrapped hot dogs lightly with ½ teaspoon garlic powder and ½ teaspoon chili powder divided among all eight.
And now we are ready for the grill.
This Is Where Campground Cooking Wins
At home, you can bake these in a 375-degree oven on a rack placed over a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet. Turn them halfway through and give them about 20 to 25 minutes, or until the bacon is crisp.
That method works perfectly well in an RV oven too, provided yours maintains temperature reasonably well.
But we’re camping.
If the weather is cooperating, I’m heading outside.
Preheat the grill to medium heat, somewhere around 350 to 375 degrees. Place the bacon-wrapped hot dogs on the grates and cook them for about 8 to 10 minutes, turning them occasionally so the bacon has a chance to crisp all the way around.
This isn’t one of those campground meals where you toss something onto the grill and walk away to visit with the neighbors for twenty minutes. Bacon can flare when the fat begins to render, so stay nearby and move the hot dogs if necessary.
That’s hardly a hardship.
Standing beside a campground grill with a pair of tongs in your hand isn’t a bad way to spend ten minutes.
Just remember to remove those toothpicks before serving.
Then Everybody Builds Their Own
This may be my favorite part.
Put the hot dogs into their buns and set out the toppings.
Ketchup and mustard will keep the traditionalists happy. Chopped red onion adds some crunch, and pickled jalapeño slices bring enough heat to remind you that these aren’t ordinary campground hot dogs.
But there is no reason to stop there.
Add pickles. Try grilled onions and peppers. Put out hot sauce or sriracha. Cheese certainly isn’t going to hurt anything. Pimento cheese would take the whole thing in yet another direction.
That is what makes this such a good campground meal. You don’t have to make eight different dinners for eight different tastes. Cook the same bacon-wrapped hot dog for everyone and let each person finish their own.
And what should we serve alongside them?
Potato chips are about as campground-friendly as it gets—open the bag and dinner is served. But pasta salad or coleslaw works just as well.
Of course, there is nothing preventing us from having chips, pasta salad, and coleslaw.
We are camping, not counting side dishes.
Bacon-Wrapped Hot Dogs
This recipe makes 8 bacon-wrapped hot dogs.
Ingredients
- 8 beef hot dogs
- 8 slices thin center-cut bacon
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder, optional
- ½ teaspoon chili powder, optional
- 8 hot dog buns
- Pickled jalapeño slices
- Chopped red onion
- Ketchup
- Mustard
- Potato chips for serving
To prepare them, make shallow diagonal slits in each hot dog about one inch apart. Spiral one slice of bacon around each hot dog, overlapping it slightly, and secure the bacon at both ends with wooden toothpicks. Sprinkle with garlic powder and chili powder if desired.
For the grill, heat it to 350–375°F and cook the hot dogs for 8–10 minutes, turning occasionally until the bacon is crisp.
For the oven, heat it to 375°F. Place an oven-safe rack over a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet and arrange the hot dogs on the rack. Bake for 20–25 minutes, turning halfway through.
Remove the toothpicks, tuck each hot dog into a bun, and add jalapeños, chopped red onion, ketchup, mustard, or whatever happens to sound good.
Around the Campfire
Can I wrap the hot dogs ahead of time? Absolutely. For RV travel, that may be the easiest way to do it. Wrap and secure them before dinner, keep them refrigerated in a covered container, and they’re ready to go when it is time to fire up the grill.
Do I really need to score the hot dogs? You can skip it, but those shallow cuts help prevent splitting and allow more of the bacon flavor to reach the hot dog.
Can I cook these over a campfire? You can, but bacon fat and open flames can become an interesting combination rather quickly. A grate over established coals gives you much better control than cooking directly over flames.
What if the bacon starts burning before it is crisp? Move the hot dogs to a cooler section of the grill and continue turning them. Bacon renders quite a bit of fat, so managing flare-ups is part of the process.
What’s the best bacon to use? Thin, center-cut bacon. It wraps easily, cooks quickly, and has a much better chance of becoming crisp before the hot dog is overcooked.
Final Thoughts
One of the things I enjoy most about campground cooking is that nobody expects dinner to be complicated.
Some of our favorite meals aren’t the ones requiring a dozen ingredients, three pans, and half the afternoon. They’re the meals we can prepare while sitting outside, talking about where we’ve been that day and deciding where tomorrow’s Cooper Shortcut might take us.
A hot dog certainly qualifies as simple.
Wrap it in bacon, crisp it over the campground grill, pile on some onions and jalapeños, and suddenly something we’ve eaten a hundred times feels just a little different.
Maybe that’s the secret to good campground cooking.
It doesn’t always have to be something new.
Sometimes you just need to wrap an old favorite in bacon.
Enjoy eatin’,
The Cooper Shortcut Camping Journey Trio 😊 PlusOne!
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