Chicago Style Hot Dog Topper
The Easy Way To Eat A Chicago Dog
Chicago Style Hot Dog Topper, made with grape tomatoes, onion, cucumber, pickles, sweet relish and sport peppers, is the perfect Windy City way to finish your dogs. Pack it up and bring it along if you are camping and grilling out on the fire.
I am born, raised, and still live on the Southwest Side of Chicago, where every corner has a hot dog stand. I love a good Chicago Hot Dog and consider myself sort of a hot dog connoisseur.
I wanted to make a campfire friendly way to make and serve a Chicago dog without all the work. A lightbulb went off and I thought “why not dice it all together like a hot dog salsa?”
Hence the Chicago Style Hot Dog Topper was born.
I tested out this method and it was truly perfection. It has all the flavors of a Chicago Style Hot Dog and the toppings stay on even when you bite into it!
Don’t get me wrong, I still love my classic Chicago Style Hot Dog recipe and my Mini Chicago Inspired Hot Dogs, but this recipe is a game changer for feeding a crowd or wanting to take all the fixings for a Chicago Dog on the road.
Make It For Days
The beauty of this Chicago Style Hot Dog Topper is that it gets better as it sits. You can make it and let it hang out in your fridge for at least 5 days.
To me it tastes even better as it macerates and makes it own juices. I do recommend making this and letting it hang out in your fridge for at least four hours before serving, BUT if you had to serve this right away it would be fine.
Be A Sport
I am always slightly surprised when people read my Chicago Style Hot Dog post and ask about the sport peppers. I have learned that not everyone has heard of these.
They are very slightly spicy but they are more of a zesty, tangy pickle flavor. They should be available at your grocery store in the pickle aisle.
I find the texture to be a little thick, I always bite the tip off and let the pepper juice soak onto my hot dog. This is why the recipe calls for you to add a little of the pepper juice to the mix.
If you cannot find these, they can be ordered online or you can sub banana pepper rings. You can also leave out the peppers and the juice from the peppers completely.
Relish This Topper
The other ingredient some may not be familiar with is the green relish. In Chicago we use a neon green relish.
It is just a sweet pickle relish with some food coloring added. Not sure why they add the food coloring, but it is a Chicago icon.
You can find the neon green relish by a brand called Marconi Foods or by Vienna Hot Dogs. I know it is available on Amazon as well.
Too Salty!
You will use celery salt in this recipe as it is the signature flavor of a Chicago dog. I suggest using the salt sparingly as this gets saltier as it sits.
You can always add more at the end right before serving. You can also leave the celery salt shaker out and let people sprinkle it on their individual servings.
If you buy celery salt for the first time, I have a bunch of recipes on my site that use it. You can search celery salt in the search bar and they come up for you to scroll.
Chicago Style Hot Dog Topper Recipe
Chicago Style Hot Dog Topper is the easy way to get Chicago style hot dog toppings for a crowd. A mix of finely diced onion, tomato, cucumber, and pickle with a little green relish, and some celery salt. Add sport peppers for those who like a little tangy spice.
Ingredients
- 1 pint of Grape Tomatoes
- 1 medium sized White Onion
- 4 Claussen Whole Dill Pickles *the smaller ones, not the super jumbo pickles, you want to end up with about 3/4 of a cup of finely diced pickles
- 1/2 of a seedless Cucumber, peeled
- 2 heaping tablespoons of Sweet Pickle Relish
- 1 to 2 teaspoons of Celery Salt *or to taste
- 6 to 8 Sport Peppers *optional
Instructions
- Very finely dice the grape tomatoes after washing them. I cut each grape tomato into six small pieces. Add to a bowl.
- Very finely dice half of a peeled and washed seedless cucumber. Add to the bowl of tomatoes.
- Very finely dice the onion, add to the bowl.
- Very finely dice the pickles, add to the bowl. You can add as many or few of the pickles as you like.
- Sprinkle the bowl of diced vegetables with a teaspoon of celery salt, taste, and add more if needed. *This is going to sit and get slightly saltier as it sits so do not over salt.
- Add one tablespoon of the sport pepper liquid and toss to coat.
- Add the sweet pickle relish and toss.
- If using the sport peppers you can add them whole to the mix.
- Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours.
- Before serving, taste and you may want to top with a sprinkle of celery salt.
- Serve with grilled hot dogs and mustard.