Smoked Hot Dog Burnt Ends

These smoked hot dog burnt ends are “off the hook” good and I must admit that I was pleasantly surprised at just how tasty they were as well as how easy they were to whip up.

I always get a few “correction emails” when I call anything burnt ends that aren't brisket so I feel the need to throw in a disclaimer.

Here's the disclaimer: I am fully aware of what burnt ends are and that they are traditionally made from cooked chunks of brisket point. It is my belief that there is nothing wrong with using that same process on OTHER pieces of meat such as hot dogs, pork belly, etc. to make delectable things to eat.

If you disagree, I can live with that😉

With that said, let's jump right in!

• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 1.5 hours
• Smoker Temp: 225°F
• Meat Finish Temp: 160°F (71°C)
• Recommended Wood: Hickory

• 12 hot dogs (I used quarter pounders)
• 2 TBS yellow mustard
• 2 TBS mayonnaise
• ½ cup Jeff's original rub (Purchase formula here | Purchase bottled rub)
• ½ cup Jeff's barbecue sauce (Purchase formula here | Purchase bottled sauce)
• 1 cup brown sugar

Burnt ends are all about the flavor and we want to apply plenty of rub to these. To make it stick, It's best to use a binder such as yellow mustard.

You can play around with different condiments if you like but I generally use mayo and mustard on my hot dogs so I decided to use that mix for the binder.

Start off by arranging all of your hot dogs into a half-size foil pan.

Use about 2 TBS of yellow mustard and 2 TBS of mayonnaise then brush that mixture all over the top, sides and bottoms of the hot dogs.

Sprinkle the top, sides and bottoms of the dogs with Jeff's original rub (Purchase formula here | Purchase bottled rub). Be generous!

I then placed the hot dogs on a pan with a rack.

Leave the prepared hot dogs sitting there while you go get the smoker ready

Set up your smoker for cooking at 225°F (107°C) using indirect heat. If your smoker uses a water pan, fill it up.

If you are using a pellet smoker, read these tips for best results

Place the hot dogs on the smoker and smoke them for about 1 hour or until they are 160°F (71°C) in the center and starting to get a little darker on the outside.

When they are finished cooking, bring them back into the house for further preparation.

In order to make these into “burnt ends” we'll need to slice these up.

I used bun length quarter pound hot dogs and cut them into 1-inch pieces.

I got 4 pieces from each hot dog.

Place the pieces into a half-size foil pan.

To the pan of hot dog pieces, add ½ cup of Jeff's original barbecue sauce (Purchase formula here | Purchase bottled sauce) and ¼ cup of Jeff's original rub (Purchase formula here | Purchase bottled rub) as well as a full handful of brown sugar or about 1 cup.

Stir this mixture together with the dog pieces to coat.

They are now ready to be made into burnt ends.

You'll want to crank up the heat on the smoker to 375°F (191°C) or you can also use the grill or oven for this.

If you have a pellet grill, that will work perfectly!

The high heat will caramelize the sauce, rub and sugar on the hot dog pieces and turn them into hot dog burnt ends.

Once the higher heat is acquired, place the pan of hot dogs on the grate.

The bottom of these will begin to caramelize so you'll want to stir them around about every 10-15 minutes until they reach the desired level of done that you like.

I like a little “char” on mine so I usually go about 30-40 minutes but this will vary depending on what you are cooking on and how “burnt” you like them.

I served mine with a toothpick in each one as appetizers but these also make amazing subs or poboys.

• Try using sausages, andouille, hot links, etc
• Wrap burnt ends with a small pieces of bacon
• Place a jalapeño on top of each one before poking with a toothpick
• During the high heat phase, use jam or jelly with the rub instead of barbecue sauce.
• Experiment with different binders

Printable Recipe