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I had a vision recently. It was a 90s-style pizza commercial where a slice gets pulled away from the pie to reveal a crust stuffed with mozzarella—but it wasn’t mozzarella. The crust was stuffed with hot dogs. Although I still think this was a weird fever dream, it turns out Pizza Hut and Dominos have been dabbling with this pigs-on-a-pie idea on and off since 2015. There doesn’t seem to be a recent promotion, so my vision remains unexplained. Regardless, it’s genius, and you should make one soon to improve your day.
The procedure of stuffing a pizza crust with hot dogs is nearly the same as filling it with mozzarella. You leave a wide border of crust, add the stuffing-to-be, and stretch the edge of the crust up and over the filling. The big difference is that shredded mozz can be sprinkled in a curve around the perimeter and hot dogs don’t really bend like that.
That’s where the bites come in. Instead of trying to bend a straight hot dog, simply cut them into 1-inch segments. Place them around the edge in a curve, wrap them individually in the excess crust (like the always-fashionable pigs in a blanket), and you’ve got a hot-dog-stuffed crust.
Pizza fans, consider these tools to help you sling pies at home:
How to make a hot dog stuffed crust pizza
1. Stretch out the dough
A good inch or two of the dough will end up wrapped around the dog, so keep that in mind as you stretch out the crust. I used half a ball of frozen pizza dough, about 10 ounces (the rest I save in the fridge for a pizza week), and stretched it out to a 12-inch circle.
2. Cut edge to make the blankets
Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann
Place your dough on a pizza peel, or onto a piece of parchment paper on a sheet pan if that’s how you’re baking it. I used a small serrated knife to cut through the stretchy dough. Cut in, about an inch, from the outer edge all along the perimeter. To keep the segments even I cut two slices across from each other. Then split that distance in half and cut two slices across from each other again. I repeated this until I ended up with 16 flaps, which would allow for 2 hot dog bites per pizza slice (since I was cutting it into 8 slices). You can modify how many hot dog bites you want for each slice depending on the size of your pizza.
3. Wrap the dogs
Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann
I put down some sauce first to mark my playing field, but if I did it again (and I will) I’d probably hold off on the sauce until after my puppies were tucked in. Either way, as long as you stretch the dough over the dog and roll it completely so the end of the dough ends up tucked under the hot dog, then it will stay securely wrapped. Place a hot dog chunk on each crust flap and wrap each one. For the Pizza Hut-look you can twist the pig in a pizza blanket so the open ends face away from the center of the pie, like a starburst. I didn’t bother. I just left them aligned with each other, so it looks more like a regular pizza—with a hidden secret.
4. Top off the pizza and bake
Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann
Apply a couple of spoonfuls of sauce, cheese, and any toppings to your pie. I kept it simple with tomato sauce and shredded mozzarella—the hot dogs are the main event. Bake the pizza at 425°F for 10 to 12 minutes.
I’m not even a die-hard hot dog fan, and this pizza is a blast to eat. You can pull off the hot dog bites as an amuse bouche to your slice, or leave them for the last bites. If you’re the type of person that tends to leave crust on the plate, you won’t this time. You can stuff your crust with li’l smokies, slices of your favorite brat, kielbasa, tofu dogs, or even teeny frozen corn dogs (though the corn crust doesn’t get as crispy). Serve your pizza with a small bowl of ketchup or mustard for dipping, and dig in.
