Best Air Fryer Hot Dogs Recipe [Video]

Air Fryer Hot Dogs are crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside, and ready in less than 10 minutes. Served on toasted buns with your favorite toppings and sides, for an easy and delicious get-together dinner.

Sometimes during hot summer days, it feels too much to turn on the oven or the grill! Therefore, we tend to cook a lot of easy air fryer recipes! Keep in mind that your barbecue will not be complete without delicious side dishes. Specifically, we can’t get enough of these Air Fryer Hasselback Potatoes, Cabbage Steaks, and Sweet Potatoes! 

This Easy Air Frying Hot Dogs recipe is fairly simple and all you need is just a few ingredients. Technically, you only need two ingredients, the wieners, and the buns. After that, you can decide on your choice of condiments and toppings.

In my opinion, this is the best way of cooking them. Firstly, you end up with perfectly juicy hot dogs without using the grill or boiling them. In addition, they are cooking mess-free and ready in less than 10 minutes from start to finish!

We enjoy them with the whole family on crispy buns, topped with ketchup, mustard, or other condiments along with some salad or french fries on the side. All I can tell you is that the end result is very tasty, and an easy way to have a quick dinner on your table in less than 10 minutes!

A day spent making a delicious hot dog bar with your kids, might be the highlight of their summer vacation. Actually, make a party, invite your friends and surprise them with this grown-up and fancy take on the classic bbq staple!

Why cook them in the air fryer?

• Firstly, it is easy and convenient. You do not have to turn on the grill, have an open flame, then clean it. 
• Also, no aluminum foil is required to wrap them.
• The hot air circulated and cooks them evenly without any oil. As a result, you get the best hot dogs with juicy inside and crispy outside. 

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What do you need:

• Air Fryer– this is the brand I have and use most of the time. However, any brand and type will do it. If you are interested in larger size ones, then a power xl air fryer is a great way to go. 
• Hot Dog Buns – if you can get your hands on the brioche buns, those are delicious, but also more expensive.
• Hot Dogs – choose your favorite brand here. I tend to go with nathan’s hot dogs. Alternatively, feel free to use sausages made with chicken, turkey, or even vegetarian-friendly.

How to Make Air Fryer Hot Dogs?

1. Prepare the meat: First, start by making a few cuts on the surface of the sausages. Actually, this is a very important step and is done in order to prevent them from exploding while cooking.
2. Air Fry: After that, arrange them in the air fryer basket and cook at 400 degrees F for 4-5 minutes. While cook times can vary from recipe to recipe, we found out that 390-400 degrees produce the best results. Next, remove the hod dog from the basket and arrange it on a plate. Make sure to cover them with foil to keep them warm.
3. Toast the buns: Finally, arrange the buns in the air fryer and cook for a few minutes, just until lightly toasted.
4. Serve: Afterward, arrange the sausages in the buns and top with spices, sauces, and toppings.

Recipe Variations and Adaptations:

These are so versatile that by mixing and combining the Sauces and the Topping you can come up with so many delicious variations:

• Caesar: Top with croutons, parmesan cheese, shredded lettuce, and caesar sauce.
• Taco: Add some taco seasoning, salsa, chopped avocado, and cotija cheese.
• Italian: Top with marinara sauce, parmesan cheese, and freshly chopped basil.
• Buffalo: A drizzle of buffalo sauce and lots of blue cheese, served with celery sticks on the side.
• Mexican street corn: Add lots of grilled corn kernels, cotija cheese, paprika, cayenne, and a good amount of ranch dressing.

Know your Air Fryer!

Every model is different, and the cooking time might be faster or slower depending on the brand, size, etc. Therefore it is important to know your air fryer. Especially, if you are cooking in it for the first time. 

For the first batch, start with only a couple of hot dogs to test. Let them cook for about 5 minutes to see how they are doing. If they are done cooking, you can continue with the rest. Or if more time is needed, then increase the time by 1-2 minutes. Also, cook them until your desired doneness. 

Favorite Condiments:

You know that these would be nothing without some amazing sauces. While ketchup, honey mustard, relish, and mayo are classic options, we encourage you to try something new!

Great Topping suggestions:

This recipe is obviously all about the toppings. While maybe when I was a kid I could just have mine with some ketchup and mustard, however now I enjoy setting up a bar for the toppings. Actually, here are our favorite suggestions:

• Cheese: I usually have a few types of shredded cheese in separate bowls. We serve shredded fresh mozzarella, white and yellow cheddar cheese, fontina, feta, and gorgonzola.
• Corn: Either grill some corn and after that add the kernels to a bowl, or make our famous Bacon Corn Salad, it is delicious as a side dish and as a topping as well.
• Herbs: Have a bowl with chopped green onion, dill, parsley, and chives.
• Grilled pineapple or Grilled Peaches: First, grill the fruit, and after that chop it into small bites.
• Bacon: You can air fry it or just buy some bacon bits, everything is better with bacon. It’s a fact.
• Relish
• Chopped pickled cucumbers
• Coleslaw: Another side that makes a great topping in this case.
• Veggies: Dice some chopped veggies like cucumbers, avocado, and tomatoes. Another option is to add some diced jalapenos for a spicy kick!
• Shredded lettuce: You can use either iceberg lettuce or butter lettuce.

Spices:

While these may sound unusual, take your hot dogs to another level by sprinkling a blend of homemade spices on top!

How to store leftovers:

• Serve: First, we recommend that you serve these immediately, so they are warm and juicy. To serve, choose your seasoning from the list, sprinkle in the meat, add your favorite sauce and preferred toppings.
• Store: If you do not plan on serving these immediately, add them to an airtight container and store them in the fridge for 2-3 days.
• Freeze: While we do not recommend freezing these after cooking, you can still do so if you have a lot of leftovers on your hand. To freeze, just add the sausages to a freezer-safe Ziploc bag and freeze for up to 3 months.
• Defrost: To defrost just move these to the fridge and let them stand overnight. After that, reheat and serve.

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Cooking tips:

• Probably the most important thing is to buy quality hot dogs, this way you will ensure that they will taste great.
• Another important thing is to make sure that the buns are fresh because no one enjoys stale bread.
• Equally important is to use high-quality and fresh ingredients for the toppings.
• In addition, make sure you have great-tasting condiments on hand.
• No oil is needed to cook them or even to spray the basket. 
• While I like slicing the wieners diagonally to give them a resemblance of grill marks, this is not necessary. That also helps absorb the condiments inside better.