Canning Hot Dogs

Have you ever wondered if it was possible to can hot dogs? They are usually very cheap and available, and it makes sense to try to keep some for hard times or even for inconvenient times such as snow storms and power failures.

The best hot dogs to can are all beef, with no nitrates and nitrites simply because they hold up better and they are healthier than the other types of hot dogs.

There are two methods of canning hot dogs that I have found to be satisfactory. Both methods require a pressure canner.

1 -The first is the basic recipe using a sauce or broth.

2. The second one just a variation using beans with the hotdogs and a sauce.

Hot dogs must be cut up before you can them. If you don’t, they’re going to bust anyway and look ragged so cut them up and they’ll be more pleasing to you. I canned one batch cutting the hotdogs up like little octopus, they were fun!

Hot dogs vary widely in size and weight, so I cannot tell you how many to buy and how many will fill a quart. I purchased small, thin hot dogs and used 10 of them per quart jar using only sauce. When I canned them using the variation with beans, I used enough cut up hot dogs to fill the jar half way before adding the beans and sauce.

You must pressure can the hot dogs! Do not attempt to water bath these. You will risk making your family very sick. Hot dogs are meat and all meat and meat broth should be pressure canned.

First, you heat the water in your pressure canner, boil your lids and rings and boil your jars.

Next, you have to make or purchase a sauce. There are a lot of options for this. Here is a homemade, Spaghettio-like sauce:

16 oz tomato sauce
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp honey
6 Tbsp water
2 Tbsp butter

Combine all the ingredients and it’s ready to use. You will need almost a whole recipe of this for every quart of hotdogs. I would normally use milk in this sauce instead of water but since I will be canning it, I don’t want to use milk.

The first time I canned hot dogs, I made a sauce out of home canned tomatoes and added spices and herbs and a bit of sugar til I liked the taste. Another time I purchased BBQ sauce and diluted it with a bit of beef broth. This last concoction was the easiest. You have to have quite a bit of sauce, it takes about 2-3 cups of sauce for each quart jar depending on how many hot dogs you put in each jar. 

Heat your sauce to a boil and put the cut up hot dogs in the sauce. Bring this to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes.

Loosely pack the hot dog pieces in the hot jars up to the shoulder. Pour in sauce to within 1 inch of the neck. Clean off the neck and rim of the jar with a clean damp cloth. Place the hot lids and rings on the jars and place them in the boiling water in the pressure canner as you fill them.

Process the quarts for 90 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure.

Variation – Can Boston Baked Beans and pieces of hot dogs together for homemade Beanie Wienies!
Same basic instructions. Same canning time.