Green Chili Mole Hot Dogs

This Green Chile Mole Hot Dog Recipe will make you say OLE!  Plus a quick and easy mole recipe that gives these Mexican style hot dogs serious wow-factor.

Well, burger month is officially over.

I’d be really sad about it if I didn’t have something else up my sleeve…

We are deep in the dog days of summer, so it’s only appropriate to deem July as Hot Dog Month!

Every Friday in July I’ll share one of my favorite “Dog Days” Recipes, starting with today’s latin-inspired hot dog recipe.

We all associate foods with memories and feelings. For the longest time, hot dogs triggered an extremely negative emotional response in me. I couldn’t connect them with baseball and summer fun, like most people. Instead they reminded me of a time in my childhood when my parents went through intense fiancial hardship and we seemed to live on dogs, casseroles, and tuna salad.

To this day I avoid casseroles and tuna salad. Not because of the way they taste, but because of the unpleasant memories they conjure up.

However hot dogs are a different story. A few years ago I had the opportunity to visit Puka Dog, a tropical hot dog shop in Hawaii, and magically all my negative hot dog associations faded away.

Each bite of polish sausage smothered in fruity concoctions opened my eyes to what a hot dog could be, if treated with proper respect. Nowadays I love loading hot dogs with all sorts of toppings, and can finally enjoy them as a summertime treat!

Today’s Green Chile Mole Hot Dog Recipe packs a punch of deep spicy Mexican flavors.

The combination of the rich dark mole, with chile peppers and bitter chocolate, the light perky green chile made with zippy tomatillos, and the salty creamy bite of California-made Queso Fresco offers a explosion of complex flavors in each mouthful. These are grownups hot dogs, although my kids enjoyed eating them just as much as we did.

A hot dog recipe is usually something we make for a quick meal, yet a good mole recipe takes hours to prepare and requires dozens of ingredients.  Therefore I’ve created what I call a “cheaters” mole recipe that can be made with a fraction of the usual ingredients in 20 minutes or less. If you have a good latin market near you, they may sell pre-made mole that is pretty good as well.

This hot dog recipe is a great way to kick off the Dog Days of summer. I can’t wait to share next week’s Dog Days recipe!

PRINT RECIPE

Green Chile Mole Hot Dog Recipe

YIELD: 8 hotdogs

PREP TIME: 15 minutes

COOK TIME: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

For the Mole Recipe:

• 2 dried Ancho chiles
• 4 dried Pasilla chiles (New Mexican, California, Anaheim) 
• 1 Tb. butter
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsp. dried oregano
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1 Tb. masa (You can sub a handful of broken up tortilla chips)
• 3 Tb. creamy peanut butter
• 1 Tb. honey
• 2 oz. chopped mexican chocolate (or bitter chocolate + a pinch of cinnamon)

For the Hot Dog Recipe:

• 8 hot dog buns
• 8 hot dogs
• 2 ripe avocados, sliced
• 1 jar Green Chile or Salsa Verde (I used 505 Green Chile)
• 3/4 cup pico de gallo
• 1/2 crumbled California Queso Fresco

Directions:

1. Fill a bowl with boiling hot water. Place the chiles in the bowl to soften--15 minutes.
2. Meanwhile add the butter and onion to a sauce pot over medium heat. Saute for 2-3 minutes then add the garlic. Saute another minute and add all the mole ingredients except for the chocolate. (This includes the softened peppers. Remove the stems and seeds.) Simmer for 10-15 minutes.
3. Carefully puree the mole base using an immersion blender. Then stir in the chopped chocolate. Salt and pepper to taste.
4. For the Hot Dog Recipe: Preheat the grill to high heat. Grill the hot dogs for 5 minutes, rotating once or twice. Place each hot dog in a bun and top with mole, green chile, avocado slices, pico de gallo, and queso fresco.

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