Dirty Water Hot Dogs In Instant Pot
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Hot Dogs In Instant Pot. Let me introduce you to one of the most delicious ever ways to cook hot dogs. Not only do we show you how to steam hot dogs in the instant pot, but also how to use your stock wisely to make the most flavoursome dirty water hot dog you have ever tried.

Hot Dogs In Instant Pot
Prior to getting the instant pot pressure cooker there have been many times that I have eaten hot dogs and they have never blown my mind and never felt like something special.
I remember going to a Bonfire Night a few years ago and it advertised a barbecue and all they had were a tray of hot dogs.
The hot dogs were nothing special and they did not even have onions or mustard.
I complained on the blog I had back then, and I got a lot of abuse from locals.
Since then they even advertise itself as a tray of hot dogs rather than a barbecue.
That was in the November of 2011 and now each year when that bonfire night barbecue is advertised, my dad with a cheeky grin asks me if we are going.
He knows we are not, but he still finds it funny the sarcastic blog post I wrote back then.
However, if they had made these delicious hot dogs in the instant pot or made the same amount of effort, I am sure I would have gone to it every year and be talking about the food all year. Just like I do with other foodie events that happen in our local area.

What Is A Dirty Water Dog?
Let us start by answering the golden question that unless you are familiar with NYC dirty water dogs, probably are wondering what an earth a dirty water dog is.
Think of all those movies you have watched that are based in NYC and how often you see people buying hot dogs from the side of the walk.
The first time I noticed them was back in 1990’s when I was watching the movie While You Were Sleeping.
There was a lot of New York footage and I so wanted to eat one of those hot dogs that Sandra Bullocks character was ordering.
Known as dirty water dogs, dirty water hot dogs or dirty hot dog. It is where the hot dogs were cooked in seasoned hot dog water, then new hot dogs would be added as new ones were sold and the water was not changed. This gave an amazing stock for your hot dogs.
Rules of course changed and hygiene officials banned this practice and now the water is changed much more often which has ruined the stock of dirty water dogs that we all know and love.
Instant Pot Dirty Hot Dogs
You are probably wondering how you can make your favourite NYC dirty hot dogs in the instant pot and what they taste like.
Well for me instant pot dirty hot dogs are just like when you reserve your leftovers and use it as a future stock or gravy for your next meal.
I have lots of silver tins of stock in the freezer. Some are from when I have cooked sausages, others are broth such as our lamb bone broth and instead of throwing away that leftover juices that are left in your instant pot, save them as use them like I am doing today.
The first time you make hot dogs in the instant pot do them the regular way, then save the juices and next time you make hot dogs you can instead be making dirty water hot dogs.
How To Make Hot Dogs In Instant Pot?

Cooking hot dogs in instant pot is EASY. I recommend starting off with basic instant pot hot dogs and then on your second batch making instant pot dirty dogs.
Instant Pot Hot Dogs Instructions:
- Sauté onion with extra virgin olive oil.
- Add liquid and load it up with your favourite hot dogs.
- Place the lid on your instant pot, pressure cook and quickly release pressure.
- Remove the hot dogs.
- Drain the liquid for future dirty dogs.
- Use the air fryer lid to warm up hot dog buns and load your buns with hot dogs, onion, and mustard.
- Serve.

Dirty Water Dog Recipe
Then to make dirty water dogs next time in your instant pot. Simply use the reserved liquid instead of just loading it up with water or sausage gravy.

Instant Pot Frozen Hot Dogs
If you would like to cook instant pot frozen hot dogs, then I recommend that you increase the cook time by 2 minutes and do everything else the same as our thawed hot dogs recipe.
Instant Pot Hot Dogs For A Crowd
If you plan to cook instant pot hot dogs for a crowd then I recommend a much bigger amount of liquid in your instant pot. Normally I would just add enough water or dirty dog water for 6 hot dogs.
But if you wanted to make 18 hot dogs for example, you would need to stack them. They do not taste very nice if they are not partly submerged in water, so load in extra water to balance it out.
Instant Pot Hot Dog Buns

You can also cook your favourite hot dog buns in the instant pot. You can load frozen hot dog buns onto your air fryer crisp lid and let it do the hard work for you. It takes JUST 6 minutes from frozen at 160c/320f to warm up your buns.
Instant Pot Hot Dog Time
Here is the thing about instant pot hot dogs are checking the cook time for you all. We all have different sized hot dogs throughout the world.
Growing up in England they would be in a can like this:

Living now in Portugal they would be purchased from Lidl and would be authentic German hot dog sausages.
The difference being that the German variety have a huge thick skin on them and often explode in the instant pot. They also require a longer cook time.
We experimented with lots of different types of hot dogs in the instant pot and the cook time we found is as follows:
- Thin hot dogs = 0 minutes
- Canned hot dogs = 0 minutes
- Thick German hot dogs = 1 minute
However, it is very important to note that you MUST cook your hot dogs at low pressure otherwise they will explode under the pressure.

Dirty Water Hot Dogs In Instant Pot
Ingredients
Kitchen Gadgets:
Instant Pot Hot Dogs Recipe Ingredients:
- 1 Medium White Onion
- 1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 6 Hot Dogs
- 6 Frozen Hot Dog Buns
- Mustard optional
Instructions
- Peel and dice your onion. Sauté with extra virgin olive oil in the instant pot.
- Cancel sauté and load in your hot dogs.
- Add enough liquid so that your hot dogs are almost submerged.
- Place the lid on your instant pot, set the valve to sealing and cook for 0 minutes on low pressure.
- Manually release pressure, remove your hot dogs, and put them to one side.
- Remove the liquid and place into freezer containers as this is your dirty dog water for next time.
- Place the frozen hot dog buns into the air fryer crisp lid and cook for 6 minutes on 160c/320f.
- Load hot dogs into hot dog buns. Add onion and add mustard.
- Serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Can’t make it now? Then pin it for later!

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Love dirty water hot dogs and this is an awesome idea.
Thanks Samantha,
Never thought of using the instant pot for hot dogs. Will be making these for lunch. Also have a NinjaFoodi which will be perfect for warming up the buns.
Best hot dogs around are the ones cooked in the instant pot. Love them like this.
To continue this in the future, do you do another batch of sautéed onions? I started with homemade chicken broth and I dip out the cooked onions to serve on each hot dog. They are so soft, the way I wished all the hot dogs I have eaten over my lifetime had been.
Hi David
Yes i would do another batch of onions if you need to as they only take a minute 🙂
I’m with you. Living in Texas, if you ever have a BBQ you’d better have a lot more than hot dogs!
Yeah. that’s what I was exploring for.. why are there not more recipes showing how to do dirty water hot dogs. But i have found yours now. Thanks. Clementine.
You’ve blown my mind. Tried them in the instant pot last night and they were amazing and love your dirty water tricks.