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Mount Rainier Hot Dogs (Mount Rainier National Park)

By: Author Bram Reusen

Posted on Last updated:

Mount Rainier hot dogs recipe inspired by: Mount Rainier National Park and Seattle, Washington

This amazing Mount Rainier hot dogs recipe is chock-full of references to Mount Rainier and western Washington State.

Inspired by the mountain’s namesake national park, a regional beer, and Seattle-style hot dogs, this is a creative—and perhaps unusual—type of hot dog.

Once you accept the fact that there’s cream cheese on this hot dog, you’re in for a revelation. I found myself wondering why I’d never thought about putting cream cheese on hot dogs before.

Cream cheese is one of the hallmarks of Seattle-style hot dogs, along with caramelized onions and pickled jalapeños. You’re also free to add other toppings as well, ranging from mustard and sriracha to sauerkraut and even barbecue sauce.

In this Mount Rainier National Park-inspired hot dogs recipe, we’re going all out, while still staying within the confines of what a Seattle-style hot dog is.

Cream cheese and caramelized onions are the essential ingredients, but we’re also making a blackberry barbecue sauce—a nod to the abundant berries you can find in the national park.

On top of that, we simmer the hot dogs in Rainier beer before grilling them on the charcoal grill!

Mount Rainier National Park hot dogs recipe inspired by Seattle-style dogs

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Mount Rainier Hot Dogs

  • Prep time: 10 minutes
  • Cook time: 1 hour
  • Total time: 1 hour 10 minutes
  • Servings: 4
  • Calories per serving: 

Smooth and rich cream cheese, soft onions, sweet barbecue sauce, tangy mustard, spicy jalapeños, beer-simmered hot dogs, a toasty bun,… They all combine to create an eruption of flavors and textures once you take a bite of these Mount Rainier hot dogs.

It may be a combination that’s quite out-of-the-box, but trust me, it works!

This is basically an up-scale version of the hot dogs you can find at snack bars in Mount Rainier National Park, particularly at the Sunrise Day Lodge and Paradise Camp Deli.

Of course, this recipe is strongly influenced by the typical hot dogs from Seattle, too, a city whose skyline is dominated by Mount Rainier itself.

Mount Rainier hot dogs Seattle-style

Necessary Kitchen and Barbecue Tools

Seattle-style hot dogs recipe inspired by Mount Rainier National Park, Washington
Yield: 4 servings

Mount Rainier Hot Dogs Recipe

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes

Full of reference to Mount Rainier National Park and western Washington State, this Mount Rainier hot dogs recipe features cream cheese, blackberry barbecue sauce and caramelized onions, all combining to create an eruption of flavors.

Ingredients

Mount Rainier Hot Dogs

  • 4 all-beef hot dogs
  • 4 hot dog buns
  • 2 cans Rainier beer
  • 3 oz cream cheese
  • 16 pickled jalapeños
  • Mustard and hot sauce

Caramelized Onions

  • 1 large yellow onion, sliced
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons Rainier beer

Blackberry Barbecue Sauce

  • 2 cups blackberries
  • 3/4 cup ketchup
  • 1/4 cup hot honey
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Instructions

Blackberry Barbecue Sauce

  1. Add all blackberry barbecue sauce ingredients to a medium saucepan over medium-high heat.
  2. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer until blackberries have burst and disintegrated, stirring often, about 30 minutes.
  3. Pour the blackberry barbecue sauce mixture through a fine mesh strainer. Discard the pulp.
  4. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper. Set sauce aside to cool.

Caramelized Onions

  1. Heat butter and olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat.
  2. Add onions, stir and cover. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring regularly.
  3. Uncover and continue sautéing until onions are very soft and browned, about 20 minutes. If they get dry, add a tablespoon of Rainier beer at a time, stirring.
  4. Cover to keep warm while you prepare and grill the hot dogs.

Mount Rainier Hot Dogs

  1. Light or heat your grill.
  2. Pour 2 cans of Rainier beer into a half-sized aluminum foil pan. Add hot dogs to the beer and place the pan over direct heat on the grill. Close the lid and bring the beer to a simmer.
  3. Simmer hot dogs for about 10 minutes, turning them occasionally.
  4. Remove foil pan from the grill.
  5. Grill the hot dogs over direct heat on the grill, turning often, until lightly charred, about 5 minutes.
  6. Lightly toast the hot dog buns on the grill.
  7. Spread cream cheese on both cut sides of the buns.
  8. Place a Rainier hot dog in the bun. Top with blackberry barbecue sauce, a generous helping of caramelized onions, and 4 pickled jalapeños.
  9. Top with mustard and hot sauce to your liking.
  10. Enjoy!

Seattle-style hot dogs recipe inspired by Mount Rainier

Notes

Note 1: If you can't find hot honey (for the blackberry barbecue sauce), you can simply use regular honey and add a dash of hot sauce instead.

Note 2: To make this a truly Mount Rainier-inspired hot dog recipe, I recommend using Rainier beer. However, if Rainier is not available where you live, you can substitute another light lager, such as Coors Light, Montucky, Miller Lite or PBR.

Nutrition Information

Yield

4

Serving Size

1
Amount Per Serving Calories 528Total Fat 22.5gSaturated Fat 7.4gCholesterol 38mgSodium 1253mgCarbohydrates 62.6gFiber 5.1gSugar 35.8gProtein 11.4g

A general nutrition calculator was used to determine the nutritional information of this recipe, which is meant solely as an indication of the dish's nutritional values. Depending on specific ingredients, quantities used and/or serving size, the ultimate dish you end up making may have different nutritional aspects. Please consider the information provided here only as guidance and not as an absolute fact.

© Bram
Cuisine: Meat / Category: Meat Recipes
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