Brazilian Hot Dog, also known as Cachorro Quente, is a popular street food. It features hot dogs in tomato sauce with an array of toppings. It's so generously loaded that you can barely fit it in your mouth!
How to Make Brazilian Hot Dogs
- Prepare the sauce: Heat a medium nonstick saucepan over medium heat and then, add the oil and butter. Once the butter melts, sauté the onion and bell pepper until softened, about 3-4 minutes. Add the garlic and let it cook, stirring constantly, for 30-60 seconds. Do not let it brown!
- Stir in the tomato paste, marinara sauce, water, salt, pepper, and oregano. Once it starts to boil, reduce the heat to medium-low, cover the pan, and let it simmer for about 12-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Heat the sausage: Remove the lid, add the sausage links to the tomato sauce, and let them cook until heated through, about 5-7 minutes. TIP: Make sure the sausage is covered in tomato sauce to absorb the sauce and get plumpy!
- Right before serving, assemble our loaded hot dogs: Place a warm or hot sausage link into each bun; then, spoon about 2 tablespoons of the cooked tomato sauce on top of the sausage. Sprinkle over some shredded mozzarella cheese and let it melt. Then, add the condiments, corn, shoestring potatoes (batata palha), and cilantro. TIP: Only assemble the hot dogs before serving them, to prevent the bread from becoming soggy!
NOTE: Mustard, ketchup, and mayonnaise are the preferred choices for condiments in Brazil. Other suggested toppings: Steamed peas, pico de gallo (vinagrete), grated Parmesan cheese, shredded lettuce, chopped olives, grated carrots, mashed potatoes or Brazilian potato salad (instead of shoestring potatoes), a dollop of Brazilian cream cheese, etc. Typical toppings vary from one region of Brazil to the next.
Pro Tips to Make Loaded Hot Dogs
- Choose a good tomato sauce!
- Season and cook your tomato sauce well! The sausage will absorb its flavor!
- Make a superficial cut on the sausage - from one end to the other! This will help the sausage absorb the tomato sauce quicker and become plumpy.
- Assemble the hot dogs while the sausage and sauce are still hot. But only assemble them before serving to avoid the buns becoming soggy!
- Customize the toppings according to your preferences.
- If you prefer, you can make a meat sauce instead of a simple tomato sauce. For this, brown well-seasoned ground beef, cook it in the tomato sauce, and add the sausage to heat it through.
- Serve these Brazilian-style hot dogs with guaraná soda or caipirinha. It's a complete meal!
FAQs
Brazilian hot dogs (known in Brazil as 'cachorro quente') are a popular street food! It consists of hot dogs simmered in a tasty tomato sauce and covered with an array of toppings (e.g. cheese, condiments, corn, shoestring potatoes, etc). It is a loaded hot dog that can barely fit in your mouth!
How to Store
- FRIDGE: Store the hot dogs in tomato sauce in an airtight container in the fridge for about 2-3 days.
- FREEZER: After cooling completely, you can freeze the sausage in tomato sauce in a freezer-safe container for up to 1-2 months.
- THAWING: Thaw it in the fridge before reheating!
- REHEATING: Before serving, reheat it in a saucepan over medium-low heat until heated through.
Other Hot Dog Recipes
PIN AND ENJOY!
Brazilian Hot Dogs (Cachorro Quente)
Equipment
- 1 medium saucepan
- 1 cutting board
- 1 Chef's knife
- 1 wooden spoon
Ingredients
For the Brazilian Hot Dogs
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 medium yellow onion small diced (or white onion)
- 1 green pepper small diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 cups tomato sauce I used a slightly chunky marinara
- 1 cup water
- Salt to taste
- Ground black pepper to taste if you are a fan of spicy food, you may add a pinch of red pepper flakes although the Authentic Brazilian hot dog is not spicy
- ⅛ teaspoon dried oregano
- 8 hot dog links on each sausage, make a lengthwise cut that goes from one end to the other. The cut must be superficial, i.e., less than half of the thickness of the sausage. NOTE: If you prefer, you can slice the sausage into rounds to heat through in the sauce!
- 8 hot dog buns
Toppings
- Shredded mozzarella optional
- Condiments ketchup, yellow mustard, and mayonnaise
- Cooked yellow corn kernels
- Shoestring potatoes
- Chopped cilantro or parsley
Instructions
- Prepare the sauce: Heat a medium nonstick saucepan over medium heat; then, add the oil and butter. Once the butter melts, sauté the onion and bell pepper until softened, about 3-4 minutes. Add the garlic and let it cook, stirring constantly, for 30-60 seconds. Do not let it brown!
- Stir in the tomato paste, tomato sauce, water, salt, pepper, and oregano. Once it starts to boil, reduce the heat to medium-low, cover the pan, and let it simmer for about 12-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Heat the sausage: Remove the lid, add the sausage links to the tomato sauce, and let them cook until heated through, about 5-7 minutes. TIP: Make sure the sausage is covered in tomato sauce to absorb the sauce and get plump!
- Right before serving, assemble our loaded hot dogs: Place a warm or hot sausage link into each bun, and then spoon about 2 tablespoons of the cooked tomato sauce on top of the sausage. Sprinkle over some shredded mozzarella cheese and let it melt. Then, add the condiments, corn, shoestring potatoes, and cilantro. TIP: Only assemble the hot dogs before serving them, to prevent the bread from becoming soggy!
Recipe Notes
- FRIDGE: Store the hot dogs in tomato sauce in an airtight container in the fridge for about 2-3 days.
- FREEZER: After cooling completely, you can freeze the sausage in tomato sauce in a freezer-safe container for up to 1-2 months.
- THAWING: Thaw it in the fridge before reheating!
- REHEATING: Before serving, reheat it in a saucepan over medium-low heat until heated through.
Nutrition
** Nutrition labels on easyanddelish.com are for educational purposes only. This info is provided as a courtesy and is only an estimate, since the nutrition content of recipes can vary based on ingredient brand or source, portion sizes, recipe changes/variations, and other factors. We suggest making your own calculations using your preferred calculator, based on which ingredients you use, or consulting with a registered dietitian to determine nutritional values more precisely.
Please note that health-focused and diet information provided on easyanddelish.com is for educational purposes and does not constitute medical advice, nor is it intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent disease. Consult with your doctor or other qualified health professional prior to initiating any significant change in your diet or exercise regimen, or for any other issue necessitating medical advice.
This post was first published on June 25, 2013.
dandydogsbiz says
It looks superb delicious. I would try this now. Perfect recipe and easy to follow.
Tara says
I will always choose a hot dog over a hamburger too. These were perfect! I just kept them with the basic toppings this time, but absolutely loved them. Thanks so much for the recipe!
Valentina Dimitrova says
My pleasure, Tara!!! It is a very simple, homey recipe but that I've always loved. I am glad to know that you enjoyed it! Wishing you a great day!
Wizzy says
Love these dogs and the patriotic colours of your pictures
SallyBR says
Hello there, finally! This is one post that I struggle with and could not leave a comment no matter how hard I tried.
If you have a friend with an iPad available, ask him or her to try to leave a comment on your site using it and maybe you can see what I mean. I wonder if it is a general problem or if something is wrong with my tablet?
anyway, this post of course brought me many memories of home... as your posts always do!
Happy 4th, and good to be back commenting! 😉
Valentina Dimitrova says
So sorry, Sally! I had no idea how hard it'd be commenting here using an iPad. I'll check this out and try to fix any existing problem. Thanks for stopping by and have a happy 4th of July!
Julia | JuliasAlbum.com says
What an ultimate comfort food! You won't usually see me eating a hot dog but I will eat a Brazilian one! By the way, did you redesign your site somewhat? It looks a little different, at least the header image is.
Valentina Dimitrova says
Julia: Not yet. I hired someone to redesign both my blog and logo but he will start next month. For while, my blog is exactly the same. Thanks for stopping by!
Karen (Back Road Journal) says
I haven't heard of a Brazilian hotdog before even though I lived in Miami where there were many Brazilian restaurants. They sound terrific!
Valentina Dimitrova says
Thanks, Karen! Yes, our hot dog is just like this one that you see in my blog. The accompaniments vary from one region to the other though. I hope you have the chance to try it. It is unfortunate that it is not available in many restaurants in Miami -- maybe because it is a street food. Thanks for stopping by!