Seattle Cream Cheese Dogs

June 25, 2022

Travel to Seattle, Washington on a game day right in your kitchen with this Seattle Dog! The Seattle-style hot dog is a late-night staple at game day food carts across Seattle. It’s not a money-investing recipe, which is the best part! These dogs are super easy to throw together and can be made for large crowds, a backyard BBQ, or a weeknight dinner.

Seattle dogs are essentially a delicious mash-up of hot dogs and bagels. The origins of how this popular dog came to be are often debated, but one thing is for sure: it may have something to do with a bagel cart that started selling hot dogs. Polish sausage (such as Kielbasa) is more commonly used over hot dogs. The dogs are split open, seared, and then served with cream cheese and sautéed onions or scallions. Common toppings are jalapenos, sriracha, sauerkraut, and brown mustard. I chose to go simple with cream cheese, sriracha, and jalapenos because I don’t like sauerkraut or brown mustard. Ketchup is a no-go. No one ever puts ketchup on this. It doesn’t need it, plus it’s frowned upon.

How to make the Seattle Dog

Super simple to throw together, this recipe won’t hurt your wallet at all! Who knew cream cheese could go on a hot dog or kielbasa?

Kielbasa or Hot Dogs: Use whatever sausage you want. It could be bratwurst, sweet Italian sausage, or even chicken sausage. They all taste delicious with these toppings.
Cream Cheese, Softened: Spruce it up with chive and onion cream cheese, or make it hotter with jalapeno cream cheese.
Onion
Butter
Hot Dog Buns
Jalapenos
Sriacha, Brown Mustard, BBQ Sauce
Sauerkraut, Optional

Split the sausage lengthwise, keeping the halves intact still, or skip this step entirely. Do not cut all the way through. Heat a saute pan on medium heat. Add the butter and melt, then add onions, and salt. Saute until they’re softened and caramelized. You want to pay attention to the onions as they caramelize; it’s easy to mess this up. Set this aside. Using the same pan or a grill pan, heat on high heat with some vegetable oil. Cook the sausage until they are lightly browned or has charred marks and heated through. Keep warm, then toast the buns in that same pan. Toast them split-side down, and toast until lightly browned. Spread the cream cheese onto the buns. Place the sausages on the buns, then place the onions on the side of them. Top with jalapenos, sriracha, and mustard. Add sauerkraut if using. Serve.

Tips & FAQs

Does it specifically have to be hot dogs? Not at all. I used Kielbasa since polish sausage is more commonly used over hot dogs. However, you can use whatever sausage you want! All of the toppings go perfectly with any sausage.
Storage: You can store the dogs in the fridge for one week. To reheat, you can either grill, microwave, or use a pan to reheat. This only works with just the dogs. If you assembled the Seattle dogs and want to reheat the next day, wrap them in aluminum foil and heat them in the oven at 350F for about 10 minutes. The cream cheese will become hot, so it’s better if you pack the dogs separately from the other ingredients until ready to assemble.
Types of Cream Cheese: Since we all know there are flavored cream cheeses out there, feel free to experiment! Go pungent with chive and onion (which is my favorite cream cheese), smoky with bacon cream cheese, or healthy with veggie cream cheese! I wouldn’t recommend fruit-flavored cream cheese. As obvious as it may sound, it doesn’t taste good; who knows, there could be someone crazy enough to try it, so I’m warning them now. Don’t do it.

Want the recipe? Click print below! Let me know how it came out for you by tagging me on Instagram (@missravenskitchen) and using #missravenskitchen! Follow my Facebook page for updates as well! Let me know if I need to tweak anything.

Servings 4

Author Dani Marcus

Prep time

5 Min

Cook time

25 Min

Total time

30 Min

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