The Best Hotdog Coleslaw Recipe – Health Starts in the Kitchen (2024)

We can all agree that hotdogs are a staple summer time food, but what makes them truly a delicious meal is the toppings! With my Best Hotdog Coleslaw Recipe you can up your toppings game, giving your hotdog with a cool and tangy slaw kick! It’s a must try with my Easy Hotdog Chili Sauce Recipe on a West Virginia Style Hot Dog!

Have you noticed a trend here?? This is post 1 of a 4 part series where I’m talking all about hotdogs and specifically leading up to how to make a West Virginia Style Hot Dog.

• The Best Hotdog Coleslaw Recipe (this recipe)
• Easy Hotdog Chili Sauce Recipe
• The Best Refrigerator Pickled Jalapeño Peppers
• How to make a West Virginia Hot Dog

What is Hotdog Coleslaw?

I get it, this MIGHT sound like a really weird recipe IF you’ve never eaten a hot dog topped with Coleslaw but trust me, it’s a real thing and it’s extremely delicious!

I specifically created this hotdog-ready version of my The Best Low Carb Coleslaw Recipe (that’s traditionally a side dish) to be the very best way to top a hot dog with coleslaw. When it comes to a classic coleslaw recipe or a broccoli salad recipe, I know how to make a salad into a perfect side dish!

My husband, Ray is obsessed with hot dogs and I don’t mean a simple dog on a bun with ketchup – I mean a hot dog that’ loaded with all the best toppings.

His favorite is a West Virginia Style Hot Dog that he has for lunch nearly every week from one of many hot dog joints in Morgantown, WV. And of course, if Ray loves a food, it becomes my passion to perfect it.

Make sure you check out my West Virginia Style Hot Dog Recipe, too!

How to make the Best Coleslaw to top a Hotdog

There are 2 main factors to making the best coleslaw to top a hot dog; texture and taste.

Taste, right?!? Duh. Of course you want a delicious slaw to top your dog but don’t you dare reach for some bottled coleslaw dressing. It’s never going to be what you crave, and will compete too much with your other toppings, instead of enhancing them like my hot dog slaw recipe will. Lucky for you, I’ve been making the BEST Homemade Copycat Creamy Coleslaw for nearly 20 years! It’s actually the recipe that inspired me to start this blog back in 2012! Using that famous recipe as the base, I adapted it to be the best coleslaw for hotdogs too!

Texture. Here’s where the extra effort matters. You MUST have a chopped cabbage instead of a shredded cabbage base for your slaw to make sure that you get .. a slaw made with shredded cabbage will no doubt make a big mess on the top of your hot dog. Each bite won’t be clean, it will be a dripping, stringy slaw mess.

To achieve the prefect texture, instead of using the large holes of a box grater or shredding the green cabbage, you’ll want to break out your food processor and pulse your cabbage & carrots until they are very finely chopped. (yes you can purchase coleslaw mix AND chop it up too!)

What are the best hotdogs to top with Coleslaw

We can’t talk about hotdogs without specifically discussing the best hotdogs for your next bbq. And again, Ray is the expert who can literally eat hotdogs every day and he only chooses beef hotdogs and we’re currently loving Bar S all Beef Franks in their Fresh Packs!

The Best way to cook a Hotdog to top with Coleslaw

Funny story, recently I was in a focus group zoom meeting where we were discussing hotdogs and I was SHOCKED to hear several young adults were unfamiliar with the various ways to cook a hot dog. Mistakenly thinking that hotdogs were only cooked on an outdoor grill.

This is a friendly reminder that because someone CAN present themselves as an influencer, sharing content the’ve created on a brief social media post or video, that does not an expert make. You always want to rely on well researched content (like this) and creators (like myself) with tons of experience and/or education to share.

That being said… when you are making a complex and flavorful hotdog, I feel it’s BEST to boil your hotdogs! I know, right?!?! GASP oh the internet will disagree but don’t knock it until you try it!

How to make a Slaw Dog

To make the best slaw dog, you need a few basic ingredients:

• Hot Dogs – we’re big fans of all beef hotdogs and we’re currently loving the BAR-S as I mentioned above.
• Hot Dog Buns – when it comes to choosing the best hot dog bun, this may shock you but you’re best picking the cheaper buns on the shelf. You want them to be soft and blend into the toppings. Too much bread around a hot dog is a meal-killer. We’ve been enjoying the ones from Aldi the most.
• Homemade Hotdog Chili Sauce – of course I’m going to suggest my classic homemade chili recipe made with ground beef 🙂
• Homemade coleslaw made for topping a hotdog (aka this recipe!)

Optional hot dog toppings:

• Yellow mustard
• chopped onions
• fresh or pickled jalapeño peppers
• sweet relish (try my fermented sweet relish for a healthy kick!)
• Barbecue Sauce (try my homemade BBQ Sauce)

Not only is this recipe wonderful for topping a hot dog, this easy coleslaw recipe is also wonderful with pulled pork sandwiches, burgers or grilled chicken!

If you like this Hotdog Coleslaw Recipe, try these other summer inspired recipes next:

• The Best co*cktail of Summer; Sparkling Strawberry Rosé Wine Sangria
• 5 Tips for a Keto Low-Carb Friendly Summer Cookout
• Grilled Dry Rub Hot Wings
• Grilled Guacamole Flank Steak
• Grilled Fish Tacos with Fermented Cilantro Kefir Sauce {Gluten-Free}