The Crunchy Tex-Mex Topping That Belongs On Hot Dogs

There's a point when a food item becomes so popular that it transcends its original category. Ranch started out as a salad dressing, but now it's a condiment. Bacon graduated from breakfast protein eons ago, and is now unironically sold on a stick or used to garnish more cocktails than just bloody marys. Next up for enshrinement into the uncategorizable hall of fame is the Frito pie.

Frito pies are essentially chili nachos — you take some Fritos and smother them with chili, onions, and cheese. Enterprising vendors might just scoop the chili and toppings directly into a single-serving Fritos bag and hand you a fork, but the dish can also be used as a topping for cheeseburgers, nachos, and, of course, hot dogs.

A Frito pie dog is essentially a combination of three late-night favorites — Frito pies, nachos, and chili dogs. The chips give the traditional chili dog added texture and a pop of Tex-Mex flair, resulting in an indulgent exercise in excess. Additionally, kids notoriously love hot dogs but hate vegetables — which are ingredients in chili — so the Frito pie dog is a good workaround to get those gremlins to eat a vegetable. An onion is still an onion, even if it's lost in a heap of cased meat, ground beef, Fritos, cheese, bun, and beans.

The Frito pie dog is one of many regional hot dogs popping up as more and more people treat the cased offerings as blank canvases rather than something you just nuke in the microwave and idly consume over lunch. So you don't have to stop with chili, cheese, onions, and Fritos. You could add pickled jalapeños or substitute grated cheese for spicy stadium cheese — or do both — for an added level of spice.

If you want to stay on theme, seek out more chili and Tex-Mex fixings, and drizzle your dog with sour cream, or crumble a piece of cornbread over the top. Maybe hit the inside of the hot dog bun with the same honey butter you used for the cornbread to add a hint of sweetness. You could lean even further into Tex-Mex and sprinkle your Frito pie dog with esquites, which is Mexican street corn off the cob.

How about sliders for a bite-sized twist? Or eschew the hot dogs for mini corn dogs to create Frito pie mini corn dog nachos. The possibilities are vast, so let your imagination and belly lead the way.