Vegan Chili Cheese Coney Dogs w/ Cincinnati Chili + From Scratch Vegan Hot Dogs
Difficulty: 4/5 (5 being hardest)
Spice Level: 2/3 (3 being spiciest)
Realistic (no lies) Prep & Cook Time: 90-100 minutes
Servings: 5-6 dogs
The Challenge: Chili Cheese Coneys
Chili Cheese Dogs. Three words that are essentially not vegan and not even vegetarian. Well, today…challenge accepted. Challenge conquered! We’re putting together amazingly delicious vegan spin on a classic coney.
I grew up in Cincinnati where we have a meaty chili that is sweet and is put on spaghetti, bread, and hot dogs. Its not your typical bean chili. Its meat spaghetti sauce mixed with chili sauce. I actually never ate it, but a couple of the local places made a vegetarian version that was decent.
What I wanted to do was take this amazing recipe from Cincinnati and add my vegan spin to it! The chili is a tempeh-based recipe that we mix with plenty of spices to create this spicy yet slightly sweet chili sauce that is dynamite! We slow cook it while we steam our seitan dogs to give it immense flavor. We pour that over my seitan hot dog recipe and then finely shredded vegan cheddar cheese for this soft lush cheesy topping.
How do we make vegan hot dogs? Well, we take wheat gluten and mix it with a sauce of tomato, spices, sauteed onions + garlic, and then roll it into hot dog shapes. We wrap that in parchment + steam it for an hour. That steaming process plumps and cooks the dogs to a delicious bite!
All that is squeezed between buns! Its dripping yummy with a chili that is too die for, shredded cheese, and a veggie dog that you can make at home from scratch that is just perfectly dynamite! Yum, yum, yum!
Whip these up for the big game or anytime. Wash it down with a cold beer and that’s a great day!
Without further ado, let’s get into it!
Hot Dogs
2 tbl of vegan butter
small yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup canned pinto beans, drained + rinsed
1/2 cup water
2 tbl liquid aminos
1/4 cup tomato paste
Spices: 1 tsp smoked paprika, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1 tsp oregano, 1 tsp coriander, 1/2 tsp sea salt, 1 tsp ground mustard, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1/2 tsp celery seed, 3 tbl nutritional yeast
1 cup vital wheat gluten
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 tbl flaxmeal
Cincinnati Chili
1.5 tbl olive oil
1/2 medium white onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 poblano pepper, diced
8 oz tempeh (packaged)
1 medium heirloom tomato, diced
Spices: 1/2 tbl chili powder, 1/2 tbl chipotle chili powder, 1/4 tsp allspice, 2/3 tsp cinnamon (more if you like), 1 tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp smoked paprika, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp white pepper
1.5 tbl unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tbl organic sugar
1 tbl apple cider vinegar
3 cups vegetable broth, low sodium
Other
2 cups finely hand shredded vegan cheese (I used Follow Your Heart slices)
hot dog buns
chopped white onions (1/2 onion)
Louisiana hot sauce
Equipment You'll Need:
Cutting Board . Sharp Cutting Knife . Measuring Cups . Measuring Spoons . Food Processor . Large Pot with Steamer Lid . Mixing Bowls . Parchment Paper . Large Pan . Cheese Grater
Before You Cook:
Cut + wash fresh ingredients
Put large pot of water on high heat to bring toboil
1. To start, place vegan butter, yellow onion, and garlic in a large pan. Cook over medium heat for 5-6 minutes.
2. Next, add pinto beans, water, liquid aminos, tomato paste, and spices to a food processor. Then add the cooked onions and garlic. Process for 15-20 seconds. Scrape down sides and blend again until well blended.
3. Next, add wheat gluten, oats, and flaxmeal in a large bowl.
4. Pour in the sauce from the food processor and stir with the oat gluten mixture until well blended with a spoon.
5. Take the mixture out of the bowl and knead it for 4-5 minutes until elastic-y.
6. After well kneaded, divide the mixture into 6-8 dogs. Place on a square of parchment paper, roll like a candy and tighten at the ends.
7. Next, place the parchment paper rolled dogs into the steamer pot and place over the boiling pot of water. Steam for 50 minutes. The dogs will plump to 1.5-2x times the size.
8. While the dogs steam, add the tempeh to a food processor and pulse until the tempeh is broken down into tiny pieces.
9. For the chili, add onion, garlic, and oil too a pan and cook for 4 minutes over medium heat. Add poblano and cook another 2 minutes. Then add the tempeh, tomato, and spices. Mix well. Cook another 2 minutes.
10. Next, add cocoa powder, sugar, vinegar, and broth. Keep on medium heat till the chili starts to bubble then reduce to low heat and simmer/cook low for 30-40 minutes until the dogs are done. The mixture should be like a thick sauce. If its too loose, turn up heat and cook another 5 minutes.
11. While the dogs + chili cook, shred your cheese using the fine part of a cheese grater. I used Follow Your Heart cheddar for this recipe. Fine shredded with a hand grater.
12. To finish, toast your hot dog buns and layer on hot dog, chili, chopped white onions (optional), and cheese. I like to finish mine with some Louisiana hot sauce!
