Baked Chili Cheese Dogs (2024)

This recipe for baked chili cheese dogs is a guaranteed crowd-pleaser! When you bake chili dogs in the oven, magic happens—they taste warm, fresh, and extra delicious. Your family will love customizing their chili cheese dogs with their own favorite toppings, and you’ll love how easy it was to put together this kid-friendly dinner.

Baked Chili Cheese Dogs – The EASY Way!

Not every night is a Spinach and Artichoke Chicken Bake night. Sometimes you want an effortless dinner that your kids will eat without any pushback. These are chili cheese dog bake nights.

Now, chili cheese dogs might seem like gas station fare, but the key word here is “baked”—when you pop these chili dogs in the oven, the flavors meld, the bread gets toasty, and the cheese melts to perfection. That time in the oven really brings baked chili cheese dogs to the next level- especially when you add my homemade Hot Dog Chili!!

This is truly the best way to make chili cheese dogs for a crowd because they’re baked all at once, which means everyone can grab them and start eating at the same time. Put together a topping bar for game day, or a party and let everyone fix them up however they please!

Why I LOVE this recipe!

• Quick – There’s really nothing to do here other than assembly! Put the hot dogs in the buns, top them with chili and cheese, and pop them in the oven.
• Simple – If you’re not using any toppings, this is a four ingredient recipe!
• Kid-Friendly – Kids love hot dogs, chili, and cheese. Win!
• Easy to Scale – Scale them down for a weeknight dinner or scale them up for a big backyard party.

What to Serve with Baked Chili Cheese Dogs

If you are wondering what goes with chili cheese dogs, I have got you covered! Since this dish has the classic flavors of cookout food, it will pair well with many of your favorite barbecue and cookout side dishes. There are both classic options and some healthy options to keep it light.

Side Dish Ideas

• Incredible Baked Potato Wedges – You can never go wrong with hot dogs and french fries!
• Broccoli Cauliflower Salad – this classic version never gets old, and keeps well in the fridge if you want o make it ahead.
• Easy Baked Macaroni and Cheese –If you’re making these baked chili dogs for a party, serve them alongside a tray of homemade mac and cheese.
• Crock Pot Corn on the Cob– This is seriously the easiest way to make corn and the garlic butter makes it SO GOOD!
• Jiffy Corn Casserole– This corn pudding is one of our all time favorites!
• Oven Roasted Green Beans– The one healthy veggie my kids truly love
• Potatoes- You can do baked potatoes, smashed potatoes, or potato salad

You can choose one or add a few sides to make a wholesome, well rounded dinner.

Recipe Notes

This baked chili cheese dog recipe is as simple as promised! Just four ingredients and a few minutes of assembly for a family friendly meal.

In this section I am going to go through a few tips and tricks I use when making this recipe to get the absolute best and most delicious results.

Make sure to scroll to the bottom for the FULL recipe card.

Ingredients + Substitutions

• Hot dog buns – You don’t need fancy bakery buns here—even the inexpensive ones will taste amazing after warming up in the oven.
• Hot dogs –Whatever brand and type your family prefers. You can use all beef hot dogs, pork, or any brand you like
• Chili – Make my crock pot hot dog chili, use leftover chili from the night before, canned chili—you can even go through the drive-thru at Wendy’s and order some chili there!
• Cheddar cheese – Feel free to add more or less depending on how much your family likes melty cheese.

Topping options:

• Diced onions- Use white onion, red onion, or even diced green onion!
• Sliced Jalapeño
• Diced tomato
• Caramelized onions
• Pickles
• Bacon
• Pico de gallo
• Ketchup
• Mustard
• Pickle Relish
• Sauerkraut
• Shredded lettuce
• Chopped fresh parsley

Oven Baked Chili Cheese Dogs- Step by Step

1. Arrange– Place hot dogs inside buns and place in baking dish. You can use pre-cooked (for example, grilled) hot dogs if you like a little extra flavor and texture, or just use them straight out of the package. Both will work equally well for this recipe.
   
2. Stuff- Spoon chili over the hot dogs. Using a dish that fits the number of hot dogs you want to make so they stay upright helps a lot with this step!
   
3. Cover with cheese. You can use more or less, or customize with some cheesy and some not. It is completely up to you!
   
4. Bake– Cook the hot dogs in the oven until everything is evenly heated through. There’s no need to cover these with foil, but if you like the cheese extra melty and gooey you can bake it covered and add about 5-10 extra minutes to the cooking time.

Recipe Tips

1. Use the right size baking dish – You want your baked chili cheese dogs tucked in nicely so they stay upright while they bake. That said, you don’t want them jammed in there either, or they’ll get soggy. We’re looking for a happy medium here!
   
2. Don’t overdo the chili – Spoon it directly onto the hot dog, avoiding the bun as best as you can. It’s fine for the chili to touch the edges of the bun, but you don’t want it to start running under the hot dogs, or the buns will get soggy and your chili dogs will be difficult to eat.
   
3. Put together a topping bar – You can go fancy and lay it all out charcuterie board style, or just set up little bowls to create a topping station on the countertop. Include any extra cheese and chili.

Recipe Short Cuts

If you need to make this recipe, but are extra short on time, here are a few ideas that can help make this recipe even faster!

• Use the salad bar – Your grocery store likely has chopped onions, tomatoes, bacon, pickles, and even jalapeños prepped and ready to go, making putting together a topping bar even easier.
  
• Make the chili ahead of time– You can either put the crockpot chili on in the morning, or even make it days ahead and refrigerate, or months ahead and freeze!
  
• Buy canned chili – If you are really short on time, just find some chili at the store. Make sure if it has a lot of liquid, drain some of it off to keep the hot dog buns from getting soggy.

Recipe Variations

If you love this recipe as much as we do and want some quick ways to change it up for variety, these little tips will do the trick!

• Meatless oven-baked chili dogs – Swap in your favorite vegetarian hot dog and chili for a Meatless Monday dinner.
  
• Chili cheese dogs with crescent rolls – Wrap the hot dogs in crescent roll dough. Fill the baking dish with the chili and set the hot dogs on top. Bake them until the crescent roll dough is puffy and golden brown, then top with the cheese and bake for a few minutes more, until the cheese melts.
  
• Chili cheese dogs with pizza dough – Use the same method as described above, but with pizza dough instead of crescent roll dough.

Freezer Meal Instructions

Making this baked chili cheese dog recipe into a freezer meal is simple! Follow the steps below and you can store this recipe in the freezer for up to 6 months.

1. Assemble the recipe as directed.
2. Instead of baking, cover the baking dish tightly and freeze.
3. Let the chili dogs thaw in the refrigerator overnight, then bake according to the recipe directions.

More Kid Friendly Recipes

If you enjoyed this recipe, I really hope you will take a moment to grab a few more easy recipes for another busy night!

You can check out all of my dinner recipes here, or see a few of our readers favorite recipes below.

• Chicken Pizzaiola
• Easy Baked Ground Turkey Tacos
• Easy Cheeseburger Stuffed Meatloaf
• Garlic Bread Pizza

Leave a Reply