Fall used to be my favorite season. Now, I’m not too sure. It was such a wonderful summer that I’m really going to miss it this year. 

But we can’t stop time or the seasons from coming, so into autumn we go! Even though it isn’t officially fall yet, I always feel like after Labor Day weekend is over and football starts, that it’s officially fall to me! 

Now that NFL Football season has officially kicked off, it’s time for some simple, but delicious Game Day Grub!! Feeding an army of hungry friends can get quite expensive! So I like to put out a nice variety of foods ranging in cost that still taste good! And this easy but delicious dressed-to-kill dog always gets rave reviews, though inexpensive to make.

You can make full-sized ones if this is the star player on the buffet, or you can purchase mini hot dogs and make these into snack-sized micro dogs. Since this was actually mine and my hubby’s supper, as these are also a fantastic easy weeknight meal, I chose to make them with quality all-beef angus hotdogs. But you can use whatever kind and size you like. 

 So let’s get started! You just simply split the dogs open with small sharp knife, not cutting all the way through nor all the way to each end, making a pocket for the cheese and stuff it full!

 

 

I’ve been using up some Velveeta that I’ve had hanging around, and that actually worked surprisingly well! But you can use any kind of cheese that you enjoy with barbecue sauce and bacon such as grated or julienned swiss, pepperjack, co-jack, cheddar, smoked gouda, havarti, fontina, or muenster just for examples.  

 

 

Pour a line of barbecue sauce right over the top of the cheese! If you want a nice little kick, Sue Bee’s Louisiana-Style Barbecue Sauce was a TOUCHDOWN for us!! 😀  

 

 

Wrap each tightly with one strip of lean, quality thick-cut bacon and sprinkle tops with coarse ground black pepper! *You don’t have to pick them if you start and end with the ends on the bottom. The weight of the cheese-filled dogs will hold the ends down and keep the bacon from unraveling. 

It’s also a good idea to line your pan underneath with foil, unless you enjoy the smell of smoke and have all the time in the world to scrub burnt cheese off of your baking sheet. 😉 

 

 

I then give these beauties another nice drizzling of barbecue sauce before they go into the oven!   

 

 

YUMMY GOODNESS JUST LOOK AT THAT CHEEEEEEESE!!

At the last minute I tossed some sliced onion on there, too, but forgot to baste them. They didn’t brown but were still soft and sweet! 

 

 

These are a childhood favorite that I still, and always will, enjoy! Made pretty much just like my mom made them when we were kids! Same “cheese” for rich, creamy melting purposes, but a lot better barbecue sauce! There weren’t very many choices back then and Open Pit was about all there was. Sauces have come a LONG way since then! 😉 So use whatever kind you happen to enjoy! 😀 

If serving these for a party, place all of the already baked dogs into buns and pop onto a baking sheet or 13×9 baking dish, warm them all at once in the oven to just lightly warm and toast the buns, ( you might want to try my Sriracha Twisty Buns with Poppy Seeds !), then place on a serving table with all kinds of fun toppings for guests to choose from for extra fun! 

 

 

So whether you, too, are taking a stroll down memory lane and serving these as an easy weeknight meal, or entertaining your friends at a party making these a main dish or a small appetizer; you, your family and friends will really enjoy these! And you’ll love that they’re easy on the pocket book, too. 😉 If making my Sriracha Poppy Seed Buns to go with, you can make 6-8 buns for regular-sized dogs, or make 6 buns and slice them, (*after baking), into thirds for appetizer-sized cocktail wieners yielding 18 from one loaf of frozen bread dough! 😀 

Either way, I hope you enjoy! Have a fantastic day and I’ll see you all tomorrow! 😀 

 

 

Sides that go well with this:
Old-Fashioned Mustard Potato Salad
Deli-Style Macaroni Salad
Apple Raisin Cole Slaw
Blue Ribbon Baked Beans
Rigatoni Mac ‘n Cheese
Creamiest Classic Deviled Eggs

Buns:
Sriracha Twisty Buns with Poppy Seeds

 

Yield: 8 servings

Cheese-Filled Bacon-Wrapped Game Day Barbecue BeefDogs

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

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Ingredients

• 1 pkg. of 8 hotdogs, all-beef preferably
• about 4 oz. Velveeta, or cheese of preference, cut into 1/4" square sticks
• 1/2 cup hot or sweet barbecue sauce, I like Sue Bee's Louisiana-Style for heat and Sweet Baby Ray's Original for sweet, or use your own favorite
• 8 strips quality lean thick-cut bacon
• coarse ground pepper

Optional Fun Toppings:

• chopped onion, fresh or oven-roasted
• snipped green onion
• pickled jalapeño rings or other peppers
• fried onion rings
• pickle slices or spears
• mustard
• fresh tomatoes, chopped or wedges
• chili
• crushed potato chips
• crumbled blue cheese
• chopped celery

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

With a small paring knife, split hotdogs open not cutting all the way through nor all the way to each end making pockets. (Use your thumb to open them up.)

Fill pockets with cheese, pressing the cheese inside tightly, and closing hotdog around it.

Drizzle a little barbecue sauce along tops.

Wrap each with one strip of bacon starting and ending with ends on the bottom. Place ends side-down onto a baking rack over a foil-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle tops with coarse pepper. Drizzle with more barbecue sauce.

Pop into preheated oven and bake for about 30 minutes. *Thinner bacon will take less time.

Plop into split open buns and drizzle with more barbecue sauce if desired.

Top with Toppings of choice.

Notes

I served these on my semi-homemade Sriracha Twisty Buns with Poppy Seeds and they worked extremely well!