Gaming Grub: How To Make Sonic’s Chili Dog

In the first issue of Archie’s Sonic the Hedgehog, readers were treated to the recipe for how to make Sonic’s chili dogs, his favorite food. All in all, it is a good recipe for chili dogs.

However, I think we can do better.

Using the recipe given in the comic as a base, and the vast knowledge of culinary skills I’ve acquired over the years from both training programs and long hours watching Food Network, I’ve devised what I believe to be an excellent way to prepare Sonic’s chili dog.

Step 1: Gather Your Ingredients

The first thing you’ll need is, of course, hotdogs. A standard 13 ounce package of jumbo hot dogs would be my recommendation. The other meat you’ll need is a pound of ground beef.

On the produce side of things, you’ll want red onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, the original recipe doesn’t specify, but I’d say to go with cremini mushrooms, and, in place of the bell peppers specified in the original recipe, I’m gonna recommend you go with jalapeno peppers instead.

For spices, I’m mostly going off recipe. While you’ll obviously want chili powder, I’m also going to recommend turmeric, basil, curry powder, and paprika.

Lastly, you’ll want some kidney beans, olive oil, a nice sized brick of pepper jack cheese, buns, and your pick of your favorite steak and barbecue sauces.

Step 2: Preparation

Now that you have all of your ingredients, you’ll need to get them all ready. For the sake of this guide, I’ll be using the measurements necessary for a batch of seven or eight chili dogs. 

You’re going to want to cut up half a cup of red onions, half a cup of cremini mushrooms, and depending on how spicy you want your chili dog to be, either a quarter of a cup or half a cup of jalapeno peppers.

Next, crush your tomatoes. I’d say two cups should do the job for the full batch of chili dogs.

It’d be a good idea to measure out your spices now, even if you won’t be adding them to the dish immediately. Trust me, it’ll save time later.

You’re going to want two teaspoons of chili powder, one teaspoon of basil, one teaspoon of curry powder, half a teaspoon of paprika, and two teaspoon of turmeric.

Lastly, just remember that it’ll take a few hours to defrost your ground beef and hotdogs.

Step 3: Cooking

With everything in place, you can now begin preparing your dish.

Take out a pan, and spray it down with cooking spray. Mash up your ground beef, and cook it on your stove top on until it browns. I’d recommend cooking it on a low heat. 

Once your meat has browned, add your onions, peppers, and mushrooms into the pan, along with a just a little bit of olive oil.

After a few minutes, you can then add your crushed tomatoes, your barbecue sauce, and your steak sauce. Then, just let everything currently in the pan simmer for half an hour.

Once that time is up, add in all of your spices and your kidney beans. Once again, you’re going to want to let the sauce simmer, this time for an hour.

 Once that time has passed, add your jumbo hotdogs into the pan, and cook them in the sauce for 15 minutes. While the hotdogs are cooking, melt down your brick of pepper jack cheese in a separate pan.

When the 15 minutes have passed and your cheese is melted, turn off the heat on your stove, and let both pans sit for about three minutes.

After that, carefully add a layer of melted cheese to your buns. Follow that up by inserting the hotdogs, and finally, topping them off with as much of the chili sauce as you want.

Voila! You’ve just made a delicious batch of chili dogs, just the way Sonic likes them.

Explanation

Sonic is a character who’s all about going fast, not wasting any time, and having fun.

That in mind, I think his favorite food would be something rather spicy. The curry powder, the pepper jack cheese, the jalapeno peppers, and the turmeric all provide the spice, while the cremini mushrooms, the kidney beans, and the paprika compliment the flavors that the more spicy elements bring.

I mentioned before that you can go with whichever steak and barbecue sauces are your favorites, but now that you’ve seen what the final product consists of, you may want to choose your sauces accordingly.

That’s all for this recipe! I hope you enjoy your chili dogs, Sonic style.

Did you enjoy this article? Would you like to see more articles like this? What gaming foods would you like to see me cope up with recipes for? Let me know in the comments!