These air fryer hot dogs are the BEST hot dogs you can make at home! When cooked in the air fryer, hot dogs get nice and crispy on the outside and stay juicy on the inside. Plus, you don’t have to worry about firing up the grill or preheating the oven – it’s a hassle free recipe!
Why I Love Making Hot Dogs in the Air Fryer
Well, it’s time – summertime, that is! Time for block parties, pool parties, beach parties, you get the idea. During this year’s party season, keep yourself away from the hot grill as much as you can by making your hot dogs in the air fryer instead! Just plug it in and let it do all of the work for you. Honestly, these are the best hot dogs we have ever made at home! Check out why we never fire up the grill for hot dogs anymore:
- No grill needed: You get everything you love about grilled hot dogs without all the hassle of using your grill. The skin on the outside crisps up perfectly and the inside stays juicy.
- So easy: They’re ready start to finish in under 10 minutes!
- Big batch: You can fit a pretty good amount of dogs into the air fryer basket, depending on the model you have.
Key Ingredients
You really only need these two basic ingredients for a hot dog. Beyond that, you can get as creative as you want to with the toppings! Scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of the post for exact ingredient amounts!
- Hot Dogs – This recipe works for regular hot dogs, cheese filled hot dogs, turkey dogs, you get the idea! All hot dogs are welcome in our air fryer.
- Buns – We usually stick to plain hot dog buns since we’ve got picky kids running around all summer in our homes! However, you can use whatever bun your heart desires. Pretzel buns, poppyseed buns, etc.
- Toppings – What’s a hot dog without toppings?? Well, unless you are my picky granddaughter who only likes cheese on hers. 😉 Grab your favorites: ketchup, mustard, cheese, onions, relish, pickles and more. If you want something new, we love using bang bang sauce on our hot dogs!
How to Cook Hot Dogs in Air Fryer
It really doesn’t get much quicker or easier than this! Below is a quick recipe overview, but please scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post for full instructions.
- Cook the hot dogs. Place hot dogs in the air fryer basket. Set temperature to 400°F and cook hot dogs for 6 minutes.
- Make the buns toasty. Remove hot dogs and place them in the buns. Return the hot dogs (with buns) to the air fryer at 400°F 1 to 2 minutes, for a warm toasted bun. Add cheese if you’d like now for it to melt!
- Enjoy! Top with desired toppings and serve immediately.
Cook’s Tips and Variations
- Soft Buns vs Toasted Buns: If you don’t like a toasted bun, try this quick method! Just place the hot dog in the bun, then place the hot dog in the basket and warm it at 375°F for 30 seconds. This method will also soften older hot dog buns.
- Batch Cooking: If your air fryer is smaller or you have a lot of hot dogs to cook, we suggest working in batches, if needed. If you are serving a lot of hot dogs and need to reheat them, reheat 375°F for 2 minutes.
- Melted Cheese: Want them to be cheesy? We recommend tossing the cheese onto the dogs right before they go back into the air fryer with the bun. That way, your cheese will melt!
- Charred Dogs: If you want more blackening and char on your hot dogs, turn up the heat on your air fryer to 425°F with the same cooking instructions in the recipe below. Make sure to lower the heat back to 375°F for your toasted buns.
What to Serve with Air Fryer Hot Dogs
Honestly, we eat these hot dogs all by themselves pretty often! While french fries, chips, or tater tots are the most common sides to pair with hot dogs, here are a few more options that are just a little more elevated.
Air Fryer Hot Dogs
Ingredients
- 8 hot dogs
- 8 hot dog buns
Optional Toppings:
- Relish
- Mustard
- Ketchup
- Chopped onions
- Shredded cheese
Instructions
- Place hot dogs in the air fryer basket. Set temperature to 400°F and cook hot dogs for 6 minutes.
- Remove hot dogs and place them in the buns. Return hotdogs (with buns) to the air fryer at 400 degrees 1 to 2 minutes, for a warm toasted bun. Add cheese if you’d like now for it to melt!
- Top with desired toppings and serve immediately.
Do meatless hotdogs cook the same in air fryers?
Hi Meta, I’m sorry, we aren’t sure. We have not tried meatless hot dogs before!
Love hot dogs in AF. My hubby only wants them cooked like that now. Thank you!!
Air crisp or grill? I’m new with fryer
Hi Donna! Our air fryer does not have a grill setting, I’d recommend trying one hot dog on each setting and seeing which works better. All air fryers work differently, so it’s hard to know without trying it myself. Hope this helps!
How would I adjust this is if I only wanted to cook two or four hotdogs instead of the whole pack? Same time?
Yes! The time doesn’t change, even if you only cook one hot dog!
Never thought to do hotdogs in the bun did , and loved it, I used Nathens, wasn’t a big fan of hotdogs very often, well that changed, today I buns split on top & they sit flat. Curious we shall see 🙂
These were so good!! I had the HUFFY Hollywood style natural casing dogs. They were crispy on the outside and so juicy on the inside.
We added shredded sharp cheddar cheese, red onion and mustard!
The method to put the dog in the bun is pure genius!!
We will be making this again and again!!