I grew up with pigs in a blanket. Loved them. My mother wrapped dough around sausages or hot dogs and served them for lunch or dinner. It’s an easy answer for weeknight meals. A narrow strip of cheddar down the center of the dog makes them even better. Your family will have a ball!
Make Pigs in a Blanket Your Family will Love
- Choose a bread mix your family would love to try–your choices are incredible. The image above shows an Italian Herb and Cheese Bread mix. Other images in this article include black Russian bread pigs and cheesy salsa bread pigs.
- Bread mixes make foolproof pigs–choose a bread mix that you just add water. Use your stand mixer, your bread machine on the dough setting, or even mix it by hand, and they’re not much work.
- One bread mix makes a lot of pigs–one mix will make up to 36 half pigs in a blanket. You can freeze your leftovers for extra meals.
Choose a Bread Mix for Your Pigs in a Blanket
These are the three mixes that we used in preparing this article. We made these in our test kitchen and folks loved them. Choose the ones your family will love.
Black Russian Bread
This is like the dark bread found at Outback Steakhouse. It’s a dark bread but mild-mannered. It’s the same artisan bread you would find in New York delis. If your family likes the dark bread from Outback Steakhouse, give this bread mix a try.
Cheesy Salsa Bread
This is a fun bread! If your family likes tacos, give it a try. It’s a medium hot bread made with cheese and salsa.
Italian Herb and Cheese Bread
This is a bread that you might find in a good Italian restaurant. It’s another artisan bread made with cheese, herbs, and spices. You can pair it with Italian sausages. If your family likes Italian, choose this.
Shop for more bread mixes here.
The Secret to Easy Pigs in a Blanket with a Bread Dough
You can use sausages, brats, or hot dogs. You can use any bread dough. Our pizza crust mixes are perfect because the dough is soft and easy to work with without springback.
The secret to a soft, easy-to-work-with dough is a dough relaxer. Pizza dough mixes have a dough relaxer so that you can roll thin crust pizzas. You can add your own dough relaxer to any bread dough, about a two teaspoons per loaf will do.
Pigs in a Blanket with a Bread Mix Recipe
Bakers Note: This recipe can be used for any Prepared Pantry bread mix.
Ingredients:
- 1 bread mix of your choice
- 18 hot dogs (can be halved for smaller pigs) or 36 sausages
- 2 tablespoons dough relaxer (optional for more manageable dough)
- Mustard (or preferred dip or spread)
- Sliced cheese (optional)
Directions:
- Mix the bread dough according to package instructions in a stand mixer with a dough hook for about five minutes or until the gluten is developed and the dough becomes “stretchy”. (Add the optional dough conditioner before mixing the dough.) You can use your bread machine on the dough setting.
- Roll the dough to ¼-inch thickness. Let it relax for ten minutes and roll it again if needed. Cut it into circles or rectangles sized to wrap around your hot dogs.
- Optional: Cut a slit in each hot dog lengthwise and put the sliced cheese into the slit.
- Spread the preferred condiment onto the dough, leaving a clean boarder along the edge, and place the hot dog in the center.
- Wrap the dough around the hot dog, pressing the edges together where they overlap and repeat until each pig has a blanket. Let it rise for about 30-45 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to15 minutes or until the dough just starts to brown.
