Tucson is well-known for many things – John Dillinger was caught here, we have the best sunsets, U of A basketball, and Sonoran dogs. These wonderful creations are wrapped in bacon, grilled perfectly, topped with diced tomatoes, beans, mayonnaise, mustard, and jalapeno salsa.  They are full of flavor with every bite.

The perfect way of making a Sonoran hot dog would start by wrapping the frank in bacon and grilling until the bacon is crispy and the frank is cooked to the center. This could take anywhere from 10-20 minutes.

The beans take the longest to cook.  The recipe for perfect beans would be to just place pinto beans in boiling water with salt – this could take up to an hour with the heat on medium. While your dog is cooking, the buns must be warmed, but do not heat them in the microwave because when the buns cool off, they are going to turn hard, so instead, the bread must be water bathed. In Sonora, this is called baño-Maria.  In other words, steam them.  This can take from 3 to 5 minutes.

The tomatoes need to be diced in small to medium cubes and set aside. Finally, for the jalapeno salsa, just dice jalapenos in small cubes and blend them until they look like a mushy substance. Now that the ingredients are ready, take out a spoon, mayonnaise, and mustard. Get about half a spoon of mayo and rub it on both inner sides of the bread. Place the dog in the bun, and top it with the tomatoes, beans, more mayonnaise, mustard, and jalapeno salsa.

As many as 200 vendors, known as dogueros, sell Sonoran hot dogs from street carts set up in front of gas stations and on gravels empty lots.  According to Tucson Foodie, the four best Sonoran dog places are Guero Canelo, BK’s, Ruiz Hot dogs, and Aqui Con El Nene. All of these restaurants make traditional Sonoran dogs. Open your schedule and find time to treat yourself with a Sonoran dog soon!