Homemade Sonic Drive-in foot long chili dogs, anyone?

[gearloose]

I like Sonic Drive-in chilidogs, but seldom go there to get them. I've searched in vain for a copycat recipe to no avail. :( I did pick up a few hints and clues from some food forums that suggest the Sonic chili sauce contains chopped onions and is similar tasting to Hormel Chili with no beans. I came up with this simple recipe that tastes pretty close to Sonic's.

2 15 oz cans Hormel Chili with no beans
1/2 lb fresh ground chuck
1/2 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
1 pkg. Nathans footlong hot dogs
1 pkg. foot long hot dog buns
Toppings/Garnishes:
shredded Colby/jack cheese blend
chopped fresh yellow onion
relish
mustard

Brown the chuck & onion in a heavy saucepan. Do not drain. Add the Hormel chili & stir. reduce heat, cover & simmer 1/2 hr. or longer. Cook the Nathan's hot dogs by your favorite method. The best method, imho, is to cook them directly in the chili sauce, but you'll need a big pot to get them down in the chili without breaking them. Assemble, top with what ya like, and enjoy.

Note: I got my Nathan's foot long hot dogs & buns at my local Dillon's (Kroger) store. The meat dept. manager said they'll have them all summer.

 

[ksblazer]

All those ingredients are what I like on my hotdog.

Sounds good

 

[chopsaw]

So where are you getting the foot long buns ?

 

[TomKnollRFV]

Wondering the same thing as Chopsaw...even when I find foot longs, I can never find the buns...

 

[gearloose]

Dillons has the foot long buns six per package to go with the foot long hot dogs. The buns are baked individually instead of 4-up in a mold like regular buns. I'm thinking of just trying to make up some soft bun dough and bake them on parchment paper in a sheet pan.

 

[Steve H]

Same here. Can never find the buns for them.

 

[SmokinAl]

Well you guys are just going to have to learn to bake!
Judy makes buns any size we need!!
Al

 

[chefdlturner]

I know someone that works at Sonic's so I know how their Coney Dog is made.
Sonic's Coney Dog
Ingredients
Sara Lee's Foot Long Hotdog Buns
Vienna All Beef Foot Long Dogs
Hormel Chili no beans
Yellow mustard
Onions
Cheddar cheese

That's it simple

 

[BigEazy]

I know someone that works at Sonic's so I know how their Coney Dog is made.
Sonic's Coney Dog
Ingredients
Sara Lee's Foot Long Hotdog Buns
Vienna All Beef Foot Long Dogs
Hormel Chili no beans
Yellow mustard
Onions
Cheddar cheese

That's it simple

Thank God...I've looked & looked & looked for a simple answer to this. Finally!!! I've had people tell me Cheese Whiz, Turkey long dogs, even It wasn't chilli just chilli sauce lolol. Thank you!

 

[Hijack73]

Thank God...I've looked & looked & looked for a simple answer to this. Finally!!! I've had people tell me Cheese Whiz, Turkey long dogs, even It wasn't chilli just chilli sauce lolol. Thank you!

It's not Hormel - though I see that on the interwebs quite a bit -comes in a frozen block. Proprietary blend, much like McDonalds Big Mac sauce. You can get close, but it just won't be quite the same. The footlongs are now beef/pork blend. The shorts are still all beef. Cheese was a blend. American/cheddar.

Distributed groceries to Sonic for 7 years - though it was a while back.

 

[BigEazy]

It's not Hormel - though I see that on the interwebs quite a bit -comes in a frozen block. Proprietary blend, much like McDonalds Big Mac sauce. You can get close, but it just won't be quite the same. The footlongs are now beef/pork blend. The shorts are still all beef. Cheese was a blend. American/cheddar.

Distributed groceries to Sonic for 7 years - though it was a while back.

Was Sysco the distribution company? I know they supply a lot of fast food & restaurants? They don't sell to the public

 

[Hijack73]

Was Sysco the distribution company? I know they supply a lot of fast food & restaurants? They don't sell to the public

No. The company was U. S. Foodservice, now dba as US Foods. We didn't sell to the public either, but in reality anyone could open a customer account and pick up right at the warehouse. As employees, we could buy items (nothing proprietary- like a Sonic branded item) at 3% over cost. Sonic was the largest chain we supplied.

I did acquire a frozen block of that chili once, even though I wasn't supposed to be able to.

We had delivery drivers show up with extra items quite often back then. We wouldn't take anything not on the pack list. I had a good buddy who got hurt on the job and transferred to security (usually working the gatehouse to the trailer yard) who would gladly let a driver offload a skid or a few cases of overage there at the guard shack and give me a heads up to swing around on break to go shopping. Best score ever was about 60 lbs of waffle house style center cut bacon. All I had room for. I could have taken 200lb if I'd had the room.