Growing up in Germany, meat-heavy dishes and especially sausages are an integral part of my childhood memories. Everyone around the globe probably knows the famous Frankfurter and other German delicacies. Although you won’t necessarily find a lot of hot dog stands in German cities, sausages, on the contrary, can be found in every corner, in all shapes, sizes, and tastes. Personally, I’ve never been such a big fan of meat, but sausages I did like! Especially, with summer time and hence BBQ’s approaching, I feel the need to share with all of you an equally tasty and much more healthy alternative to the regular ‘hot dog’, such as the heavily processed veggie sausages that are out there.
I really love this one! Since I just recently visited The United States for the first time, I don’t really know how a ‘real’ hot dog is supposed to taste like (the German sausages are quite different to the ones you can find abroad). Nevertheless, for those rare occasions (and in general) I have my boyfriend’s taste buds to tell me if it’s a winner or not – and this one definitely is! Pictures of this fantastic invention have been circulating on social media for the past few months, and after eating the most delicious carrot dog in a new vegan pop-up restaurant here in Tel Aviv, I couldn’t wait but to share my own version with you guys!
I hope you’re gonna like it as much as I do – so let me know in the comments what you think!
- 4 carrots
- 4 hot dog buns
- ⅛ cup rice vinegar
- ⅛ cup apple cider vinegar
- ¼ cup water
- ¼ cup tamari (or soy) sauce
- 1 Tbsp sesame oil
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp onion powder
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp ginger, minced
- dash of liquid smoke (optional)
- tomatoes, sliced
- onion, diced
- vegan mayonnaise
- ketchup
- mustard
- lettuce
- Cut off the ends of all four carrots and peel them.
- In a medium-sized pan, bring water to boil and place the carrots inside. Cook for 7-8 minutes (until fork tender).
- In the meantime mix together all the ingredients for the marinade.
- Place the carrots into an air-tight container or a zipper bag and pour the marinade on top.
- Refrigerate for 24 hours, but preferably longer so that the carrots can fully soak in the marinade.
- Heat up your hot dog buns in the oven.
- At the same time, heat up a non-sticking pan and place the soaked carrots inside. Pour about 1 Tbsp of the marinade on top of each carrot and let cook for an additional 8-10 minutes, until each side is brown (you want to make sure not to cook them too soft so that they have that nice crunch). Cooking time may vary depending on the size of your carrot, so make sure to check with a fork.
- Prepare your carrot dogs with the desired toppings (tomatoes, lettuce, ketchup, vegan mayonnaise, mustard, etc.) and enjoy!
Recipe found here and here – has been adjusted to my personal taste!
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We have steamed our carrot dogs for more than 3 years. But they must include raw saurkraut with all the extras.
I’ve never been such a big fan of Sauerkraut myself (despite growing up in Germany haha), but I wish I would’ve come across the carrot dogs invention before!!! So tasty! 🙂
Keep the water boiling while the carrots are in the pot? Or turn off heat once boiled and let them sit in hot water for 7-8 minutes?
Keep the water boiling while carrots are in the pot! 🙂
Is this able to be frozen? The taste is just like the real thing! I’ve been vegetarian for years and am slowly transitioning to vegan but it’s easier when you can freeze things! Thank you! Delicious!!
I also want to know if leftovers can be frozen! And if they can then be reheated in the microwave.
haven’t tried it yet myself, but some of my readers have and said they had no problems freezing them and recooking afterwards! I’m not sure about the microwave as I don’t know if it would get mushy… please let us know if you try though! 🙂
Is there anything I can replace rice vinegar with if I don’t have it? Thanks!
You could try a bit of white wine vinegar instead if you have 🙂
Apple cider vinegar is a good substitute for rice vinegar. Taste is similar.
We aren’t Vegan at home but try to eat a healthy diet – these were delish tried them last night we were so skeptical that we had a back up dinner planned – they were very tasty – it took longer then I thought for it to brown up but when it did it browned quickly – we also marinated them for 48 hours -next time we are going to try and BBQ them and YES there will definitely be a next time
Hi Kathy! This is amazing 🙂 so happy you guys liked it! I’m sure BBQ-ing them will be even more delicious 🙂 xx
Hi there!
I’m always looking for quick meals I can have on a whim. How long will the carrots keep in the marinade in the fridge? Or maybe in the freezer after cooking the full meal? If I could make, like, twenty of them and keep them in the fridge or freezer, that’d be awesome!
Hi 🙂 I think the carrots will last around 2-4 days in the marinade in the fridge. If you want to keep them longer I’d probably freeze them after cooking and then just quickly put them on the pan with some extra marinate maybe.
Yum Yum from providence, RI
We get these delicious pretzel buns from a bakery for the carrot dogs!
Can i use normal white vinegar?
Yes! Should work the same 🙂
Your carrot dogs in the picture look so yummy however I altered your recipe by putting my batch of 16, yes 16! carrots into my Instant pot with the trivet in the bottom and 1 cup of water for 3 minutes and doing instant release to immediately stop the steaming process and my carrots are MUSH! I’ve had them in a big stainless bowl with your marinade overnight except I used smoked paprika vs liquid smoke because liquid smoke is man made chemicals but anyhow I am still going to carefully place these soggy carrots onto a heated cast iron skillet today and place them into toasted whole wheat buns with slaw and onions, spicy mustard for those that like that etc and eat them anyhow. I just wanted to warn others what using the instant pot did to my carrots and I will not use it again for this recipe. The marinating carrots smell just like regular hot dogs people!