This Grilled Carrot Hot Dog Recipe is perfect for a summer lunch or dinner outside! It’s a grilled carrot, marinated to taste just like a hot dog! I’m not kidding! It’s a delicious vegetarian take on the ubiquitous and iconic barbecue meal. The carrot is served in a hot dog bun topped with freshly diced avocado, a cabbage and carrot slaw, mustard, and a sprinkle of parsley.

Grilled Carrot Hot Dog Recipe

Ready to make these delicious Grilled Carrot Hot Dogs? Let’s talk about the ingredients. I’m going to break the recipe down into two parts – the marinade to make the carrots taste like hot dogs and the recipe for topping the carrot dogs.

First up? The overall carrot dog recipe because you can’t have carrot hot dogs without … the carrots!

Grilled Carrot Hot Dogs Ingredients:

Carrots
Hot Dogs Buns – I went with brioche buns, but you can chose your buns of choice or vegan buns to make it a vegan meal!
Avocado
Red Cabbage – shredded if you want to save time
Shredded Carrots – optional, you can either use shredded carrots if you have them or use some of the cuttings from your carrots for the hot dogs to add to the slaw.
Olive Oil
Lemon juice
Parsley
Sesame Seeds
Mustard – I was originally going to go with a dijon or spicy mustard, but at the last minute I switched to regular yellow mustard because I liked the bright pop of color on top!

Next is the marinade to make the carrots taste like hot dogs.

It may seem like a lot of ingredients, but you likely already have most of them in your pantry. I had to purchase vegetable broth, soy sauce, and dijon mustard because I didn’t have enough in my pantry. The only item that is slightly unusual is liquid smoke, but it’s very likely available at your local store – I purchased mine at Ralphs along with everything else.

Also, you don’t have to include everything. The essentials are the soy sauce, garlic, smoked paprika, liquid smoke, and steak sauce. If you don’t have maple syrup, don’t worry about it! No Dijon mustard? Skip it!

Grilled Carrot Hot Dog Marinade Ingredients:

Vegetable Broth – Low sodium if you can find the option
Apple Cider Vinegar
Low Sodium Soy Sauce – (you can substitute with tamari to make it gluten free)
Dijon Mustard
Garlic
Smoked Paprika
Liquid Smoke
Steak Sauce – fun fact: steak sauce is vegetarian
Maple Syrup
Black Pepper
Water

When I was measuring out the ingredients, it smelled like a hot dog immediately after I opened the soy sauce and smoked paprika!

How to Make Grilled Carrot Hot Dogs:

First, peel your carrots.

The next step is optional, but if you want, you can prep your carrots to make them look a little more like hot dogs. I cut them down to better fit into the hot dog buns (and also my stock pot) and then used a peeler to whittle the ends to make them more curved and … hot doggish?

Try to use thicker carrots because they shrink when you cook them. I purchased a 2 lb. bag of carrots and used all of the thicker carrots to make my grilled carrot hot dogs and then I’ll use the leftover skinny carrots in my salads throughout the week.

Cut more the skinny end off and less of the thick end so you keep as much of the thicker part of the carrot as possible and they look more like hot dogs!

Here’s the before:

And here’s the after – the whittled carrot dogs!

Next, combine all your marinade ingredients together in a stock pot along with the whittled carrots, bring it to a boil and then reduce to a simmer and cook the carrots on for about 12-15 minutes or until fork tender. Cooking times may vary based on the thickness of the carrots, so be sure to check with a fork. Remember, it’s a fine line between a cooked carrot and a mushy carrot!

Then remove the pot from heat and let the carrots sit for another 15-20 minutes while you prep and preheat your grill to medium heat.

Remove your carrots from the cooked marinade and brush them with olive oil to prevent them from drying out or sticking to the grill. Grill the carrots for 4-6 minutes or until grill marks appear. Rotate and repeat.

When the carrots are almost done grilling, place your buns cut-side down on the top rack of the grill for about 1 minute or until grill marks appear.

Top your hot dogs with freshly diced avocado, a cabbage slaw (cabbage, carrots, parsley, olive oil, lemon juice, and sesame seeds), a drizzle of mustard, and a sprinkle of parsley.

Yes, I realize I’m putting carrots on carrots and I LOVE it! Because the marinated carrots no longer taste like regular carrots, I like putting crunchy carrots on top of them as part of the slaw!

Finally, serve your grilled carrot dogs with some homemade potato chips, some freshly sliced pickles, and a beer!

I think you’re going to be amazed by the taste of these carrot hot dogs if you decide to try them! Close your eyes and tell me it doesn’t taste just like a hot dog!

Grilled Carrot Hot Dog Recipe

Ingredients

Assembling the Carrot Dogs:
6-8 carrots
6-8 hot dog buns
1/2 cup olive oil, divided
1/2 avocado, diced
1 cup red cabbage, shredded
1/2 cup carrots, shredded
2 TB lemon juice
1 TB parsley, diced
1 tsp sesame seeds
mustard
Marinade:
1 cup low sodium vegetable broth
⅓ cup cider vinegar
1 cup soy sauce
1 TB dijon mustard
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp smoked paprika
2 TB liquid smoke
2 TB steak sauce
2 TB maple syrup
¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 cups water

Instructions

Peel your carrots.
Cut carrots to better fit into hot dog buns. Cut more of the skinny end off and less of the thick end so you keep as much of the thicker part of the carrot as possible. Use a vegetable peeler to whittle the ends to make them more curved like a hot dog.
Next, combine all your marinade ingredients together in a stock pot along with the whittled carrots, bring it to a boil and then reduce to a simmer and cook the carrots on for about 12-15 minutes or until fork tender.
Remove the pot from heat and let the carrots sit for another 15-20 minutes while you prep and preheat your grill to medium heat.
Remove your carrots from the cooked marinade and brush with olive oil to prevent them from drying out or sticking to the grill. Grill the carrots for 4-6 minutes or until grill marks appear. Rotate and repeat.
When the carrots are almost done grilling, place your buns cut-side down on the top rack of the grill for about 1 minute or until grill marks appear.
Top your hot dogs with freshly diced avocado, a cabbage slaw (cabbage, carrots, parsley, olive oil, lemon juice, and sesame seeds), a drizzle of mustard, and a sprinkle of parsley.

Looking for more grilled lunch or dinner inspiration? Be sure to check out my Grilled Shrimp Tacos with Avocado Crema Recipe.