Halloween hot dogs with smoky tomato sauce
Serves: 6
Prep time: 50 minsTotal time: 
Recipe photograph by Ant Duncan
Halloween hot dogs with smoky tomato sauce
These gruesome- looking hot dogs might seem scary, but no-one can point a finger at you for not considering the ingredients. Shop-bought ketchup contains lots of added sugar, but by replacing this with a sauce made from dates you get natural sweetness along with nutrients and fibre. Plus, it’s a fun way to show the kids how their favourite condiment is made
Serves: 6
Prep time: 50 minsTotal time: 
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Nutritional information (hot dog)
Calories
390Kcal
Fat
17gr
Saturates
8gr
Carbs
52gr
Sugars
20gr
Fibre
6gr
Protein
7gr
Salt
1.3gr
Nadine Brown
When Nadine isn't busy developing delicious recipes and using her experience as a health food editor to create healthy treats, she's munching and reviewing her way around her beloved home town of Tottenham. Find out what she's cooking and eating on Instagram @n0sh.17
See more of Nadine Brown’s recipes
Nadine Brown
When Nadine isn't busy developing delicious recipes and using her experience as a health food editor to create healthy treats, she's munching and reviewing her way around her beloved home town of Tottenham. Find out what she's cooking and eating on Instagram @n0sh.17
See more of Nadine Brown’s recipes
Ingredients
- 6 frankfurters
- 6 jumbo hot dog buns
For the sauce (makes about 800g)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 red onion, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 7 large ripe tomatoes (about 700g), chopped
- 6 medjool dates, pitted and chopped
- 90g Smokey Tomato Paste by Sainsbury’s
- 2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1⁄4 tsp ground cloves
- 75ml red wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp maple syrup (optional)
Step by step
How to store
You can store the sauce in the fridge for up to a month
- Heat the oil in a deep, wide saucepan. Sauté the onion and garlic for about 5-6 minutes, until starting to turn deeply golden.
- Add the chopped tomatoes, dates, tomato paste, smoked paprika and ground cloves. Stir to combine, then cover and cook for 20 minutes over a medium heat, stirring often, until the tomatoes have collapsed and the onions have completely softened. Uncover and simmer for a further 5 minutes until very thick, stirring occasionally to stop it catching at the bottom. Leave to cool.
- Blitz the sauce in a blender. Clean the previously used saucepan, then place a fine-mesh sieve over it and strain the sauce into it, discarding the solids. Stir in the red wine vinegar and taste. If you’d like it a bit sweeter, add up to 2 tablespoons of maple syrup. Reheat briefly, then decant into a sterilised bottle or jar, leaving to cool before transferring to the fridge.
- For the hot dogs, use a small sharp knife to slice two lines to make the sides of a ‘fingernail’ at the top of the frankfurter. Slice a straight line across the bottom to connect the two lines, then make a slightly curved slice for the top of the nail. Following the lines, slice a thin piece of the frankfurter away to create the ‘fingernail’. To make the ‘joints’, make small horizontal slits halfway down the frankfurter, with a curved slit directly below and above. Do the same again below the ‘fingernail’.
- Bring a pan of water to the boil and add the frankfurters, cooking according to pack instructions. Drain, then serve in buns with the sauce and any other accompaniments.
