Spiral cutting a hot dog is exactly what it sounds like: making one continuous cut that wraps around the hot dog from one end to the other.
You don't need a special tool to do it. With a sharp knife, a cutting board, and a little coordination, you can make a spiral-cut hot dog at home.
The trick is maintaining a consistent angle and depth while rotating the hot dog.
How to Spiral-Cut a Hot Dog With a Knife
Start with a firm, chilled hot dog and a clean, dry cutting board.
1. Position Your Knife at an Angle
Place the hot dog horizontally on your cutting board.
Starting near one end, hold your knife at roughly a 45-degree angle to the hot dog. The exact angle isn't critical, but keeping it relatively consistent will help create an even spiral.
2. Make a Shallow Cut
Press the knife into the hot dog without cutting all the way through.
You're trying to cut through the exterior and into the hot dog while leaving its center intact.
The goal is a spiral, not a Slinky.
3. Rotate the Hot Dog as You Cut
This is the part that takes some coordination.
Slowly roll the hot dog away from the knife while moving the blade along its length. Keep the knife at approximately the same angle and depth as the hot dog rotates underneath it.
The combination of those two movements creates the spiral.
4. Continue From End to End
Keep rotating and cutting until the spiral runs along the entire hot dog.
Don't worry if your first attempt isn't perfectly uniform. Slight variations in spacing won't prevent the spiral from opening when the hot dog cooks.
5. Cook Your Hot Dog
Once you've finished the cut, cook the hot dog using your preferred method.
As it heats and expands, the spiral will begin to open and become much more visible.
How Deep Should You Cut?
Deep enough for the spiral to open, but not so deep that you cut the hot dog into pieces.
There's no universal measurement because hot dogs vary considerably in diameter.
A shallow surface score won't open very much. Cutting too deeply can weaken the center of the hot dog and cause sections to separate.
After a couple of attempts, you'll develop a feel for the right depth.
Can You Use a Skewer to Help?
Yes.
One common technique is to run a wooden skewer lengthwise through the center of the hot dog before cutting it. The skewer can act as a physical stop that helps prevent your knife from cutting completely through.
You still need to rotate the hot dog and maintain your knife angle, but the skewer can make controlling the depth easier.
Remove the skewer before cooking unless the recipe or cooking method you're following specifically calls for leaving it in place.
A Quick Note About Knife Safety
Hot dogs are round, smooth, and capable of rolling while you're cutting them, which isn't an ideal combination when you're holding a sharp knife.
Work slowly on a stable cutting surface, keep your fingers away from the blade, and don't try to force the cut.
If the hot dog or cutting board becomes slippery, dry the surface before continuing.
When You're Making More Than a Couple
Spiral cutting by hand works well when you're making one or two hot dogs.
But it takes time.
In our experience, cutting a consistent spiral by hand takes about a minute per hot dog. That's not a big deal when you're cooking for yourself or making dinner for two. Start making hot dogs for a family, a cookout, or a birthday party full of hungry kids, and those minutes add up quickly.
That's actually part of what led to ScrewDog.
We liked spiral-cut hot dogs enough to keep making them. We just didn't want to carefully rotate and cut every hot dog one at a time whenever we were feeding a crowd.
ScrewDog is a handheld spiral hot dog cutter designed to make that process faster and more repeatable. The tool holds the cutting blade at an angle for you, so instead of simultaneously controlling a knife, rotating the hot dog, and maintaining your cut depth, you roll the tool over the hot dog to create the spiral.
The knife method absolutely works.
ScrewDog is for when you want to make spiral-cut hot dogs without turning each one into a one-minute cutting project.