Leftover Chili Cheese Dog Boats

These chili cheese dog boats are a great way to repurpose leftover chili when you’re craving a chili cheese hot dog. Swapping hot dogs for chicken sausage and using a lower fat turkey chili makes these boats surprisingly Kinda Healthy. Each chili dog boat has 20 grams of protein with only 320 calories, and you’d never be able to tell with all the melted American cheese and crispy toasted buns!

Chili Cheese Dog Boats Recipe Walkthrough

These leftover chili dog boats are a remix of Alvin Zhou’s recipe. I’ve included a visual walkthrough below but if you’d like a video example, particularly with the buns, Alvin has a Tasty-style video in his post. After the buns, however, my recipe goes in a slightly different direction. So let’s dive in!

Use a knife to cut a rectangle in the top of hot dog buns and press the centers down with your finger. Brush with olive oil, garlic powder, and parsley before baking for 5 minutes at 350ºF.

I tested all kinds of hot dog buns, sausage buns, and even hoagie rolls for this recipe. Ultimately, I settled on top-sliced hot dog buns from Pepperidge Farms. If you’d like to use a lower carb option or another type of bun, they should all mostly work fine. Though I will add that buns with higher protein content will have more spring in their crumb and might be difficult to press down for deep chili dog boats.

You’ll notice the olive oil that’s brushed on the buns is labeled optional in the recipe card. I tested the buns both with and without any oil or butter, and they work perfectly fine just toasted without anything brushed on. If you have an oil sprayer, you could spritz on a bit of oil for a light layer and a little extra crisp. You’re not after golden brown perfection with the first bake, just enough to hold up to the chili dog filling.

Pan fry sliced chicken sausages for 5-6 minutes to brown before adding leftover chili.

Unlike Alvin’s original chili cheese dog boats, my version calls for chicken sausages. They’re a much higher protein, lower fat option compared to traditional hot dogs. The problem with chicken sausages, however, is that they’re much larger than hot dogs.

So fitting a chicken sausage in a bun, at least with any additional chili, isn’t happening. I tested sausage buns and hoagie rolls, but I felt there was simply too much bread in the final product. The solution? Slicing up the sausage, pan frying, and going straight in with leftover chili.

For the chicken sausage, I used the same Trader Joe’s garlic herb chicken sausage from my 5-ingredient chicken sausage pasta recipe. And for the chili, I used my Instant Pot turkey chili, which is bean heavy. If you wanted to use a bean-free chili like my slow cooker Texas chili or something pre-prepared, go right ahead.

Add a slice of American cheese to the baked hot dog buns before adding the chili dog filling.

Are you really making chili cheese dogs without American cheese? Probably not. That said, you could use any type of cheese for your chili dog boats. You’ll notice in the photo above, I used some colby jack cheese as the optional ninth slice on top of the boats before going in the oven.

Bake for 15-20 minutes at 350ºF until the cheese is melted and chili starts to brown on top.

You’ll know when they’re ready to come out of the oven. Top the finished chili cheese dog boats with fresh parsley, diced white onion, and depending on your style, a little mustard. In case you want to explore your toppings options, here’s a list of regional hot dogs.

Whatever you end up topping your boats with, I’d love to hear about it. Let us know what you thought about the recipe in the comments or with a star rating. And before you grab the recipe and get cooking, I’d like to plug my air fried brussels sprouts and garlic parmesan carrot fries as healthier sides you could pair with this recipe. Enjoy!