Bird Dawgs—Buffalo Wild Wings-Style

As longtime readers know, bar snacks are one of my favorite food groups. And Buffalo Wild Wings is one of my favorite places to grab a deep-fried bite of something delicious.

So when the BWW app told my husband that there was a new item on the menu—the Bird Dawg—we were deeply intrigued.

What is a Bird Dawg? It’s a hot dog bun stuffed with chicken tenders and loaded up with all kinds of toppings.

The original Bird Dawgs come in three varieties:

• Buffalo, with Buffalo sauce, ranch dressing, slaw, and scallions
• Honey BBQ, with honey BBQ sauce, ranch dressing, slaw, scallions, and fries
• Loaded, with “wild honey mustard” sauce, beer cheese, grilled onions, and scallions

In the name of science, we had to sample all three.

It was a strong showing from B-Dubs: small enough that you could snack on them and still have room to eat a few, but flavorful enough to pack a punch.

And while each Bird Dawg had its merits, there was a lot of overlap between them in terms of toppings. There were also elements that I thought each Dawg should include.

Like, say, fries and slaw on each sandwich. Because you can take the girl outta Pittsburgh…

So to make the ultimate Bird Dawg bar snack, I decided to recreate these loaded buns at home.

Making Buffalo Wild Wings Bird Dawgs at home

My homemade Bird Dawgs start with a base of fries and slaw snuggled into a toasted hot dog bun, then topped with tenders.

From there, things get a little messy in a very good way.

The fun in customizing Bird Dawgs at home is that you can mix and match whatever sauces you like.

For instance, I loved the honey BBQ sauce on the restaurant version, but wasn’t wild about the incredibly spicy “wild honey mustard sauce.”

So I combined what I liked to make my own honey mustard BBQ sauce, and you’ll find that in the recipe below.

I also loved the idea of adding beer cheese, so I made a version of my Cheez Whiz to be a nice beer-forward cheese sauce.

If two sauces isn’t enough, you can also add ranch dressing and Buffalo sauce.

Or substitute one or the other—my husband isn’t a fan of BBQ, so he went with ranch and beer cheese on his.

Finally, even though the Loaded Bird Dawg featured grilled onions, which were lovely, aren’t fried onions more appropriate here?

Plus, they add a finishing crunchy touch to the sandwich.

Make these homemade Dawgs vegan

The best part about making homemade Bird Dawgs is that I could substitute plant-based chicken tenders for the actual chicken ones.

I really don’t like to eat much chicken (or any meat at all) these days, so it’s nice to have a vegetarian option for my bar snacks.

And frankly, most of the plant-based nugget and tender options on the market are so good that you can’t even tell the difference.

If you want to go full cluck, that’s completely your call. But it’s possible to make these Bird Dawgs not only vegetarian but vegan if you prefer.

Make your slaw with vegan mayonnaise, use vegan ranch dressing, and substitute tofu cream cheese or other plant-based cream cheese and vegan shredded Cheddar in the beer cheese.

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Bird Dawgs, Buffalo Wild Wings-Style

Yield: 4 servings

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

Make homemade Bird Dawgs inspired by the Buffalo Wild Wings bar snack with your own combo of sauces and toppings. They can be made vegan too!

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Ingredients

Honey Mustard BBQ

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• 1/4 cup BBQ sauce
• 2 tablespoons honey mustard
• 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon spicy brown mustard

Beer Cheese

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• 1 ounce (28 grams) cream cheese
• 1/2 cup beer of your choice
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon ground mustard
• 4 ounces (113 grams) shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

Bird Dawgs

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• 1 pound (16 ounces) frozen fries, preferably skin-on
• 16 chicken tenders or plant-based chicken tenders (you may need fewer if they're very large)
• 8 hot dog buns
• 1 cup coleslaw (store-bought or homemade)
• ranch dressing
• Buffalo sauce
• 1 large green onion, chopped
• fried onions

Instructions

Make the honey mustard BBQ:

1. Whisk the BBQ sauce, honey mustard, and spicy brown mustard together in a bowl. Set aside.

Make the beer cheese:

1. Heat the cream cheese and beer in a small (1-quart) saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally to break up the cream cheese and help it melt.
2. When the cream cheese is mostly melted and the liquid is simmering, whisk in the cornstarch and mustard.
3. Cook for 1-2 minutes more to thicken slightly.
4. Whisk in the Cheddar until completely incorporated.
5. Cover and keep warm.

Make the rest of the Bird Dawg elements:

1. Cook the fries and tenders according to package instructions. (I usually just roast or air-fry everything at 400 degrees F until nice and golden brown, about 10-12 minutes, but that's me eyeballing it.)
2. Toast the hot dog buns until lightly golden at the edges.

Assemble the Bird Dawgs:

1. Place a handful of fries—not too many, about 5 or 6—inside each hot dog bun.
2. Top the fries with about 1-2 tablespoons coleslaw.
3. Place 2 tenders on top of the coleslaw—again, if your tenders are enormous, you might only need 1 per bun.
4. Drizzle the beer cheese over the tenders. Save any remaining beer cheese for dipping or for eating with more fries later.
5. Next, drizzle on the honey mustard BBQ sauce, ranch dressing, and/or Buffalo sauce. Pick your favorites!
6. Finally, sprinkle green onions and fried onions onto each Bird Dawg.
   

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 1213Total Fat: 60gSaturated Fat: 15gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 39gCholesterol: 115mgSodium: 2543mgCarbohydrates: 115gFiber: 6gSugar: 20gProtein: 51g

The nutritional information above is computer-generated and only an estimate.

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