Cocktail-sized sausages or hot dogs wrapped in a strip of dough — usually crescent-roll or biscuit dough — and baked until the wrapper is golden and flaky and the sausage is hot and juicy inside. A bite-sized, hand-held party staple in the United States, they turn up at potlucks, holidays, kids' parties, and Super Bowl spreads. They are served warm, usually with mustard or ketchup for dipping.
The dish belongs to a broad family of sausages baked in dough found across Europe, and similar wrapped-sausage recipes were printed in the United States by the early 1900s. The specific name 'pigs in a blanket' is often traced to Betty Crocker's 1957 Cooking for Kids, which used Vienna sausages and biscuit dough and helped fix the snack in postwar American home entertaining; earlier American references to the phrase exist, including a wartime military cookbook. It is firmly a folk and convenience-food dish rather than the invention of any one cook.
A flaky, buttery wrapper crackles at the first bite, then gives way to the snap and salty juice of a hot little sausage. The contrast is the whole point — light, layered pastry against dense, savory meat. A swipe of sharp mustard cuts the richness. Eaten warm; once cold, the wrapper turns leathery and the appeal fades.
Laminated or chemically leavened dough does the work: crescent and biscuit doughs contain layers of fat that, on baking, release steam and puff into flaky sheets while baking powder or yeast lifts the crumb. The dough is wrapped loosely so it can expand without tearing, and an egg wash promotes browning and gloss. The sausage, usually fully cooked already, only needs to heat through; its rendered fat keeps the underside of the wrapper tender while the exposed top crisps in the oven's dry heat.
Variations
Crescent-roll dough is the American default; puff pastry gives a richer, flakier result and biscuit dough a softer, bready one. Fillings range from cocktail wieners to breakfast sausage, kielbasa, or cheese-stuffed franks, and the dough may be brushed with everything-bagel seasoning or poppy seed. Internationally the form recurs as the British 'pig in blanket' (a sausage wrapped in bacon) and the German Würstchen im Schlafrock.
On the Palate
Where Pigs in a Blanket sits in the American flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 8How it's made
6 steps · 15 min active + 15 min waiting
- 14 min
Unroll crescent or biscuit dough and cut into thin triangles or strips.
- 23 min
Pat cocktail sausages or cut hot dogs dry so the dough adheres.
- 35 min
Roll each sausage snugly in a strip of dough, leaving room to expand.
Watch outWrap the dough loosely, leaving room to expand — it puffs and flakes in the oven, so wound too tight it tears and the layers can't lift.
- 43 min
Arrange seam-side down on a lined baking sheet and brush with egg wash.
- 514 min
Bake at 375°F (190°C) until the dough is golden and flaky, about 12 to 15 minutes.
Watch outBake until the dough is deep golden and flaky all over — pale dough is still doughy and raw underneath the crisp-looking top.
- 61 min
Serve warm with mustard and ketchup.
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