Sausages are wrapped in dough and cooked until the dough turns golden brown, making pigs in blankets. They are well-liked globally, particularly in nations like the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, and Denmark. Pigs in blankets are frequently served as an appetizer or finger food at gatherings in the United States and Canada. They are relatively small and are typically accompanied by mustard or aioli. The British version is generally served at Christmas lunch or on Boxing Day and consists of sausages wrapped in bacon.
Pigs in a blanket are often the first thing to run out at a party, even though fancy appetizers are fantastic. These small sausages wrapped in warm, buttery bread dough are insanely simple to make with only two ingredients. Thus, why oppose it? Put these little piggies on the menu the next time you plan your lineup of Super Bowl snacks or finger appetizers to serve a crowd.
Pork Nutrition Facts
What is Exactly Pig in Blanket?
Do you know what a pig in a blanket is? It’s not a real pig wearing a real cloak, despite your best efforts to picture a fat pig looking like a dog in an adorable little doggie sweater while donning a pink veil. A pig in a blanket is a sausage initially made from pork, hence the name “pig,” wrapped in a pancake, biscuit, or pastry in the shape of a crescent.
Full-size hot dogs, Vienna sausages, cocktail or tiny sausages, breakfast sausage links, or even bratwurst can be used to make these delicious appetizers. There is virtually no end to what you can create with delectable pastry and sausages. They can be fried or baked, but kids and adults worldwide love them both ways, no matter how you prepare them.
Where was the genesis of pigs in a blanket? Would you imagine this delectable dessert may be as old as the 1600s? According to legend, back in the day, manual laborers in England would encase meat in the dough for a quick supper on the road. Today, “pigs in blankets” refers to the little sausages wrapped in bacon typically served with the roast turkey at Christmas dinner in the United Kingdom.
How to Make Pig in a Blanket?
Here is the best recipe to make pig in a blanket:
Ingredients
For the Pigs in a Blanket
- One 8-ounce can of refrigerated crescent roll dough
- One 14-ounce package of cocktail-sized smoked sausages patted dry
- One large egg
- Everything bagel seasoning (optional)
For the Spicy Mayo Dipping Sauce (Optional)
- 3/4 c. Mayonnaise
- 1/4 c. Chile-garlic sauce or Sriracha
For the Maple-Dijon Dipping Sauce (Optional)
-
3/4 c. Dijon mustard
-
1/4 c. Genuine maple syrup
For the Quick Ranch (Optional)
- 3/4 c. Sour cream
- 1/4 c. Pickle juice (from a jar)
- 1 tbsp. fresh chives, chopped
Steps to Follow
Here are the steps to follow:
- Preheat the oven to 375°. Working quickly while cold, unroll the crescent dough sheet on a lightly floured surface and separate the perforated dough into eight triangles. Cut each dough triangle into three equal skinny triangles.
- Place one cocktail sausage on the broad base of one skinny triangle. Roll the sausage toward the pointed end of the triangle, allowing the dough to overlap and wrap around the link. Place the rolled sausage on a parchment-lined baking sheet, point-side down. Repeat with the remaining dough triangles and sausages.
- Whisk together the egg with one teaspoon of water in a small bowl until smooth. Brush the egg wash over the dough and sprinkle with everything bagel seasoning, if desired. Bake at 375° until the dough is puffed and golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes.
- Make the dipping sauces (optional): For the Spicy Mayo Dipping Sauce, stir the mayo and chile-garlic sauce in a small bowl until smooth. For the Maple-Dijon Dijon Dipping Sauce, stir the mustard and syrup in a small bowl until smooth. Mix the sour cream, pickle juice, and chives in a small bowl until smooth for the Quick Ranch.
- Serve the pigs in a blanket warm with Spicy Mayo, Maple Dijon, or Quick Ranch Dipping Sauces.
What to Serve with Pig Blanket?
They should be served with a few tasty side dishes. These delectable treats go well with various dips, toppings, and sides reminiscent of a picnic. Below are seven delicious recipes that go great with pigs in a blanket.
Baked Beans
When I have a lot of visitors coming over and want to feed and satisfy them, baked beans are my go-to dish. This recipe is wonderfully filling and tasty, sweet, and flavorful. Without a side of baked beans, no picnic is genuinely complete. Pigs in blankets taste delicious when paired with the sweet and smokey flavors. They are also simple to create; these fellas only need some bacon and brown sugar for flavor.
Mac & Cheese
Mac and cheese are always a good choice. This traditional pasta recipe pairs well with a wide range of tastes. But works particularly well with the flavorful sausage inside the tender crescent roll. And here’s an idea if you love cheese like I do: wrap your links with cheese before rolling them in pastry dough. In this manner, both your mac and cheese and pigs in a blanket have cheese. Since, why not? More cheese means more goodness!
Deviled Eggs
You must also prepare deviled eggs if you’re serving pigs in a blanket at a picnic, and you simply must. You can’t make one of these two appetizers without the other since they taste so fantastic.
You’ll need something moist and creamy to counteract the drying nature of pigs in a blanket. Deviled eggs are the best food for this, as you could have imagined.
If you’ve been cooking deviled eggs for years and want to try something new, I advise switching out the mayonnaise for hummus. Hummus is delicious and flavorful, but it has fewer calories than mayo, making it a healthier alternative.
Pancakes and Scrambled Eggs
Pigs in a blanket are a terrific breakfast option and the ideal party appetizer. The following day, if there are any leftovers from the celebration the night before (which is doubtful), you can serve these delectable goodies!
To give you the energy you need to go through the day, eat or serve them with some sweet and fluffy pancakes and soft, moist scrambled eggs. And what about that? Here’s an idea: why not roll sausage in a slice of pancake to create a modified pig in a blanket? It’s simple to prepare, delicious, and filling—it sounds like the ideal breakfast!
Corn Pudding
Serve corn pudding alongside your pigs in a blanket to give your gathering a Southern flare. This flavor-packed, sweet, creamy custard contains corn, milk, and eggs—the perfect combination of three delectable ingredients. It’s also relatively simple to make, and you mix everything in a casserole dish and bake it for an hour. Simple and delicious, too, and it is excellent comfort food.
Dips
Pigs in a blanket are a little on the dry side, as I’ve already indicated, as they are made entirely of sausage and dough. They will always require some dressings, dips, and sauces to give flavor and moisture. Among the traditional condiments are ketchup, mustard, and barbecue sauce. Making intriguing sauces like honey mustard, honey-dijon, or chili cheese will also help you amp things up. Yum!
Fruit Salad
Lastly, serve a tasty dessert to your visitors to cap off your meal. Pigs in a blanket can be tricky on the stomach since they are so high in carbohydrates. So for dessert, you should have something light and energizing. The ideal solution is a straightforward fruit salad with cream-coated fresh strawberries, mangoes, mandarin oranges, and peaches.
How do you Keep Pigs in a Blanket from Getting Soggy?
Unfortunately, making pigs in a blanket from scratch takes more time than most people have. They rely on frozen and pre-made foods you can get at the grocery store, and these can taste just as excellent as the fresh ones but deteriorate much more quickly. Frozen franks should be put in a container with a paper towel at the bottom after being heated.
The paper towel will be able to absorb the moisture, as was already explained, and prevent the dough from becoming soggy on the interior. Pigs in a blanket can be prepared a day or two in advance and kept in the refrigerator to chill until they are ready to be cooked if you genuinely want to make them from scratch but yet want to save some time.
Other Versions of Pigs in a Blanket
People have changed the original pigs in a blanket recipe to suit their preferences. Rarely pigs in a blanket and corn dogs have even been combined.
The sausage is coated in a cornmeal batter instead of dough and then attached to a wooden stick. Even though they are pretty easy to make at home, you can typically get these enjoyable sweets at state fairs.
Unfortunately, they won’t be as nutritious for you as conventional pigs in a blanket! Some people enjoy using a regular-sized hot dog to make pigs in a blanket. This is also known as a sausage roll in some regions of Europe. Before adding the sausage, some people also like to spread the dough with Dijon mustard. Your pigs in a blanket get an extra flavor boost from this.
Conclusion
There are a few ways to prevent your pigs in a blanket from becoming wet. The sausages can be preheated in the microwave before being encased in dough, pricked with a toothpick to drain any extra liquid, or patted dry with paper towels before being covered in dough.
To prevent as much moisture from getting to them as possible, put them in the refrigerator in an airtight container. A few paper towel sheets should be placed inside the container to absorb any moisture that could accidentally go inside.
When serving, keep your piggies warm and dry by storing them in a crock pot to stop them from freezing. Your family and friends will beg you for more pigs in a blanket once you have mastered the recipe.
Many other countries use different variations of the dough or even of the sausage, but at the end of the day, they are still the same pigs in a blanket that we all know and love today.