Posted by It’s time for another Disneyland Copycat Recipe! Today’s is the Plant-based Philly Dog from Award Wieners in California Adventure.
It is described on the menu board in DCA as:
Plant-based Hot Dog in a Toasted Bun topped with Mushrooms, Grilled Onions and Peppers and Vegan Crema
I made the buns from scratch from a recipe by Mary’s Test Kitchen. Mary is a master baker and never fails to provide amazing bread recipes! It’s easy to find vegan hot dog buns in grocery stores, but the reason I’m making my own is twofold:
- Fresh baked buns are next-level and it will be extra delicious!
- The buns on the actual Philly Dog in DCA are New-England-style buns, which means they have flat/open sides that you can put on the grill. By baking them myself, I’m able to control the shape and bake them slightly touching each other to achieve that flat/open side. There are also special pans designed just for baking New England style buns, but we can improvise.
You are of course welcome to use store bought buns to save time if you prefer! It will be delicious either way.
I hope that you enjoy the recipe and that it brings a bit of Disney magic into your home! If you make it, please tag me on Instagram (@happiestveganonearth) and let me know what you thought!
See the recipe below, and also the accompanying YouTube video for visual instructions!
Servings: 2 (plus extra buns and dogs – but the toppings and fries are measured for 2)
Time: If making the buns from scratch, 3 hours (mostly inactive time). The potatoes for the fries need to sit in cold water for one hour before being fried/baked. It’s probably 30-40 minutes of active kitchen time, but start early to allow for the inactive time.
Making the buns:
Head over to the recipe from Mary’s Test Kitchen! They need some rising time – around two and a half hours total, plus baking for 20 minutes – so make sure you start that part well in advance.
I baked them very close together, touching each other, so that they could be pulled apart at the end and grilled on the flat sides. I baked them in a very oiled baking dish, turning each one over to coat them in the oil a bit. You can see this process in my YouTube video that accompanies this blog post!
Making the fries:
The Filmstrip Fries that you actually get in DCA are of course amazing, but they are such a unique shape that I’m sure they require some fancy device to slice that way. They’re also known as spiral cut steak fries, and you can actually buy them online – I wouldn’t be surprised if this were the same place that DCA is buying theirs from.
For this recipe, we’re going to just make regular fries! I’m going to do mine in my air fryer, but you could also bake them or deep fry them, whichever you prefer. Below is the recipe for the air fryer version that I made.
Ingredients:
4 Russet potatoes (medium to large sized)
Olive oil to coat them (about 1 tbsp)
Salt and pepper to taste (start with about ½ tsp each)
Instructions:
Slice the potatoes into your desired fry shape. I like the peels on, so I don’t peel them, but you can peel if desired.
Place them into a bowl of cold water and keep in the fridge for one hour. This is supposed to remove some of the starch and make them crispier in the end.
Drain, rinse, and dry them with a clean kitchen towel. Place them into a big bowl and toss together with the olive oil, salt and pepper.
Place them in the air fryer at 380 degrees for 15-20 mins, shaking halfway through. Depending on the size of your air fryer, you may need to do two batches. You want them to be basically in a single layer, not piled up on top of each other too much. Keep an eye on them until they’re the golden brown color that you desire.
Making the crema:
This is just called “vegan crema” on the menu at DCA, and it’s a mild creamy sauce with a mustardy flavor going on. You can see brown flecks in it, so it must be the coarse-ground Dijon mustard. We’re going to make a bit of a shortcut version here with vegan sour cream, but you could also do it more from scratch with a standard vegan cashew crema with added mustard.
Ingredients:
½ cup vegan sour cream (I like Tofutti, but there are many brands of vegan sour cream! The Tofutti worked great here)
1 tbsp coarse-ground Dijon mustard
Instructions:
Stir together the vegan sour cream and coarse-ground Dijon mustard in a bowl until well combined. You may want more or less mustard depending on your taste. Transfer into a squeeze bottle and store in the fridge until you’re ready to assemble the whole dog.
Making the veggie toppings:
Ingredients:
1 yellow onion (or other type of onion)
1 yellow bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
2 portobello mushroom caps
1 tbsp olive oil (or other oil you like for sautéeing)
Salt and pepper to taste (about ½ tsp each)
Instructions:
Chop all the veggies. Leave the bell peppers and mushroom in longer strips. Heat the oil in a large frying pan or wok over medium heat. Add the onions, and after a few minutes, the bell peppers, and later the mushrooms, then the salt and pepper. Sauté until they reach your desired doneness.
Making the dog:
In DCA, they use Field Roast Frankfurters for this dish. Luckily, Field Roast products are available at most grocery stores with a sizable vegan section! At DCA when they run out of these, they also sometimes use Yves vegan dogs. You can use any vegan hot dog that you like, but if you want it to be as close to the park version as possible, then go for the Field Roast Frankfurters.
Ingredients:
2 Field Roast Frankfurters, or any vegan hot dog that you like
Oil for frying, your desired type and amount (I used about ½ tbsp olive oil)
Instructions:
Heat the oil in a frying pan. Remove the dogs from their packaging and grill them for a few minutes, until they are heated through and start to brown on the outside.
Assembly:
If using the homemade buns, take them out of the oven when they’re golden brown and let them cool for a few minutes. Pull them apart and hopefully you have those nice flat sides! Use a sharp knife to slice it down the middle, with the flat sides of course being on the side.
Place the flat sides on the frying pan with the oil where the dogs were/are. You could also do this with vegan butter (e.g. Miyoko’s or Earth Balance) – butter the sides, and then grill them that way. But since I already had the pan going with the oil, it was easier this way and super delicious as well.
After both sides of the bun are golden brown, carefully transfer to serving plate and place the Frankfurter in. Top with the grilled veggies and zigzag the vegan crema on top. Serve with the fries and put on a soundtrack to make you feel like you’re on Hollywood Blvd!
Your Guide to Vegan Options at Disneyland! 
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