Mini Vegan Pigs in a Blanket
These vegan pigs in a blanket can be made with baby carrots (yes, for real) OR vegan hot dogs! Enjoy with a creamy maple mustard dressing.
Want to save this recipe?
Enter your email below and get it sent straight to your inbox.
I make these mini vegan pigs in a blanket for holiday appetizers, Super Bowl snacks, potlucks, or just because I CRAVE them. When I made them on Thanksgiving, even my meat-eating sister enjoyed them and said they were better than traditional pigs in a blanket! I totally knew that, but it was awesome to hear that validation.
If you’re not a big fan of vegan hot dogs or faux meat, baby carrots are the way to go. The marinade infuses them with a delicious smoky, meat-like flavor. The recipe is similar to these carrot dogs…just wrapped in carbs, of course!
Ingredients
- Baby carrots: We’ll be marinating these so they tasty meaty and smoky. Alternatively, you can pick up a package of vegan hot dogs and cut them into smaller pieces.
- Homemade marinade: paprika, black pepper, vegan Worcestershire sauce, onion powder, garlic powder, maple syrup, apple cider vinegar, soy sauce, vegetable stock, and liquid smoke.
- Crescent rolls: Perhaps surprisingly, Pillsbury crescent rolls are vegan. The Annie’s brand is also vegan.
- Dipping sauce: I like to make my own by mixing mustard, maple syrup, and a little vegan mayo.
Trying to go vegan? Sign up for our (FREE) Vegan Beginner’s Guide!
Substitutions
- Breading: Instead of crescent rolls, you could also use pretzel dough or pizza dough.
- Vegan Worcestershire sauce/liquid smoke: Both of these ingredients can be omitted.
- Vegan hot dogs: Not feeling the carrots? Vegan hot dogs are a quick and easy substitution. You can opt to still marinate them for extra flavor, but it’s not totally necessary. Bake as directed.
- Dipping: Another delicious sauce to dip mini pigs in a blanket in is BBQ sauce.
Tips and FAQs
- Keep the crescent rolls in the fridge until you’re ready to roll up the carrot dogs. Cold dough is much easier to work with.
- Make ahead: Yes, you can make this recipe ahead of time. Reheat in the microwave or the oven.
One concern I typically get when sharing this recipe on social media is that baby carrots are “unhealthy” or “bad” for you. Good news: that’s a total myth. You can read all about the history of baby carrots and how they are processed here.
Looking for more delicious appetizers? Go here!
Mini Vegan Pigs in a Blanket
Ingredients
Carrot Dogs in a Blanket
- 2 cans crescent rolls
- 1 (16-ounce) bag baby carrots
- ¼ teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon vegan Worcestershire sauce optional
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- ⅓ cup soy sauce
- ⅓ cup vegetable stock
- dash of liquid smoke optional
Maple Mustard Dipping Sauce
- ⅓ cup dijon mustard or your favorite mustard
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons vegan mayo optional, for a creamy dip
Instructions
Carrot Dogs in a Blanket
- First, pick through the baby carrots and sort out the weirdly-shaped or super skinny ones. If you want to use all of the crescent roll dough, choose 32 carrots to use.
- Boil the baby carrots you're going to use until they are just barely tender. You don't want them so soft that they're going to fall apart but you won't want them to be super crunchy either. Check them frequently. They usually get to the perfect texture between 10-12 minutes of boiling.
- Drain.
- Add the boiled carrots to a shallow dish or a quart-sized, sealable bag.
- Add the remaining ingredients to the container with the carrots. Cover the dish or seal the bag and give them a good shake.
- Marinate for at least 4 hours in the fridge. Overnight is ideal. Give them a shake every hour or so when you think about it.
- Cut the crescent roll triangles into halves.
- Drain and rinse the marinated carrots off.
- Roll the carrots up into the dough and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet about 2 inches apart. (You’ll probably need two baking sheets to fit them all.)
- Bake at 375°Fahrenheit for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown.
Maple Mustard Dipping Sauce
- Whisk together all ingredients. Thin out with a little water if you prefer.
Try dipping your dogs in the ranch dressing. Yippie! The ranch dressing is really, really good. I ran out of mustard. Only, the ranch was available. I wasn’t expecting the flavors to go so well together. HAPPY. HAPPY. HAPPY.
Yay! So glad you loved them!
These are fine for carrots. My mother made them for my kids because she thought it was amazing. They detected that they were not hot dogs immediately and wouldn’t eat. I would agree that vegan diet followers would enjoy and even people who like carrots. However, they are not hot dogs and do not taste the same (especially the texture).
Hi Karissa,
Your recipe looks great and I tried to print it out but it won’t work…it just jumped to another page
You have to try them. Not what I expected. YUM! After trying them, I divided the crescent roll into 3 pieces. A lot more carrot dogs! Family all eats meat. They loved them. Easy to make. Just soak the cooked carrots the day before. Put everything in the bag, shake – add cooked carrots – seal and shake. Next day, open the rolls and divide. Rinse carrots and roll. It takes longer to heat the oven!
I made way too many carrots. Can I freeze the carrots for the next time I want to make this?
That should work fine!
Amazing, can’t believe a carrot can taste like a hotdog. I did marinate them for a few days, so they were very brown but flavor was great. I can’t wait for my non- vegan family to taste them.
My family’s favorite! I served them at a party, an no one knew they were carrots……
Ahh that’s amazing! Love it.
These were amazing! I loved how everyone crinkled their noses when I said they were vegan and then how their eyes lit up after they tasted them! I never knew you could make carrots taste so good. Thank you for sharing this recipe. I don’t have to miss pig in the blankets anymore!
Do you think I could use smoked paprika and leave out the liquid smoke?
Yes, you can replace the paprika in the recipe with smoked paprika.
Do you think you can prepare them to the point of baking, and keep in the fridge till you are ready to bake and serve? Or would there be a reason the wrapped dough will get funny?
Hey, Dana. I think that should be fine!
I Love It
made these for dinner 10/10 would recommend. Really do take the time to shake your marinating carrots to get that delicious marinade soaked into every carrot. (I used Worcestershire sauce, I find it to be one of those magic ingredients that should never be left out….it wasn’t vegan though it was just what I had in my fridge. I didn’t have liquid smoke so I left it out, I didn’t miss it.) I cut the crescent rolls in half, but I think it’d be worth it to roll the dough out a bit and do thirds. There was a lot of roll around each carrot only cutting them in half. The carrots are the star you wanna eat more carrot than roll trust me. I could personally take or leave the dipping sauce, my husband liked it, but I thought the carrots were so tasty on their own I didn’t use it. Seriously, if you’re still on the fence about trying these MAKE THEM! You’re going to be glad you did. Thanks for sharing this Karissa 🙂
I have wanted to make these for some time now and I am working a health fair event and thought this would be the perfect snack to serve. I made them yesterday and tested them with my neighbors and they loved them so now on my event menu and well after giving 8 away my husband and I devoured the rest LOL they are so good! Thanks for posting recipe!
Love this recipe! As do my picky little kids! Unfortunately I’m a terrible planner but throw them in the instant pot for 3 min, natural release and they are done! Thanks!
Great idea!
Is the worchester sauce necessary? I dont wanna buy a whole bottle when i would rarely use that. I do have liquid smoke though.
It’s optional.
Can these be made ahead of time and then be warmed when ready to serve them
They could – they are better freshly baked but they’ll still be tasty.
Hi! Can I share this on my platform on mylkguys.com I will list your name as the recipe owner! It is a blog and this week’s blog is vegan super bowl recipes1
Thank you!
Hi, you are welcome to share a photo of the recipe and link back to my blog, but not the entire recipe. Thanks!
These turned out great! The family was not looking forward to these but after trying them they were gone before I knew it. Thanks for the recipe I will visit your site more often.
These are to dieeeee!!! They are amazing. What do you think about freezing them? I have so many!
I think it would work! I haven’t tried it yet though.
Hey! Making these right now–can’t WAIT to try them. Do you marinate in the fridge or on the countertop?
In the fridge! I’ll specify in the recipe card – thanks for pointing that out!
this is brilliant! i love carrot dogs but never would’ve thought to make them with baby carrots. definitely will be trying this out!
Thanks, Kristin! Hope you enjoy!
Hi there, in the main recipe when it calls for 1/2 Tsp onion and 1 tsp garlic… do you mean powder?
Thanks in advance, can’t wait to try these!
Yes, sorry about that! I’ll fix it.
Great! Thanks, I am marinating today for dinner tomorrow!
A super bowl success! Yum!
Woot!
We just made these for the Super Bowl and they will part of our football Sunday rotation. There is only the slightest different to animal product ones.
Love it. So happy you enjoy them.
Thank you for your offer of vegan recipes.