Hot dogs make the best lazy dinners for those exhausted nights when the thought of chopping a clove of garlic for a batch of creamy Alfredo sounds like climbing Mount Everest. Simply stuff one in a bun and scatter over dill pickles and tomatoes to make an authentic Chicago-style dog. However, not all hot dog brands are made equal. To help you avoid purchasing a poor quality wiener, we took the honor of taste-testing some popular options. Our conclusion? There’s one hot dog brand you should never pick up at a grocery store — Gwaltney Great Dogs Original.
The loser in our list of 13 grocery store hot dog brands, ranked worst to best, these hot dogs tasted closer to bologna and had a mild smoky flavor. Their texture was also too soft and they were missing the chew that gave the other contenders in our taste test their balanced mouthfeel. Made of mechanically separated chicken, Gwaltney hot dogs are an affordable option at $2 for a pack of eight but you’d be better off buying a more expensive brand that actually tastes like a proper hot dog. While their beef collagen casing might be a bonus for those who feel queasy about eating natural casings made from intestines, these dogs didn’t have that distinct snap. If you’re squeamish about sheep, lamb, or beef casings, there are plenty of other skinless hot dogs, like Sabrett beef frankfurters (the runner up in our ranking) that would be a far superior choice.
Gwaltney Great Dogs Original contain corn syrup for color and flavor
Along with processed meat and spices, many hot dogs contain a sweet ingredient to boost flavor and color; it provides a moreish counterbalance to the salty taste of a frankfurter that’s classically a blend of various meat trimmings. Gwaltney hot dogs contain an artificial sweetener in the form of corn syrup, but it isn’t always necessary for wieners to include this ingredient. For example, the brand that came in at No. 7 in our list, Hebrew National, is completely free from sweeteners, as are Applegate natural uncured beef hot dogs. There are also premium hot dog brands available that favor natural options like cane sugar or honey, which use fewer binders.
The brand that took the coveted top spot in our ranking — Kayem Old Tyme Beef frankfurters — doesn’t contain corn syrup, but it does feature a sweetener that’s derived from corn called dextrose. However, this sweet additive didn’t mask the taste of the beef. It also had the classic snap of a true-blue hot dog (the beef filling is stuffed into an all-natural lamb casing) and was both juicy and flavorful. Moreover, it was well balanced when it came to its smoky notes and cured quality.
