The healthiest — and unhealthiest — hot dogs you can buy at the grocery store
Delicious healthy hot dogs can be hard to find. Shutterstock.com
The INSIDER Summary:
Picking the perfect pack of hot dogs can be a daunting task.
Reaching for the healthiest brands is often the best way to go.
Applegate Farms and Hebrew National have some of the healthiest hot dog options.
Hot dogs are one of those quintessentially American foods, one without which no summer cookout is complete. But when it comes time to actually choose the perfect pack of hot dogs, it can sometimes be daunting to find the right one — especially if you're looking for healthier options. We've done the work for you and tracked down the healthiest and unhealthiest hot dogs at the supermarket.
All Beef: Healthiest: Applegate Farms: The Great Organic Uncured Beef Hot Dog
This hot dog is 98 percent organic grass-fed beef and water; the other two percent is sea salt, spices, garlic, onion, paprika, and celery powder. Not much to disagree with there.
All Beef: Healthiest: Organic Prairie Organic Uncured Grassfed Beef Hot Dogs
Like Applegate's, this hot dog doesn't contain any funky stuff: just organic beef, water, sea salt, cane syrup, celery powder, spices, onion, and garlic.
This hot dog is 98 percent beef, water, and corn syrup, and additional ingredients include potassium lactate, hydrolyzed beef stock, and sodium phosphate.
Low Fat: Healthiest: Hebrew National 97% Fat Free Beef Franks
This hot dog is primarily beef, water, and modified potato starch used as an extender, along with standard processed hot dog ingredients like sodium lactate, hydrolyzed soy protein, and sodium diacetate; unfortunately, if you want a low-fat hot dog it won't be all-natural. Hebrew National's beef is kosher, however, and the hot dogs contain no artificial flavors, artificial colors, or by-products.
Low Fat: Less Healthy: Boar's Head Lite Beef Frankfurters
Boar's Head Lite Beef Franks contain far less sodium than your standard dog, and they only contain eight ingredients: beef, water, salt, paprika, sodium phosphate, flavorings, sodium erythorbate, and sodium nitrite.
These are primarily beef, water, and modified corn starch, and other ingredients include corn syrup, sodium phosphate, and sodium diacetate; they're nitrate-free.
Low Fat: Unhealthiest: Nathan's Famous 50% Reduced Fat Beef Franks
These hot dogs have more fat, calories, and sodium than any other on the market, and main ingredients include beef, water, corn syrup, and modified food starch; other ingredients include sodium phosphates, hydrolyzed corn protein, and sodium nitrite.
Mixed Meat: Healthiest: Boar's Head Pork & Beef Frankfurters
Oscar Mayer's classic wieners sadly do contain mechanically separated chicken and turkey (which you can read all about here), but they contain less fat and cholesterol than the competition, and the newly revamped formula means that the only other ingredients are pork, water, salt, dextrose, corn syrup, white vinegar, celery juice, sodium phosphate, cherry powder, and flavorings.
Mixed Meat: Less Healthy: Kayem Old Tyme Frankfurters
Ball Park's flagship Classic Franks are quite high in sodium and cholesterol, and the main ingredients are mechanically separated chicken, pork, water, corn syrup, and potassium lactate.
Turkey: Best: Applegate The Great Organic Uncured Turkey Hot Dog
Like their bovine cousins, these turkey dogs contain 98 percent meat and water; the other ingredients are salt, paprika, onion, garlic, cardamom, coriander, mace, ginger, black pepper, celery juice powder, and cherry powder.
Turkey: Best: Waterhill Naturals Uncured Turkey Hot Dogs
Not only do these contain more cholesterol than just about any other standard-size frank on the market, they're also made with mechanically separated turkey. As for the rest of the ingredients, the only ones that are pronounceable are corn syrup solids, spices, and flavorings.
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