Head To This One Grocery Chain For Top-Quality Hot Dogs

No matter what time of the year it is, sometimes a hot dog just hits. When that craving comes knocking, you can just swing by your favorite grocery store to pick up a pack and satiate it in no time. We have a handy list of some of the highest and lowest quality hot dogs you'll find at the grocery store to get you started. By our measure, Trader Joe's uncured beef hot dogs are among the best you can get. They're well-seasoned with garlic and spices, have that delicious snap we all know and love from a high-quality hot dog, and the sausage itself is succulent, juicy, and meaty.

But one of our favorite things about this hot dog is the ingredient list. When it comes to cured vs. uncured hot dogs, cured products use sodium nitrate to preserve the freshness and flavor for weeks at a time, while uncured options rely on natural preservatives like celery powder and have a shorter shelf life. These uncured franks reflect that — the ingredient list is fairly short, with the top two ingredients just being beef and water. 

For flavor and color, Trader Joes uncured beef hot dogs rely on things like garlic powder, paprika, sugar, mustard, and natural smoke flavor. As for preservatives, they used cultured celery powder, cherry powder, and sea salt. In total, the product contains 14 listed ingredients, and all of them are easy to read and understand. That's a definite win in our books when it comes to processed food like hot dogs.

We're not the only ones who would go back and buy more of these Trader Joe's hot dogs. Redditors also discussed how surprisingly good they are. One user cited the interesting ingredients as a reason to give them a shot, and others compared these franks to more widespread beloved brands like Hebrew National in terms of taste and texture. Overall, there's an appreciation for the natural ingredients like celery powder over the more common sodium nitrate. One review blogger said they were fairly standard for all-beef hot dogs in terms of taste, but that once again, the simple and clean ingredient list was a standout.

When cooking up your Trader Joe's uncured beef hot dogs, you can enjoy them all on their own thanks to the smoked and meaty flavor. Just pick your favorite bun, cook your hot dog (an air fryer or skillet works perfectly if you don't have an outdoor grill), plop that baby in there, and enjoy. If you want, you can bump it up with some of the best hot dog toppings you can get your hands on. To us, you can really taste the lack of preservatives. The smoke flavor comes through and pairs well with the meatiness of the beef, creating a hot dog experience that you can truly toast the summer with.