When I was a kid, I pretended not to like some of my friends’ favorite foods because I wanted to be “different.” As part of this, I refused to eat pizza, mushrooms, and hot dogs. Thank goodness I am out of that phase, because now I love all three of those foods — especially a good glizzy. 

To me, every summer is an opportunity to see how many hot dogs I can eat — especially when they’re loaded up with all my favorite toppings like chili, yellow mustard, and raw onions. If you feel the same, then you’re probably curious about which brand of hot dogs is the best one to buy at the grocery store. Last year we asked three chefs to share what they think is the best store-bought hot dog, and they all said the same one: Hebrew National Uncured Beef Franks. 

So I grabbed a pack, cooked them up in the oven, and conducted a small taste test in the office to see if they really are the best. Here’s what everyone thought. 

I had five people in the office taste Hebrew National Uncured Beef Franks with me, and the consensus was unanimous: These are some seriously delicious hot dogs. The six in the pack were gobbled up in a matter of minutes. Everyone at first said they would just take one bite, but one led to another and another. The texture and flavor were really what set these franks apart from other hot dogs that people in the room had tried before.

Everyone loved how these hot dogs tasted super-beefy, without being too salty or oily. The package clearly states “all beef,” and all my colleagues agreed that you could taste that difference with each bite. 

The snap of the hot dog was also amazing. According to the brand’s website, the dogs are actually “skinless.” The cellulose casing that the hot dogs are cooked in is actually removed before final packaging. Because of this, the hot dog didn’t feel plasticky or rubbery, like some other brands. Hebrew National Uncured Beef Franks were so good, in fact, that Lizzy Francis, senior lifestyle editor at Apartment Therapy, said they were the “platonic ideal of a hot dog.” That’s the closest anyone can come to saying it’s perfect.