According to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, people in America have been scarfing down hot dogs for about 150 years. Hot dogs similar to the ones we eat today first became popular in New York City in the 1860s thanks to German immigrants. By the 1890s, hot dogs were everywhere as a ballpark staple and a fixed part of the American culinary scene.
Today, people associate this favorite eat with summer cookouts, fairs, camping trips, and, of course, sporting events. We eat, as a nation, an estimated 20 billion hot dogs each year. Which is a lot of dogs. If you’re among the number of people who will be contributing to that staggering data, it’s a good idea to choose as healthy a hot dog as you can, because many hot dogs are made with pretty low-quality ingredients.
But for the record, per nutritionists interviewed by Healthline, even higher-quality, healthier hot dogs are still best treated as a treat. “Hot dogs are still processed meat and should be eaten occasionally, at best,” a health writer there said. If you are looking for the healthiest hot dog, here are the brands that use the highest quality ingredients.
1
Applegate Farms’ the Great Organic Uncured Beef Hot Dog
These hot dogs are about as healthy as you can get in the hot dog world. And as they’re made with organic beef and feature 12 organic herbs and spices, they are pretty tasty, too. Applegate’s Great Organic Uncured Beef Hot Dog has seven grams of protein, just eight grams of fat, 480 milligrams of sodium, and only 100 calories per dog. This means you may end up eating two, but that’s your life choice.
