The Absolute Best Hot Dog Brand With The Perfect Snap

There's a good reason Costco's regular shoppers never fail to stop at the food court for a quick, inexpensive meal. It's those succulent, full-of-flavor hot dogs — $1.50 for a hot dog with your choice of toppings and a 20-ounce soda — bringing people to the food court! The 100% beef franks sold are none other than Kirkland Signature Beef Dinner Franks — rated the best in our Food Republic taste test.

What makes the Kirkland Signature Beef Dinner Frank the best? For starters, it's made with 100% USDA inspected Prime beef. Prime beef, from young cattle, is generally sold in hotels and restaurants. This makes the Kirkland Signature beef dinner frank a higher quality hot dog than the competition. In addition to the superior grade, Costco's hot dog contains no meat by-products. There aren't any fillers or corn syrup in these beef franks. According to the USDA, beef hot dogs cannot be made with fillers or have mechanically separated meat.

The Kirkland hot dog is juicy, has a great and balanced flavor (just beefy enough with a good balance of spices), and a snappy bite. All of these are qualities any true hot dog fanatic would love — when you think hot dog, eating a frank at the park or a ball game when the weather is sweltering, that's what these dogs taste like. Nostalgia. So, what could make the Kirkland Signature Beef Dinner Franks even better? Well, a full pack of the hot dogs can be picked up in the warehouse store's refrigerated section (roughly $18 for 36 links or 4.5 pounds, depending on location). Since you're saving money on dinner, you might pick up a bottle of wine to go with the hot dogs.

Believe it or not, the Kirkland all-beef frank wasn't always served in the food court. The previous hot dog was a national kosher brand. Then, kosher suppliers across the country raised their prices, and Costco made the switch to its own product to keep its own prices down. Even so, Costco's food court hot dogs taste great, and most shoppers don't seem to mind the new product. It doesn't hurt that the fan favorite increased in size — 10% longer and heavier than the original hot dog.

Another plus? Costco's food court hot dog combo is still only $1.50 — the same price as in 1985. With everything getting so expensive, how can the warehouse club afford to sell an all-beef quarter-pound hot dog and 20-ounce soda so cheaply? Easy. The hot dog is considered a loss leader — a product sold below cost to draw in customers. It's just like how Costco's famous rotisserie chicken stays $4.99 despite inflation: It's another loss leader. Indeed, Costco has increased the prices of other food court items (like pizza) due to inflation because they don't draw in customers the way the chicken and hot dog combo do. After all, the warehouse chain primarily makes its biggest profits on memberships and not actually what it sells.