Let's be frank: The hot dogs at your local Five Guys aren't quite as famous as its burgers,
but they're still worth ordering from time to time. So what's the real deal with these
tasty delights? Here's everything you need to know about Five Guys hot dogs.
If you're planning to order a Five Guys hot dog, we strongly recommend skipping the cheese.
You see, the chain uses American cheese… the cheese of quick afternoon snacks. Honestly,
those highly artificial orange rectangles can hardly be classified as "real" cheese.
"Kraft singles taste great because they're made from five ounces of milk. How do they
do that?"
"They make it into a rocket!"
We strongly suggest kicking that unfortunate cheese slice to the curb and simply ordering
your hot dog with a tasteful squiggle of mustard. You'll be glad you did.
When compared to hot dogs from other fast food chains, Five Guys reportedly has the
hot dog to beat. A Business Insider reporter tried fully loaded hot dogs from a number
of esteemed spots and wrote that
"Five Guys' cheesy bacon dog impressed me with its exceptionally flavorful hot dog base
and its crispy bacon topping, although I wasn't as much a fan of the cheese."
And when you order a fully loaded Five Guys hot dog, you get over a dozen tasty toppings
to choose from. Five Guys just missed the top spot after Costco's franks were added
to the mix, since Costco's hot dogs had the best taste-to-price value.
Five Guys' menu boasts a kosher hot dog, but what that actually means is rather complicated.
The hot dogs are all beef, and that meat is indeed premium kosher beef from Hebrew National,
a supplier of delicious kosher dogs.
"Recently I converted … to Hebrew National kosher hot dogs. Improper? Not at all!"
That absolutely qualifies the meat in and of itself as kosher. While kosher can mean
different things to different observant Jewish people, one key definition across the board
is that the hot dogs are made of beef and not pork, which is universally recognized
as not kosher.
That said, Five Guys' kosher-style hot dogs are prepared with the same utensils and on
the same grill used to cook Five Guys' pork products, including bacon. Sometimes the supposedly
kosher-style hot dogs are even topped with bacon, which most definitely isn't kosher.
Kosher beef also can't be served with milk, due to a religious law that prevents the consumption
of meat and milk... but Five Guys serves up its franks with those aforementioned cheese
slices. Milkshakes, too.
Interestingly, writer Jonathan Turley points out that Five Guys is breaking the law in
Washington State by advertising its hot dogs as kosher. While Five Guys probably won't
get into any trouble for this anytime soon, the chain might want to reconsider its advertising
strategy somewhere down the line.
If you suspect these fast food hot dogs are unhealthy, you just hit the pig on the snout.
The classic Five Guys kosher hot dog contains 520 calories and 35 grams of fat, not to mention
1,130 mg of sodium. In case you don't know, that's quite a lot of salt! And don't even
get us started on Five Guys' bacon cheese dog, which contains 670 calories, 48 grams
of fat, and 1,700 mg of sodium.
If you're looking for a somewhat healthier option, we recommend ditching the bun altogether.
According to The Food Network, a bunless FIve Guys hot dog only contains 285 calories, 26
grams of fat, and 800 mg of sodium. Much better.
Five Guys' hot dogs don't quite hold up when compared to Chicago hot dogs. In fact, no
fast food hot dog can really quite hold up to a tasty hot dog bought on a Chicago street
corner.
“his is the hot dog capital of the world with more vendors than McDonald's, Burger
King and Wendy's combined."
But Five Guys does serve hot dogs in the greater Chicago area, and they're still pretty popular
there. According to The Chicago Tribune,
"The hot dogs [...] are a sacrilege to Chicago sensibilities. But this being Oak Park, with
hot dog scofflaws outside prosecutorial jurisdiction, I can say these are fantastic. An all-beef
Hebrew National dog, split in half and seared to a crispy exterior, is topped with brittle-crunchy
bacon and sliced Kraft American singles."
Five Guys' hot dog isn't exactly the greatest deal around. In 2016, a Five Guys hot dog
would put you back $5… that's rather pricey for a fast food dog! In comparison, Burger
King's hot dogs cost less than $3, and Shake Shack's cost just $3.59. Checkers' hot dogs
are significantly cheaper, but in our opinion, they're also significantly worse. If you ask
us, Five Guys have the most expensive hot dogs, but also the tastiest.
But if you want more bang for your buck, Costco's hot dog combos only cost $1.50, and they're
really quite tasty.
Every July, Five Guys observes National Hot Dog Day, a day that celebrates the humble
frank.
"It was established back in 1991 to coincide with a hot dog lunch in Capitol Hill."
In 2018, Five Guys posted a tweet to honor this yummiest of days, writing,
"We serve hot dogs"
Indeed… they most certainly do!
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