Customers Say These Are The Best Gas Station Hot Dogs In America

It is a truth universally acknowledged that anyone in need of gas for their car deserves a hot dog for the road. We're not saying to eat while driving, but we will point out that you can probably finish a hot dog in the time it takes for the gas to fill up your tank. However you like your hot dogs cooked, every now and again you need something off the roller grill. Don't judge. Gas stations have some of the best food finds in America, after all.

Besides, hot dogs aren't something you go to a sit-down restaurant for. Hot dogs are best when found in situations where you wouldn't otherwise be eating, or at least where you wouldn't have access to utensils — think camp fires or baseball stadiums. Hey, we could write a whole book about how great Home Depot hot dogs are. Any time can be hot dog time. Today, we've gone the extra mile and compiled a list of the best gas station hot dogs to keep in your back pocket on your next road trip.

Maybe an obvious choice, but delicious and reliable nonetheless. You can find a 7-Eleven just about anywhere, and the Big Bite hot dog is hard to pass up. Don't let anyone make you feel shame for it, either. One person on Reddit titled a post, "I"m tired of hiding my opinion. The 7-11 Spicy Bite is my favorite hot dog." Another commenter replied that 7-Eleven dogs are indeed underrated. Yes, 7-Eleven hot dogs are delicious, and we hungry sausage lovers will not be shamed. On YouTube, user HellthyJunkFood marveled at the thickness of the dog before saying it had good flavor. What more do you want out of a frank?

Of course, as with all gas station dogs, you should be sure to eat with your eyes first. Check the roller for any dried out dogs, and ask politely for the freshest dog you see. There are pitfalls to avoid when searching for good gas station hot dogs, it's true. It's important to remember, though, that one subpar eating experience should not reflect on the gas station's overall output. 7-Eleven is one of America's favorite grocery stores for a reason.

RaceTrac gets on this list for offering Nathan's hot dogs. You might remember Nathan's as the sponsor of the annual Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest that takes place in Coney Island. You might also know Nathan's from your grocery store shelves. The point is, Nathan's makes a good hot dog, and that's what they'll sell you at RaceTrac. The dogs are thick, the toppings plentiful, and the price right.

Hang on, though, are we going to tell you to trust a food simply because of a brand name? Of course not. Hot dogs are food for the people. So how do real people feel about Racetrac hot dogs? Well, YouTuber HellthyJunkFood ranked RaceTrac higher than 7-Eleven in her personal gas station hot dog rankings. One person on Reddit called the dogs "hard to beat," and another enthusiastically reminisced about eating lots of RaceTrac franks for an entire spring break in college. The people have spoken, and they are telling you to try RaceTrac hot dogs.

Sheetz hot dogs – or, "hot dogz," according to the company website — are truly beloved across internet forums. One of the best things Sheetz has going for it is its toppings bar. Beyond the normal mustard and relish, you can get things like tomatoes or Sheetz's famous boom boom sauce. That's a spicy mayo-based sauce, and it's great on a frank. One person on Reddit talked glowingly about the slaw dog hack, which features boom-boom sauce, red onion, and lettuce. If you play your cards right, you can even get a reasonable facsimile of a Chicago-style hot dog at Sheetz. As one Reddit poster commented, all that Sheetz is missing is sport peppers. 

Fascinatingly enough, Sheetz has origins as a dairy store, not a gas station. In 1907, a Pennsylvania dairy farmer wanted to do something about milk waste. By the 1980s, hot dogs and sandwiches were saving the place from bankruptcy. Funny how market demands work, isn't it? It's possible that Sheetz hasn't totally shaken its roots, though. Maybe Sheetz's origins in dairy explain why one Redditor listed cheese as their favorite hot dog topping.

So small and out of the way that TripAdvisor has been known to have the wrong location listed, Frank Allen's Grill is a hot dog and burger spot in a Marathon gas station in Sevierville, Tennessee. Small places like this often depend on word of mouth, especially in small Appalachian towns. Luckily for Frank Allen's, none other than the Queen of Tennessee herself, Dolly Parton, recommends the place. Yes, she also recommends the hot dog.

Dolly enjoys a slaw dog, which is a hot dog with mustard, onions, chili, and coleslaw. If you're having trouble wrapping your mind around coleslaw on a hot dog? First of all, visit the South sometime, the food's great. Second, think of slaw the way you would sauerkraut. Crunchy cabbage is great for hot dogs, and everywhere in the South has decent coleslaw, even the gas stations. Travel YouTubers vanfunseekers proclaimed that the slaw dog had to be good, because Dolly liked it. Their eventual verdict?  The slaw dog is "a little messy, but most things messy are good." Sounds like the slaw dog is worth the trip. 

It cannot be emphasized enough that hot dogs are a food that can be eaten in a short amount of a time. A quick bite, if you will. Hey, there's a gas chain called Quick Trip! Now that is a gas station hot dog with a passionate following. It's no wonder why, either. Quick Trip often has whole aisles of roller grill food, with real, steaming water keeping buns warm and at the ready. This is a place that takes its quick bites very seriously. It's a place that understands the need to sometimes put chipotle sauce on a frankfurter. We salute the effort.

If the hallmark of Quick Trip is an abundance of choices, well, what are the best dogs and toppings offered? One person on Reddit recommended a chili cheese dog with Fritos and a drizzle of jalapeño juice. A little spice with some melted cheese? Throw in some crunchy chips? Sounds like a great hot dog to us. A commenter on a different Reddit thread proclaimed that they would never live less than a mile from a QuickTrip because of the hot dogs. Talk about engendering devotion. What other gas station have you ever heard of capable of commanding that kind of loyalty?

Mapco's hot dogs are no muss, no fuss, good old fashioned hot dogs. Look, it's cool if the gas station has pickled jalapeños, or good chili, or whatever. Hot dog hacks are fun, we know. Honestly, though? All we really need is mustard. Maybe some ketchup for the kids. Mapco holds up its end of the bargain with some solid franks. In fact, one Tik Tok user ate their hot dog plain, and was wildly enthusiastic about it. The truly exciting part, though, is how you can get free hot dogs simply by filling up your car.

Like many gas stations, Mapco has a rewards points program. What's particularly great about Mapco's rewards points is that you can save enough for a free hot dog. Look, you have to fill up your car. That's a sad fact of life for many Americans. You might as well get something back for it. Preferably some meat in tube form, covered in mustard. Mapco knows what the people want.

When Bill and Ted asserted that strange things were afoot at the Circle K, they were not talking about the hot dogs. These dogs are tasty, and come with a plethora of options for toppings. Make it a meal deal by adding chips and any size drink while you're at it, the price is right. A great thing about the Circle K dogs is how reliably inexpensive they are. To paraphrase one person on Reddit, some of the best meals you'll ever eat are the ones you eat when you're broke. Luckily, Circle K is a haven for the financially inconvenienced.

Circle K really hangs its hat on great toppings. If you want to go beyond the duopoly of mustard and ketchup, head to a Circle K. One poster on Reddit said that cheese sauce was their go-to topping. Don't get hung up on regular hot dogs, though. One Redditor pointed out that Circle K's corn dogs were excellent, too. A little variety is never a bad thing.

Make no mistake, we're talking about one of the great regional chains in the country, here. Stewart's Shops is a must-visit snack stop on New York road trips. The truly thrilling thing about grabbing a hot dog from Stewart's Shops is the variety. At this upstate New York-based gas station, you can get a regular dog, a kielbasa, or cajun dog. Each sausage has its own distinctive qualities, and it's worth it to try one of each.

Don't forget the free meat sauce, which one Redditor said they would take a bath in. A good meat sauce is a great way to kick a hot dog up a notch. Plenty of places have chili, but Stewart's offers its own kind of meat sauce. With hot dogs, sometimes the delights are in the details. If a hot dog spot is offering a proprietary topping, we say that you should sample that proprietary topping. You only live once, and one metric for a successful life is eating a wide variety of foods. That includes gas station hot dogs.

The hot dog is a working person's food. In the U.S., workers go around the clock. A name like ampm sends a signal: here, you can get fuel any time you need it. Just about all locations are open 24 hours. Whether you need gas in your car's tank, a coffee to power a commute, or a well-earned hot dog break, ampm has got you covered. Often attached to Arco gas stations, this convenience store makes one righteous frankfurter. It's an all-beef hot dog, too.

You can tell the food is good somewhere when fans start talking like characters in a Tom Waits song. One former delivery driver posted on Reddit that ampm's Tapatio dogs were their guilty pleasure on the job. One Reddit user asked plainly if it was "okay" to get a gas station dog with mustard, and was met with the rousing encouragement of "I had two ampm dogs with mustard for dinner last week." Listen, whomever needs to hear this: We give you permission to enjoy a gas station hot dog. Enjoy it to the fullest. Even if you're underpaid at a thankless job, you can always take pleasure in the humble hot dog. At ampm, it doesn't even matter what time it is. Any time is hot dog time.