Given the above, we really really wanted to like the Yeah Dawg hot dogs. In fact, as we eagerly awaited their arrival (we had to order them from the Yeah Dog website, and they arrived very carefully packed in ice in a small styrofoam cooler box), we expected them to be our favorite of all of the commercially available gluten-free vegan hot dogs (and remember we tried and reviewed all three of them, plus added our own homemade fourth, for this review series). Our motto in this gluten-free vegan hot dog review series became “We tried them all so you don’t have to.” :~)

But, much to our surprise, we actually liked these Yeah Dawg hot dogs the least. The only resemblance they bear to any hot dog is the shape.

Taste

The Yeah Dawg hot dogs taste nothing like an actual hot dog, veggie or otherwise – in fact the overwhelming flavor (if this can be said to be a ‘flavor’) is that they are really sweet. Of course this makes sense, their second ingredient is beets, and their third ingredient is sweet potatoes. Followed by carrots. Sweet, sweet, sweet.

Texture

And the texture is oh-so-mushy, no doubt also a function of the ingredients (the first ingredient is potato, followed by the beets and sweet potato).

The crazy thing is that for their hot dog carts which are found around New York City and Brooklyn, their reviews are off the charts. We can only guess that something (a lot) is lost in the transition from street cart vending, along with all the toppings, to shipping frozen product.

Cooking

According to the package, you can cook your Yeah Dawg dogs any way other than boiling or steaming them. There are directions for grilling, pan frying, oven baking, deep frying (!) and air frying them. We baked them in the oven according to the directions. Honestly, we can’t imagine that any of the cooking methods would overcome the taste and texture issues, although we supposed that grilling them might contribute a nice char flavor to offset the sweetness.

Verdict

Even if these had been the least costly of the vegan hot dogs we were evaluating, we would not have ordered them again. And they aren’t, they are in fact the most expensive, even before you add in shipping. The lowest price you can get them for, in the largest quantity (24 hot dogs for $74) brings the cost-per-dog to a bit over $3 each, and that’s before shipping. Contrast that to the Sweet Earth hot dogs at just $1.88 per hot dog, or the Moving Mountains hot dogs at about $2.20, and we just can’t get behind Yeah Dawg, even though we love their ethos. Still, if you want to check them out you can do so at YeahDawgVegan.com.