Hot Dogs Vs Hamburgers: Which Is The Better Game Day Choice?

There's a declared rivalry between hot dogs and hamburgers, a competition that rears its head during fun food occasions like the Super Bowl. People tend to gravitate toward one or the other, even if both are stacked up on the snack table. Add both to your plate, and you're setting yourself up for serious game day side-eye as you chow down. Like choosing a team to root for and sticking with it through thick and thin, choosing hot dogs over hamburgers or vice versa is a must during the biggest Sunday in the sports world.

Not everyone can explain what it is about a hot dog or hamburger that makes them the better choice. We put on our thinking helmets to figure it out for ourselves before football fans fire up the grill for their pre-game hot dog and hamburger cookouts. It turns out that choosing one over the other can be a real challenge once you establish a list of pros and cons for both of these popular party foods. Gear up for a play-by-play analysis of what hot dogs and hamburgers each contribute to the occasion so you know which one you're cheering for, plus a few aspects that may convince you to root for the other side.

Say you're looking for a tricked-out Super Bowl snack that lets you pile on just about as many toppings as you can think of without losing the ability to take a bite. If you stack your dream ingredients on a hamburger past the usual cheese-tomato-lettuce-onion combination — on top of a patty or two, plus top and bottom bun — you run the risk of your toppings toppling as soon as you lift it off the plate. If you're lucky enough to get a solid squeeze that compacts your creation enough to fit in your mouth, you'll probably have layers sliding out the sides before you can taste the whole stack. Provided everything stays in place, you run the risk of spraining your jaw wide enough to get it all in. What a conundrum.

Hot dogs, however, utilize the horizontal plane to allow an enormous pile-up of the most incredible hot dog add-ons you can come up with. Spread a little relish, sprinkle chopped onions, spoon on chili, make it rain shredded cheddar, layer in a few pickle slices ... the possibilities go on and on. Provided you can keep dog and bun level, you'll taste every element from the first bite to the last. Score one for hot dog geometry!

The typical game day grill is a gridiron of hamburgers and hot dogs, all vying for space over the dancing flames. When prepared properly, better hamburgers take up more grill space due to their expansive shape and mega-sized portions. They can monopolize a cookout like nobody's business, relegating hot dogs to the second rack, where they may get heat, but they don't get char. This sort of crowding is an unfortunate reality when mixing meats for the big event. But when you stick with hot dogs only for your tailgating treats? Well, you can fit so many franks on your grill, that you might as well invite the whole neighborhood to join in on the festivities. Their linear shape and compact size make them perfect for arranging like first-string players protecting their quarterback. They're also accommodating enough to fit horizontally or vertically, or a blend of both if necessary.

This sort of flexibility makes them easier to cook than burgers, too. Do you want to turn them sideways to get those cool diagonal grill marks? Sweet — just give them all a little twist. Hamburgers have to be scooped up on a spatula and moved awkwardly to get their crisscross tattoos. Do you need to heat up the other side? Awesome — give each one a little roll with the edge of your spatula. Burgers need a full-fledged flip to see that sort of grilling action. You see where this is going.

Not looking forward to firing up the grill to get your burgers flame-broiled, and cooking them in a skillet isn't exactly a great second option? Good luck, then. You could put them on a baking sheet and broil them in the oven ... but that just seems weird. Hot dogs, however, are open to just about any cooking method you throw at them. Wrap them in a damp paper towel and nuke them in the microwave, toss them in a pot of boiling water, steam them in a slow cooker, sizzle them up in a cast-iron skillet — or, yes, throw them on the BBQ and let the open flames work their magic. Their pre-cooked nature means that all you're doing in most cases is heating them up, though you should always check the package for heating instructions and desired serving temperature.

In contrast to the easy-going hot dog: Have you ever tried to cook a burger patty in the microwave? Do you remember how weird and rubbery it got, even with a cup of water included in the oven to add steam? Yeah. That's no way to celebrate the biggest football occasion of the season. If easy is your preferred style of cooking, hot dogs are your best friend for football party fun.

Have you ever heard of the hamburger eating contest that happens every Fourth of July to celebrate Independence Day? Most likely, you haven't. But you probably have heard of the international hot dog eating contest put on by hot dog purveyor Nathan's, held annually in Coney Island at the original Nathan's restaurant. According to Nathan's lore, the contest began in 1916 among a handful of European immigrants. Now, tens of thousands of fans gather to watch as competitive eaters like Miki Sudo and Joey Chestnut down as many bunned hot dogs as possible in 10 minutes of fraught competition. In past competitions, Sudo has eaten as many as 48.5 dogs to claim the women's title, while Chestnut has eaten up to 76 dogs to win the men's championship. You can probably feel your stomach churning as you read that number, imagining how it feels to have so many hot dogs in your digestive tract at one time.

As for the hamburger eating contest, ZBurger in Wisconsin holds a competition on Independence Day as well. But you may be learning that for the first time reading this article. The fact that Nathan's is so well-known means the distinction for better competitive food eating is no contest. The point goes to hot dogs.

There's a reason you find hamburgers as part of the menus in high-end restaurants: They're a familiar form of beef that can be fancied up for the more discerning dining crowd. But hot dogs can't, and it isn't just the weird texture that keeps it from happening. The facts about hot dogs have always made store-bought frankfurters out to be a little dodgy, made from scraps and spare parts left over in the butcher shop. When better ingredients are used, the humble hot dog becomes a sausage, which gives the dog a bit of a posh polish-up. But hot dogs themselves are notoriously unhealthy food, even when made from all beef like Hebrew National, due to the nitrates used to cure the franks. While you can find uncured hot dogs that bypass the use of these troublesome chemicals, they may not be readily available for the big game.

Thanks to the varied use of different qualities and consistencies of beef, hamburgers are far less shifty, making them a more straightforward option than dogs ever will be. It's just the nature of the beast — and how the beast is turned into game day vittles.

Hamburgers stacked in twos or threes are fun and all, but have you ever had a corn dog rolled in Flamin' Hot Cheetos? How about pigs in a blanket, with that flaky croissant crust standing in for a standard bun? From chopped up and tossed about in baked beans to marinated in spicy jelly, hot dogs aren't shy about trying on different uniforms and playing for new teams in the food world. If you're ambitious enough, you can make them look like an octopus or run them through with uncooked spaghetti before steaming them into an alien lifeform that's both entertaining and delicious. They're the main dish that never quits, even when they get pushed to the game day side selections section.

Hamburgers can take the form of ... hamburgers. Or sliders, which are just miniaturized hamburgers. They're cute for sure, but they're still just burgers, and that's all. If you like pushing the envelope with your game day goodies and you have a culinary creative streak that just won't quit, hot dogs are the more willing partner, by far.